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For more than a decade, the scholarly journal - the established means of vetting and disseminating research - has been the preserve of an increasingly powerful group of international publishers. Using copyright and licensing strategies, these commercial giants sell back to universities at exorbitant cost the very content universities provide them for nothing. At Penn, journals presently account for nearly 70% of the Library’s materials budget; and, around the nation, university libraries have been constrained to cancel serials and reduce book acquisitions in order to control spiraling journal costs.
The problem of scholarly publishing has a direct impact on faculty and their students:
Through cooperative action, the academic community can begin to secure the independence of scholarly communication from commercial interests. To learn how, we invite you to explore the following pages and join the movement for independence.
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Perspectives
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