RE: NYTimes: Reed Elsevier's Online Ads

["Blackwell, Lisa" <BlackweL@chi.osu.edu>]

I have to concur that Elsevier's gamble is a really creative way 
to play the market. They have taken note of the trend that many 
Academic Medical Colleges have begun to follow - banning drug 
reps from direct marketing on their campuses to avoid ethical 
questions regarding undue influence on medical students, 
clinicians, researchers, etc. Pharmaceutical companies have also 
begun to explore how to meet the challenge because they depend a 
great deal on direct marketing. Hence, the overwhelming success 
(to the great consternation on the part of clinicians) of their 
direct-to-consumer advertising.

However, I think it's a bit premature to jump to the conclusion 
that this might spell the end of library subscription practices. 
Taking a step back to look at the picture, the requirements for a 
physician to participate in this venture are probably going to be 
rather tightly monitored. I would doubt that just any general 
practitioner/researcher could sign on if they were not 
credentialed to be practicing/researching in the specific field 
(although it's certainly possible that the inclusion criteria 
will be much broader than I'm assuming).

Second, there will always be a huge population of students, 
researchers, general public etc. who need/want to access the 
literature and who are not eligible to sign on to the service. 
The need for institutional subscriptions will not vanish. What 
may be genuine concern stemming from this maneuver, particularly 
if adopted by other publishers, could be the escalation of 
institutional subscription prices. That may or may not be 
moderated by revenues generated from pharmaceutical companies 
supporting the model. Bottom line, from my perspective, is that 
the really important issue to be addressed is ethical. Will the 
medical establishment trade their emerging ethical standards 
regarding pharmaceutical industry and similar influences on their 
members for easy (free) access to pricey critical research? Lisa

Lisa S. Blackwell, MLS

-----Original Message-----
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Sandy Thatcher
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:58 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: NYTimes: Reed Elsevier's Online Ads

One has to give credit to Elsevier for creative thinking: this is
a stroke of genius! As for how it will generalize, I have my
doubts. Pharmaceutical companies spend huge amounts on
advertising. Imagine how one would support publishing, say, our
"Journal of Speculative Philosophy" on this model.

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State Press