Democratising Knowledge: a report on the scholarly publisher, Elsevier

In 2017, the publication of the G7 Science Communiqué set a strong precedent for a global vision where Open Science plays a fundamental role to address current and future global challenges and inequalities1. Education International mirrors this and believes that higher education and research are public services. Despite this, the current scholarly publishing and communication ecosystem is rife with tensions between private and public interests, and at the present is working against the needs and interest of the global scholarly community and wider public. One of the most dominant commercial publishers, Elsevier, a member of the multi-national corporation RELX Group, is among the most controversial actors here with a well-known history of business practices, remarkable among scholarly publishers for having extensive historical criticism from the global research community2. There are growing concerns that Elsevier, among other actors, are becoming very powerful as both publishers and knowledge service providers. Combined with soaring costs to journal subscriptions and services, political activism, extraordinarily high profit margins, and this increasing commercialisation of research infrastructure, Elsevier has positioned itself within a dysfunctional market as a leading actor in the commercialisation of knowledge, research information, and education. In a recent global survey among Education International’s affiliates in the further and higher education and research sector, a number of affiliates have pointed to the problematic situation where Elsevier are profiting hugely from publicly-funded research. However, despite widespread criticisms, there is little consensus on the best approach to challenge Elsevier. This report aims to provide the foundations for a critical study into Elsevier’s business model and practices and contribute to developing policy objectives relating to open public access to research and educational materials, academic freedom, researcher autonomy, and the scholarly communication system. This research will form a key part of Education International’s Global Response campaign on the commercialisation and marketisation in and of education aimed specifically at the further and higher education and research sector.Retrieved from the publisher, Education International Research, at: https://eiie.sharepoint.com/sites/eiwebsite/_layouts/15/download.aspx?SourceUrl=%2Fsites%2Feiwebsite%2FShared%20Documents%2FPublic%20Links%2FWebDocs%2F2018%5FEIResearch%5FElsevier%5Ffinal%5FEN%2Epdf More information: https://www.unite4education.org/global-response/elsevier-are-placing-the-future-of-scholarly-research-at-risk