A Look Inside the Boycott of Elsevier: A Q&A with Tim Gowers and Tyler Neylon
A Look Inside the Boycott of Elsevier: A Q&A with Tim Gowers and Tyler NeylonHere a highlight from two separate interviews with Tim Gowers and Tyler Neylon. The article provides some background info on how the boycott came to life.
Q: When did you become an advocate for a change in the journal publishing system, and for Open Access?
Neylon: I have two major interests: math research and software. With both, you are aware of how easy it is to disseminate information on the Internet. Throughout my career I have been painfully aware of the inefficiency of scholarly publishing. If you know what technology can do, you are always seeing better ways of doing things. When I left NYU, it got harder for me to access research. I either had to sneak into, or pay $500 per year for access to an academic library. You shouldn’t have to pay if researchers don’t want you to pay.
Q: Who is responding to the boycott?
Neylon: The vast majority are professors at good universities. The most are in math, about 20 percent.
Q: Why are most in math?Neylon: People in math are particularly done with Elsevier. There were many resignations from their editorial boards. Mathematicians hate drama. To get a mathematician to resign, something must be seriously wrong.