The University of Münster terminates contract with science journal publisher Elsevier
Since 2009, students and staff of the University of Münster have been able to access the so-called “Freedom Collection” provided by Elsevier Publishing. This collection of journals comprises Elsevier’s entire e-journal product palette totalling some 2,500 titles. After recent negotiations to extend the contract past 2016 failed to achieve a positive result, the situation is such that, starting on 1 January 2017, access to all journal subscriptions will be blocked.
For the past several months, the “Alliance of German Scientific Organisations”, to which the University of Münster belongs, had campaigned to renegotiate its contract with Elsevier which would guarantee permanent access rights to all Elsevier journals including an automatic open-access switch for all publications and a new, transparent cost model. But in the end, such a deal could not be reached. All 60 universities, whose contracts expire at the end of 2016, consequently decided to discontinue their contracts in 2017.
A number of universities have already taken preliminary steps to address this problem. A project group has developed a concept to provide alternatives to all academic staff and students at the University of Münster who are affected by this decision. This includes a broad selection of diverse information-providing services – from traditional interlibrary loans to fast direct-delivery services. The cost of these services will be covered by the University Library (ULB) of the University of Münster. In this way, access to academic and scientific journals will be ensured during this contract-free period for all staff and students at the University of Münster, as well as other affected institutes.