I’m not going to take it anymore. One man’s quest- now 12600+ strong.

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To most of us, this is the end of Summer.  Vacations, weekends of play- and, if we have kids, their time to just frolic and enjoy.  Unless they are in college.  Which means by the time you read this, they will be on campus and buying their texts.   Whose prices are – in a simple term- ridiculous.

The courses I have taught over the past few years had texts assigned (by the department) that ranged in price from $ 50 to $ 325.  Now, that last one was an anatomy and physiology text that would last the students for two or three courses- and probably be saved for future reference.   And, it was laden with color images and graphs.  But some of these other texts did not have all that imagery- and they were averaging a cost of30 cents a page….

Which reminded me of when I was in grad school and one of my texts, all 213 pages of it, was to be purchased for $42.   Which in today’s dollars would be roughly $ 231.   To be honest, I was pretty incensed.  And, I wrote to the publisher (Academic Press) that I would be copying the entire book (which then cost me 5 cents a page) because there was absolutely no justification for their pricing.  (I did send a check for $ 5 to the author, which I determined was the royalty of which he was being deprived.)

Yes, that’s considered illegal.  (Not then, by the way, since the copyright law did not really apply (the law changed in 1976).  Which is when every college library began posting signs (as did departmental copy machines, if they so existed) notifying potential users that they were putting their universities at risk.  And, publishers like Academic Press raked in the dough.

It was so bad that I refused to allow classes that I taught to rely on any text books published by Academic Press.  Because tuition was high enough; texts should not bankrupt the students.   (This was long ago- looking back that tuition rate was ‘bupkas’.)   (I wish my son’s teachers would follow the same principle.  Fat chance.)  And, Academic Press is now part of the Elsevier family.  (You thought the 1% were used to a certain lifestyle- meet Elsevier…)

And, now academicians are beginning a revolt.   Started by Tim Gowers of Cambridge University (UK), who was distressed at the ridiculous cost of academic journals.    (For example, the journals to which I subscribe run close to $ 5000 a year- and that does not include my annual memberships.   And, those are my private rates- had I purchased the subscription for my company two of the journals alone would cost that much- and I get more than 35 professional journals.)

English: Timothy Gowers, Rouse Ball Professor ...
English: Timothy Gowers, Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. Photographed at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC, January 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dr. Timothy Gowers, a mathematician, posted that he was going to boycott Elsevier Journals.  Regardless of whether the publisher held the pre-eminent journal rights or not, he would not submit articles for publication to them.    He stated his reasons in a most cogent fashion- from the pricing of journals, to the forced bundling (an institution had to purchase a series of journals, not just cherry pick the ones they wanted), to business practices (cutting off universities that had the audacity to try to negotiate better pricing), and erecting barriers against open access.  (Imagine China blocking the internet so that its citizens can’t get the facts; Elsevier blocks access to its journals in the same way.)

And, now some 12600+ (as of this morning’s posting) other academicians have joined his cause.   They refuse to submit articles, perform peer reviews, or serve on the editorial boards of any Elsevier publications.  Which is the only way pricing is going to become reasonable.  Because other, less expensive journals will now have access to the top research findings.  And, a true marketplace will prevail.

Kudos to Dr. Gowers for starting this quest.  Hopefully, many others will so join.Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

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14 thoughts on “I’m not going to take it anymore. One man’s quest- now 12600+ strong.”

  1. Time and again publishers have failed to recognize market realities – campaigning to put the prices of ebooks up as their own costs shrank, believing that they still had the keys to a closed shop. When what they could have been doing … 20 years ago … was beginning to explore the incredible potential of new publishing media, beyond the book, beyond the academic journal. Academic publishing was the one area where traditional publishers could be sure of making a profit. Possibly that explains their intransigence. But it won’t be difficult for Gowers and his supporters to bypass them, given the wealth of alternative publishing options now available.
    Alan Miles recently posted..The Unique Buying Proposition

    1. Alan,
      I agree with your sentiments. I would hope this would be true.
      Without picking on another publisher by name, they have extended their franchise with “sub” magazines that are publications in their own right. And, their fees are not far behind…I fear they will be the “harder target”, which may explain why Elsevier was chosen first.

      Roy

  2. Glad to see the academic community calling attention to this. As a student I remember the exorbitant cost of textbooks. Eek! If enough people get on board, publishers will have to change. After all, money talks.
    Erin Hatton recently posted..Goals for the New Year

    1. I would hope that to be true, Erin. But, this issue is really related to the costs to the university for purchasing the subscriptions for their library.
      And, the reason professors care, is that they end up paying the price. For example, if I wanted a subscription to “Advances in Artificial Organs Produced From Stem Cells”, my research grant would have to pay for that- and if its cost is $ 10K, then I would have one less graduate student I could fund. If a department needed “ChemE Advances”, then its budget would be assessed for the costs. Same result.

    1. I think we all hate the price of textbooks. Part of it is the issue that these items are never going to be “best sellers”. Part of it is the publishers understand that students are a captive audience- it’s not like they WON’T buy the book, since their successful completion of the course is relatively dependent upon owning the text(s), Ann.

      Roy

  3. I wonder if he would have had the impact before social media. Or would it have been TV and other media building the swell. People need to stick to their principles and beliefs and not bow to the majority. And if more people did that would we not be in a much better place in the world today

    1. Roberta:
      It depends upon what you consider social media. Dr. Gowers is not really relying on Twitter, Facebook, or other components of social media. His effort is using the internet and websites- things that existed before social media. He may also be using eMail; again pre-social media.
      It’s folks like me- who hope you and other readers tweet or pin this information that will help it spread… to other parts of the world, other publishers, and to textbook pricing, as well.

  4. Hi Roy!
    nice post.i think it is right buy the book from the college is costly than other places.but sometimes it is necessary to do this when it is compulsarry by the college.like i hate the price of book from the college,so i did to prefer any other publisher.because they know the suitable price and need of the readers.
    thanks for joining this blog.
    anshul recently posted..Online Banking Software

    1. Yes, Anshul, you are right that many textbook prices are outrageous. And, I, too, believe that Professors and Administrators should take this factor into account, when deciding on appropriate texts for courses.
      But, this protest is against academic journals. In other words, the prices that professors and administrators pay- not their students. I wish it were more broadly based.

      Roy

  5. I recently started college again and the financial burden is a bit too much. Adding to that are textbooks. The cost not only pinches, but bites hard. Real bad. I am planning to get in touch with a senior who is moving out of the country and is planning to sell his books. Though I will get them at a discounted price, I just hope they do make academic books cheaper. At least affordable.
    Hajra recently posted..I Scratch Your Blog… You Scratch Mine

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