The University of California and Elsevier may resume negotiations regarding the the university system's access to Elsevier journals, Times Higher Education reports.
UC decided last year not to renew its subscription with the scientific publisher Elsevier. The two sides had been embroiled in contract negotiations in which UC preferred a "read-and-publish" contract in which journal subscription and open-access publishing fees are combined and Elsevier wanted to maintain the current model in which those fees are separated. In deciding not to renew its contract, Robert May, chair of UC's faculty Academic Senate, said "[k]nowledge should not be accessible only to those who can pay."
THE reports that the two sides may re-start discussions, a move it notes comes after the UC system has come to agreements with other publishers, including Cambridge University Press, the Association for Computing Machinery, and JMIR Publications. "[W]e are hopeful that this suggests that the publisher is ready to discuss deals that align with UC's goals," the university system says in a statement.