Letter from The University of California threatens to boycott Nature Publishing Group

Nature Publishing Group is set to increase subscription fees in 2011 by 400% costing the University of California well over $1 million per year for the 67 journals. The letter describes the proposed price increase as “of unprecedented magnitude” and calls for NPG to keep the current subscription agreement or faculty will be asked to;

• Decline to peer review manuscripts for journals from the Nature Publishing Group.
• Resign from Nature Publishing Group editorial and advisory boards.
• Cease to submit papers to the Nature Publishing Group.
• Refrain from advertising any open or new UC positions in Nature Publishing Group journals.
• Talk widely about Nature Publishing Group pricing tactics and business strategies with colleagues outside UC, and encourage sympathy actions such as those listed above.

 “NPG has made their ultimatum with full knowledge that our libraries are under economic distress,” it says. “...Capitulating to NPG now would wipe out all of the recent cost-saving measures taken by CDL [California Digital Library] and our campus libraries to reduce expenditures for electronic journals.”

The letter continues that UC authors have produced 5,300 articles in Nature journals over the past six years and claims that these have contributed “at least” $19 million to NPG in revenue.

UC suggests that University of California scholars can help break the monopoly that commercial profit entities like NPG hold over the work that they create through positive actions such as publishing in Open Access (OA) journals.

OA journals such as ecancermedicalscience, where the author retains copyright, are increasing in popularity. ecancermedicalscience makes no charge for submitting, publishing or subscribing to an article and believes that the medical community and the public should not have to pay to access the latest oncology research.

Read the full letter from the University of California here