Elsevier Responds

In an Open Letter to the Research Community Elsevier has responded to criticisms from the scholarly community. Standing firm on value for money and the fact that they facilitate some open access they do appear to be worried about the strength of the criticism. As a librarian I would not agree that bundles are good value for money, libraries are forced to take titles they don't want and don't use and for many years journal prices just rose and rose for no apparent reason. The real fact of the matter is that libraries, even in the USA, can no longer afford these prices and new models need to be found in a hurry! Another fact to remember is the whole objective of academic publishing is to circulate research in order to obtain feedback and for scholarship to grow...it may well be the case that the journal publishing model is too slow and cumbersome for the 21st.Century.