Issa and Maloney Issue statement backing off from RWA

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107980702132412632948/posts/a4DzVk9n7fG

ELSEVIER withdraws support for the Research Works Act

http://tinyurl.com/6umnvqo

Why do we need academic journals in the first place?

It may not get as much attention as the disruption that is occurring in newspapers, e-books or other parts of the mainstream media industry, but there is a revolution of sorts going on in the academic publishing business..... Read more:  http://gigaom.com/2012/02/22/why-do-we-need-academic-journals-in-the-first-place/

Why scientists are boycotting a publisher

Why scientists are boycotting a publisher

The Cost of Knowledge

Researchers taking a stand against Elsevier.

Academics have protested against Elsevier's business practices for years with little effect.

http://thecostofknowledge.com/

Open and Shut?: Elsevier’s Alicia Wise on the RWA, the West Wing, and Universal Access

Open and Shut?: Elsevier’s Alicia Wise on the RWA, the West Wing, and Universal Access

Federal Research Public Access Act

Every year, the federal government funds tens of billions of dollars in basic and applied research. Most of this funding is concentrated within 11 departments/agencies (e.g., National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy). The research results typically are reported in articles published in a wide variety of academic journals. From NIH funding alone, it is estimated that about 65,000 papers are published each year. The Federal Research Public Access Act proposes to make manuscripts reporting on federally funded research publicly available within six months of publication in a journal.
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/issues/frpaa/index.shtml

Elsevier Publishing Boycott Gathers Steam Among Academics

"Elsevier, the global publishing company, is responsible for The Lancet, Cell, and about 2,000 other important journals; the iconic reference work Gray’s Anatomy, along with 20,000 other books—and one fed-up, award-winning mathematician.  Timothy Gowers of the University of Cambridge, who won the Fields Medal for his research, has organized a boycott of Elsevier because, he says, its pricing and policies restrict access to work that should be much more easily available."      See full article on Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/elsevier-publishing-boycott-gathers-steam-among-academics/35216