And more on Elsevier:
And more on Elsevier:
The financial performance and long term future of Elsevier has been much in the news. Update (The journal of CILIP) carries a piece in its March number (p. 4) which covered journal cancellations and the new UK Higher Education deal. The Guardian on 15 January notes the new competition to Elsevier in legal publishing and from Open Access journals. A further piece on the latter appears in the 19 February issue of The Guardian titled “Open Access threat to Reed's publishing empire”. The Independent on 5 December notes the Reed Elsevier share loss under the heading “Reed Elsevier hit by syllabus changes in US”. The Chronicle of Higher Education (23 January, p. A34) highlights the University of California's tense negotiations with Elsevier as a result of which the university is now paying $7.3 million, down from $8 million in 2003. A robust defence of Elsevier comes from Karen Hunter in their house journal, Library Connect (Vol 1 No 4. December 2003.) There are mixed messages for the long term future of Elsevier. Two investment reports have suggested that its future is compromised by the development of Open Access journals. However others are recommending a bright future as academic publishing suffers less in economic downturns as well as generating healthy (i.e. high) profits. So much heat and not a lot of light on the future of commercial journal publishing insofar as the focus is at present on Elsevier.
Below are just two of the many reports in the last couple of months. (Ed.)
