[BOAI] RE : Re: Response from Elsevier to an item in May 2011 issue ofSOAN

[Guédon Jean-Claude]

Given Elsevier's tradition of gentleness and fairness, and given their enormous desire to help the process of scientific communication (rather than science supporting Elsevier), I should assume that they are vigorously looking for every involuntary victim of this purely procedural error... They may even consider compensations for damages incurred.

Without Elsevier, where would science be?

:-)

Jean-Claude Guédon 


-------- Message d'origine--------
De: boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk de la part de David Prosser
Date: sam. 2011-05-21 03:47
À: boai-forum at ecs.soton.ac.uk; SOAF post
Objet : [BOAI] Re: Response from Elsevier to an item in May 2011 issue ofSOAN
 
I wonder if anybody actually paid.  And if so, whether they'll be refunded!

David




On 20 May 2011, at 14:30, Peter Suber wrote:

> I included the following item in the Roundup section of the May 2011 issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter:
> http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/05-02-11.htm#roundup
> 
> * David Solomon found that Elsevier's Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery charges for access to its masthead and instructions for authors.  From Solomon:  "Elsevier, Inc is charging 31.50 (USD) each for access not only to the articles, but the masthead, the listing of the editorial board, table of contents, and even the instructions for authors.  Thinking this had to be an oversight, I sent the following query to their support page....'I would appreciate knowing if this is an error or you really intend to charge potential authors $31.50 to get a copy of the instructions for authors.'  This is what they wrote back: '...Thank you for contacting Elsevier's e-Helpdesk Support. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. ScienceDirect is an online database for institutions, we do not have a way to give complimentary access to users....' " 
> https://arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/5798.html
> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10431810
> 
> Today I received a response from Alicia Wise, Elsevier's Director of Universal Access, and have her permission to forward it.  I'll also publish an excerpt in the next issue of SOAN.
> 
> 
> Dear Peter,
> 
>  
> I read the May edition of SOAN, and was surprised to learn about David Solomon's experience. 
> 
>  
> Elsevier does not in fact charge for access to things like our instructions for authors, editorial board listings, table of contents, and masthead.  Unfortunately our customer service department did not interpret his query correctly and so did not communicate effectively on this occasion. In this case the article has been incorrectly marked-up so our systems could not correctly distinguish different elements of the content.  To compound the situation we have discovered that our pay-per-view system does not always correctly distinguish different sections of a text, even when they are properly marked-up.  We are now in the process of correcting the mark-up, scanning for other articles that may be similarly miscoded, tweaking the pay-per-view system, and using this as an example in our customer service training. 
> 
>  
> Thank you very much for drawing this to our attention, and for any help you can provide to disseminate our response.
> 
>  
> With kind wishes,
> 
> Alicia   
> 
>  
>  
> Dr Alicia Wise
> 
> Director of Universal Access
> 
> Elsevier I The Boulevard I Langford Lane I Kidlington I Oxford I OX5 1GB
> 
> T: +44 (0)1865 843317 I F: +44 (0)1865 853333  I M: +44 (0) 7823 536 826 I E: a.wise at elsevier.com
> 
>  
> Elsevier Limited. Registered Office: The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, United Kingdom, Registration No. 1982084 (England and Wales).
> 
> 
> <ATT00001..txt>