The University of California has been out of contract with Elsevier since January. Unfortunately, in late February the negotiations stalled. In the months since, Elsevier continued to provide access to new articles via ScienceDirect. As of July 10, UC's direct access to new Elsevier articles has been discontinued.
At this time UC no longer has direct access to 2019 articles in Elsevier journals or to the backfiles of some lesser-used journals (download the list). Everything else is still accessible via ScienceDirect.
The UCSB Library is prepared to help you access the articles you need. To access articles that are no longer available via ScienceDirect:
- Use the interlibrary loan request form or click on “Interlibrary Loan” in UCSB Library Search. All requests for content no longer licensed through Elsevier will automatically be placed into a separate queue. Please use the Special Instructions/Notes field to indicate urgent requests. The Library will use a document supplier to meet time-sensitive needs; by fall, we should be able to offer unmediated document delivery for Elsevier articles for all faculty and academic staff.
Additional alternative access options include:
- Contact the corresponding author to request a copy. Academic social networks like ResearchGate can facilitate those requests.
- Use tools like Google Scholar, Unpaywall and Open Access Button to quickly find open access copies, when available.
- When the article is urgently needed, the Library will reimburse personal article purchases made by faculty through the ScienceDirect platform (contact library-ill@ucsb.edu
for details). - To learn more, visit Alternative Access to Elsevier Articles.
If you run into problems with accessing material, we’re here to help. Contact our Interlibrary Loan staff at library-ill@ucsb.edu or your librarian.
We will be carefully evaluating the impact of losing access to new articles on ScienceDirect over the coming months, and will do our best to ensure that you have access to the articles you need. In order to enable an accurate assessment, the systemwide faculty Senate has encouraged stakeholders across the University to use alternative access methods or contact their campus library for assistance in obtaining articles, rather than taking independent subscriptions to Elsevier journals while this assessment is underway.
Meanwhile, UC is hoping to reenter formal negotiations with Elsevier if the publisher indicates that it is willing to discuss a contract that meets the faculty-supported goals of containing journal subscription costs and providing for open access publication of UC research. If a contract is not possible in the future, we will consider additional strategies, including subscribing to individual Elsevier titles. For the moment, there is a great deal of support nationally and internationally, including throughout the UC system, for the University of California’s negotiating position.
If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your librarian or library-ill@ucsb.edu at any time.
This article was originally published on July 10, 2019.
