Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative Agreement
In March 2021, the University of California (UC) and Elsevier announced a new so-called “transformative agreement” that included slightly discounted article processing charges as UC’s route to open access in Elsevier journals. Librarians and researchers expressed immediate concern that this deal uph...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Iowa State University Digital Press
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication |
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| Online Access: | https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/12908/ |
| _version_ | 1797222144973733888 |
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| author | Arthur Jason Boston |
| author_facet | Arthur Jason Boston |
| author_sort | Arthur Jason Boston |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In March 2021, the University of California (UC) and Elsevier announced a new so-called “transformative agreement” that included slightly discounted article processing charges as UC’s route to open access in Elsevier journals. Librarians and researchers expressed immediate concern that this deal upheld inequities in the research system. The UC/Elsevier deal, however, is just one of many that include expensive pay-to-publish structures. This commentary proposes an alternative contract between libraries and publishers that would enable wider reading and lower costs, called Read & Let Read. The three main points of a Read & Let Read deal include a half-dollar valuation of individual journal articles, prepayment on a university’s estimated usage, and an equal payment made for usage outside of the university. If a Read & Let Read deal were implemented at UC, UC would pay a slightly higher amount of money to Elsevier than they are expected to at present, and they would not flip any articles to open access. Instead, they would contribute toward a more equitably distributed system of scholarly readership. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:16:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ee84a2275e2a416499f0770764065f3c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2162-3309 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:16:40Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | Iowa State University Digital Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-ee84a2275e2a416499f0770764065f3c2024-04-04T17:34:15ZengIowa State University Digital PressJournal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication2162-33092021-11-019110.31274/jlsc.12908Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative AgreementArthur Jason Boston0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8590-4663University Libraries, Murray State UniversityIn March 2021, the University of California (UC) and Elsevier announced a new so-called “transformative agreement” that included slightly discounted article processing charges as UC’s route to open access in Elsevier journals. Librarians and researchers expressed immediate concern that this deal upheld inequities in the research system. The UC/Elsevier deal, however, is just one of many that include expensive pay-to-publish structures. This commentary proposes an alternative contract between libraries and publishers that would enable wider reading and lower costs, called Read & Let Read. The three main points of a Read & Let Read deal include a half-dollar valuation of individual journal articles, prepayment on a university’s estimated usage, and an equal payment made for usage outside of the university. If a Read & Let Read deal were implemented at UC, UC would pay a slightly higher amount of money to Elsevier than they are expected to at present, and they would not flip any articles to open access. Instead, they would contribute toward a more equitably distributed system of scholarly readership.https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/12908/big dealsopen accesstransformative agreementarticle processing charge |
| spellingShingle | Arthur Jason Boston Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative Agreement Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication big deals open access transformative agreement article processing charge |
| title | Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative Agreement |
| title_full | Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative Agreement |
| title_fullStr | Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative Agreement |
| title_full_unstemmed | Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative Agreement |
| title_short | Read & Let Read: An Alternative to the Transformative Agreement |
| title_sort | read let read an alternative to the transformative agreement |
| topic | big deals open access transformative agreement article processing charge |
| url | https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/12908/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arthurjasonboston readletreadanalternativetothetransformativeagreement |