Friend Bob Jarrett sent me a link to this video, which was originally posted on PhD Comics. It is also on You Tube. Click on the image below to start the video.
Here is an article from The Economist about academics boycotting Elsevier, 'our Dutch masters' as my wife, a librarian, calls them. I have learned much about the journal business from her, and have also learned not to mention certain publishers' names around her when she is carrying a sharp object.
A number of years ago, an Elsevier official visited me, primarily to see if I wanted to write a book (I didn't). The topic moved to journals, and the exorbitant prices Elsevier charged for its journals, especially the Journal of Hydrology, at the time my favorite journal. Elsevier was (still is?) buying up journals left and right. The official had the gall to tell me that the plan was to buy up lots of journals, then lower the prices to make them more accessible. My response is below; hers was a blank stare.
"Do I look that stupid?"
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