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canopic jug writes:

The bad blood and high prices with academic publishing houses go back many years. Now the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) has issued a press release regarding the publisher Elesevier's unacceptable demands on the academic community, forcing the community's hand to suspend even negotiations. The HRK is the association of public and government-recognised universities in Germany consisting of 268 member institutions, in which around 94 percent of all students in Germany are enrolled. The German universities, like those in other countries, have been wishing to move to Open Access but have been stymied for decades by the big publishing houses.

“As far as we’re concerned, the aim of the ongoing negotiations with the three biggest academic publishers is to develop a future-oriented model for the publishing and reading of scientific literature. What we want is to bring an end to the pricing trend for academic journals that has the potential to prove disastrous for libraries as it stands. We are also working to promote open access, with a view to essentially making the results of publicly funded research freely accessible. The publishers should play a crucial role in achieving this. We have our sights set on a sustainable publish and read model, which means fair payment for publication and unrestricted availability for readers afterwards. Elsevier, however, is still not willing to offer a deal in the form of a nationwide agreement in Germany that responds to the needs of the academic community in line with the principles of open access and that is financially sustainable,” said Hippler.

The trouble shows no signs of abating. Even now, in a case of the fox watching the hen house, these problematic publishers have inserted themselves between the EU money and the universities even in the matter of advancing open access.

From HRK's web site: DEAL and Elsevier negotiations: Elsevier demands unacceptable for the academic community

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