Elsevier sets its sights on institutional content repositories
An article in the THE suggests that Elsevier is currently making the rounds of higher educational establishments in the UK and petitioning vice-chancellors to consider abandoning their institutional archives in favour of an Elsevier-driven archiving solution.
As to whether or not this is actually the case, I cannot comment. Hypothetically, however, this is surely tantamount to tilting at windmills. If this pitch’s best shot is merely that it saves money, then a barrage of counter-questions will inevitably rain down upon on the proposal as to the hidden costs of not affording universities’ employees the opportunity to self-archive as productive nodes in the Open Access movement’s revolutionary matrix.
The notion that a single commercial concern, regardless of its size, can overturn the momentum that Open Access self-archiving is achieving globally as both a concept and a practice is either an act of hubris or desperation. As more about this initiative emerges, a strong response can be expected from the bodies listed under the ‘Open Access, Open Source’ section in the right-hand column of this blog.
On the basis of the scant information we have to hand at this point, do I think this will fly? Yes, I think it will fly. Like Icarus.
Thanks to Keita Bando for the link.
