Elsevier have a right to price their journals as they see fit, but they must be honest in their reasoning and not attack boycotters with untruths. | Impact of Social Sciences
But the reality is that my journal was founded as a commercial venture by a commercial publisher, Academic Press, later taken over by Elsevier. It was they that took the risk initially, and it is they that get the rewards today. There is nothing immoral about entrepreneurial capitalism.
No individual or library is forced to subscribe to Explorations in Economic History and I know a large number of prominent economic historians who do not do so, on value for money grounds. No academic is forced to submit their work to my Journal, and no academic is forced to act as a referee when I asked them to do so.
I therefore have no difficulty in defending Elsevier’s right to price its journals as it sees fit. Equally, I have no difficulty in understanding the decisions of individuals and libraries not to subscribe to Elsevier’s journals
