Scientific Publisher Pay-Walls: an Ethical Nightmare.

Yes. I understand the title of this is relatively inflammatory, but this is a topic that is of particular significance and yet, not-so-surprising, receives very little media coverage. Many don’t know this, but when a researcher publishes an article, the rights of said article, as well as its contents (figures, tables, writing, etc.) are often stripped from the researcher, becoming a property of the publisher. The publisher, or ‘provider’, companies like Elsevier (under the RELX Group, formerly Reed Elsevier), Springer, and Wiley, then bundle the journal, wherein your research is published, with other journals and offer these bundles to libraries on a subscription-basis for outrageous annual feel. To illustrate, in 2003 the University of California – San Francisco boycotted Elsevier after they asked for an annual fee of $90,000 for six Cell Press journals ¹. The world of scientific publishing is replete with these instances of price-gouging.