Dear Anthony,
No, I have no special evidence. I simply referred to an article I thought might be interesting to the list. And yes, I know the journalist well enough (1) to believe him when he says that he has his information ‘on good authority’, and (2) to know that he will not share his source with me.
In the meantime, your information about editors receiving substantial payments triggered a question. Where would the loyalty of these editors go in the sometimes heated debate between research funders and publishers about OA or Plan S?
Leo
From: Anthony Watkinson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2019 09:36:35 +0000
I have no idea where the information about Elsevier policies have come from but there is one assertion in this curious report that is so incorrect that I want to counter it. I have run journals for parts or all of the lists of four major companies over forty years. I have never published a journal the editor of which received no payment. Sometimes in the medical world the amounts were substantial.
I know what I am talking about. I wrote the contracts. Sometimes but rarely the payment (at the editor’s request) was described as expenses - drawn upon for air fares - but usually they were clearly differentiated from expenses incurred in editing the journal and quite often the costs of a journal office (the editor’s assistant etc) were also likewise subject to a separate clause.
Now I have never worked for Elsevier. Maybe Leo has special evidence. Please disclose this.
Anthony
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2019 19:11:00 +0100
For those who think that Elsevier, positioning itself as an information analytics company, might be less interested in individual journals the following article might be revealing.
Leo Waaijers