University of California terminates contract with Elsevier over journal costs and open access

Staff and students at the University of California are waiting to find out when Elsevier will cut off access to its journals, after the university ended its contract with the publishing giant. The university says negotiations to renew a contract across its 10 campuses broke down because Elsevier refused to agree to universal open access for the institutions’ research and to lower the costs of journal subscriptions. Rumours are circulating that some academics will no longer review for Elsevier and a petition has been started by a University of California researcher calling for a boycott of the publishing giant.