[IRTalk] Democratising Knowledge: a report on the scholarly publisher, Elsevier by Jonathan Tennant, Oct 2018.

[Dr Leti Kleyn]

There are growing concerns that Elsevier, among other actors, are becoming very powerful as both publishers and knowledge service providers. Combined with soaring costs to journal subscriptions and services, political activism, extraordinarily high profit margins, and this increasing commercialisation of research infrastructure, Elsevier has positioned itself within a dysfunctional market as a leading actor in the commercialisation of knowledge, research information, and education. In a recent global survey among Education International's affiliates in the further and higher education and research sector, a number of affiliates have pointed to the problematic situation where Elsevier are profiting hugely from publicly-funded research. However, despite widespread criticisms, there is little consensus on the best approach to challenge Elsevier. This report aims to provide the foundations for a critical study into Elsevier's business model and practices and contribute to developing policy objectives relating to open public access to research and educational materials, academic freedom, researcher autonomy, and the scholarly communication system. This research will form a key part of Education International's Global Response campaign on the commercialisation and marketisation in and of education aimed specifically at the further and higher education and research sector.

Full report here: https://eiie.sharepoint.com/sites/eiwebsite/Shared%20Documents/Public%20Links/WebDocs/2018_EIResearch_Elsevier_final_EN.pdf

Dr Leti Kleyn
Programme Officer: Humanities & STEM Education
Science Advisory Programme
 [cid:image002.jpg at 01D3D561.C8D9D760]

Office Switchboard Tel: +27 12 349 6600<tel:+27%2012%20349%206600>
Tel: +27 12 349 6651
Fax: +27 086 4155703
Cell: +27 82 347 9982
Email:  leti at assaf.org.za<mailto:leti at assaf.org.za>

1st Floor Block A, The Woods, 41 De Havilland Crescent<https://maps.google.com/?q=41+De+Havilland+Crescent&entry=gmail&source=g>, Persequor Park
Meiring Naudé Road, Lynnwood 0020, Pretoria, South Africa.
PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, Pretoria, South Africa.
Website: www.assaf.org.za<http://www.assaf.org.za/>


ASSAf Disclaimer: The views and opinions included in this email belong to their author and do not necessarily mirror the views and opinions of the organisation. Our employees are obliged not to make any defamatory statements, infringe, or authorise infringement of any legal right. Therefore, the organisation will not accept any liability for such statements included in emails. In case of any damages or other liabilities arising, employees are fully responsible for the content of their emails.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lib.sun.ac.za/pipermail/irtalk/attachments/20181119/c412e2bd/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 3860 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.lib.sun.ac.za/pipermail/irtalk/attachments/20181119/c412e2bd/attachment-0001.jpg>