Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛

Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛

@rlmcelreath · Twitter ·

What happened when MIT stopped paying Elsevier? Not much except they are saving a lot of money. "MIT is interested in collaborating with other libraries to reinvest these funds in community-controlled open publishing initiatives..." https://sparcopen.org/our-work/big-deal-knowledge-base/unbundling-profiles/mit-libraries/

MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing its largest journal contract as overwhelmingly positive. MIT has long tried to avoid vendor lock-in through big deal contracts and, in 2019, maintained individual title-by-title subscriptions to approximately 675 Elsevier titles. In 2020, they took the significant step of canceling the full Elsevier journals contract – all 675 titles – leaving users with immediate access to only pre-2020 backfile content. Since the cancellation, MIT Libraries estimates annual savings at more than 80% of its original spend. This move saves MIT approximately $2 million each year, and the Libraries provide alternative means of access that fulfills most article requests in minutes.