Scholarly Communications Update

From: Larry P. Alford, Chief Librarian
Date: December 2, 2021
Re: Scholarly Communications Update

Canada’s largest library consortia, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, realized a significant milestone towards its goal to transform scholarly communication and achieve widespread access to knowledge by leveraging the participation of prominent members of the academic community, including President Gertler, in negotiations with Elsevier. The new agreement for ScienceDirect ejournals includes a cost reduction of 10.5% over 3 years, a 20% discount on Author Processing Charges for most journals, and the elimination of a non-disclosure clause.

To amplify this national achievement, the Library is redirecting funds previously earmarked for Elsevier towards a collections initiative that advances our own open access (OA) and inclusion, diversity, and equity goals. Noteworthy uses of the savings so far include participation in the PLOS Community Action Publishing program, and the expansion of our partnership with the University of Toronto Press. Publishing in OA journals or an OA monograph fulfills the mandate of funders, like the Tri-Agencies, who require that research generated from their grants be open and studies show that OA articles are more discoverable and may be cited more than those found behind paywalls.

In the coming year, the University of Toronto Libraries will continue to work with partners to explore new publishing models that lower costs and provide University of Toronto researchers with options to increase the impact of their scholarship by making it freely available to the global community.