[GOAL] Re: Dutch begin their Elsevier boycott

[Hélène.Bosc]

Well said Marc,
A) : about the proven ineffectiveness of boycotts.
B) : about the best strategy to get Open Access  : that is in self-archiving 
. And as you know it  ;-) it's easy to ignore copyright restrictions in 
using the Button : http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/268511/
Hélène Bosc

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Couture Marc" <marc.couture at teluq.ca>
To: "Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)" <goal at eprints.org>
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2015 6:06 PM
Subject: [GOAL] Re: Dutch begin their Elsevier boycott


> Hi all,
>
> I'm really doubtful as to the success of these boycotts, if success is 
> defined as researchers actually following en masse. I see no indication 
> that the previous (still in force?) Elsevier boycott (The Cost of Freedom) 
> has hurt the publisher (maybe someone can provide evidence to the 
> contrary). The same seems to have happened with Harold Varmus' Open Letter 
> in 2000, signed by tens of thousands (it was not targeted at Elsevier but 
> at all non-OA publishers, that is virtually all publishers at the time; 
> see https://www.plos.org/about/plos/history).
>
> But I think these boycotts (or boycott threats) can play a role in raising 
> among researchers the general awareness about the main issue at hand (OA 
> and commercial publishers). It certainly helps me, for instance, convince 
> colleagues that they shouldn't be bothered by Elsevier's recent moves to 
> restrict its self-archiving policy.
>
> See 
> https://gowers.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/the-elsevier-boycott-one-year-on 
> for more elaborate thoughts on this subject.
>
> Marc Couture
>
>
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