ISTOCK, TENMUZ CAN ARSIRAYAfter long negotiations over proposed price hikes for access to Elsevier’s academic literature database ScienceDirect, a consortium of 300 South Korean universities and college libraries came to an agreement with the Dutch publishing giant last week. The consortium had pushed back against a 4.5 percent price hike suggested by Elsevier, but agreed to price increases of up to 3.9 percent after the publisher threatened to withdraw access to the database.
South Korean universities were due to renew their contracts with Elsevier last December. However, the consortium, which formed last May to represent universities in their negotiations with academic database providers, took a strong stance against Elsevier’s price increases and asked for concessions on access to little-used journals and open-access publications.
Although the universities had accepted the publisher’s rate increases in previous years, “we can no longer afford [its] excessive demands,” Hwang In Sung, the research analysis team director at the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE), tells Science.
With the new deal, universities can choose between a one-year renewal with a 3.9 percent price hike and a three-year contract with annual increases of 3.5 percent, 3.6 percent, and 3.7 percent, Sogang University librarian Kim Eun ...
