Scientists at U. of California Push for Boycott Against 6 Biology Journals

Today's Chronicle of Higher Education reports that two scientists at the University of California at San Francisco are urging a worldwide boycott
of six molecular-biology journals on the grounds that their publisher, Reed Elsevier, is demanding that the University of California system pay too high a price for electronic access to the publications.

(Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 21, 2003)

The scientists are Keith Yamamoto, chairman of the department of cellular and molecular pharmacology, and Peter Walter, a professor of biophysics and biochemistry. In a letter circulated this week, they say that Reed Elsevier is asking the university system to pay more than $90,000 a year for the journals' online editions. The California Digital Library, which negotiates journal contracts for the university system, rejected that price, and is now pushing Reed Elsevier to reconsider its licensing terms that will take effect in January, says Daniel Greenstein, director of the Digital Library.

Mr. Walter and Mr. Yamamoto are asking scientists to retaliate against Cancer Cell, Cell, Developmental Cell, Molecular Cell, Immunity, and Neuron by refusing to submit articles to the journals, resigning from their editorial boards, and declining to review manuscripts for them. The publications are considered among the most prestigious in molecular biology.

Posted by Tom on October 21, 2003