Support the University of California in its attempt to transform the landscape of scholarly publishing. Boycott Elsevier journals by: (1) publishing your work elsewhere and (2) refusing to donate your time to them as a reviewer or editorial board member.

Academic research, often carried out with taxpayer dollars, is disseminated through publication in scholarly journals. In recent years for-profit publishers such as Amsterdam-based Elsevier corporation have developed a strangle-hold on the business of scholarly publishing. By purchasing thousands of journals, relying on free labor from academics, and placing results of publicly-funded research behind paywalls Elsevier has increased the cost of scientific research and decreased our access to it.

The University of California (UC) has been seeking sustainable cost controls. UC was also pursuing a transformative agreement with Elsevier in which: (1) authors would retain copyright to their own work; (2) published articles would immediately become freely accessible; and (3) payments for open access publishing would be offset by UC's Elsevier subscription expenditures.

Elsevier has been unwilling to accept the terms of UC's proposal, and UC no longer has a contract with Elsevier. If you are a member of the UC system, express your support for the university's commitment to affordable and sustainable open-access publishing. If you are not a member of the UC system, help spread the word and expand the boycott.

Research that is inaccessible to scholars may as well not be published.

Dyche Mullins, Professor UCSF/Investigator HHMI

Peter Walter, Professor UCSF/Investigator HHMI

See who has signed the petition here: https://mullinslab.ucsf.edu/elsevier-petition/