Reed Elsevier, the huge publishing conglomerate whose scientific journals have been attacked as overpriced, is in trouble in the UK. From the Dec. 12 Guardian:
Increasingly, universities are reluctant to pay the large fees demanded by publishers and are turning to so-called open access journals, where the costs of publication are paid by the authors.
Yesterday the House of Commons science and technology committee said it planned to conduct an inquiry into scientific publications early in the new year.
The committee will look at access to journals, with particular reference to price and availability.
Specifically the committee will ask about the importance of open-access journals and whether the government should support the trend towards free scientific information. Such a move could spell disaster for Reed Elsevier. With their high margins, Reed’s science and legal publishing operations are currently supporting its weaker business to business and education operations,
The TeleRead take: A lesson for publishers in all media? Business models do not last forever. Change or die. Book publishers that don’t add value, through editing and promotion, may increasingly find themselves bypassed.
(Via liblicense.)
