MIT ends negotiations with Elsevier over research access dispute

MIT is the latest institution to end negotiations with publishing giant Elsevier. Since the University of California system announced last year that it would not renew its contract with Elsevier over a dispute on payment for open-access research, other universities, including the University of North Carolina, have also followed suit. MIT's announcement didn't specify the details of why it was severing ties with Elsevier, but said that the terms proposed by the publisher "did not align" with the principles that MIT has set for contracts with academic publishers. These principles, which have also been undersigned by more than 100 other universities, call for transparency and fairness in pricing in an effort to foster open-access research. Although MIT said it hopes to resume negotiations, Elsevier journals won't be available to the university's community after July 1.