[DFSci] Knowledge sharing

[Gene Spafford]

The UC decision is possibly a negotiation move to get Elsevier to cut a better price.  It may not stand…or it may.  If 6 months from now there are no new negotiations then I might be inclined to believe it is the new normal.

I got Elsevier to reduce the individual subscription for Computers & Security by about 65% from what it was (I’m the editor).  I believe that more subscriptions came in and made up for the difference.   I suggest that Eoghan talk to them about lowering at least that price.   

I also serve on ACM Publications Board and the trend there is to continue to reduce rates, with an eventual goal of some form of open access when we determine how to pay for the costs (permanent archiving, typesetting, and the Digital Library services are not free).   If you are not deeply involved with the publication process, you may not see some of the things that do incur expense, including the cost of personnel to keep them working smoothly.

Elsevier does things for journals that can’t easily be done for free.  It is not clear how many of those things are useful for an archival publication, although I think some are (e.g., the archival reference storage associated with the DOI, the indexing, reviewer management, plagiarism checking, indexing and cross-referencing, etc).  Whether those services cost as much as the subscriptions cover is the question.

—spaf