Bibsam Consortium
Bibsam Consortium is a consortium in which 85 higher education and research institutions in Sweden participate to negotiate license agreements for electronic information resources.{{cite web|title=Sweden cancels Elsevier contract as open-access dispute spreads|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/sweden-cancels-elsevier-contract-open-access-dispute-spreads#survey-answer|website=Times Higher Education (THE)|accessdate=21 May 2018|language=en|date=16 May 2018}}{{cite web|title=Bibsam Consortium|url=https://www.kb.se/Dokument/Bibliotek/databaser/BIBSAM%20in%20English.pdf|accessdate=21 May 2018}} The consortium is headed by the National Library of Sweden and negotiates as well as administrates license agreements for e-resource packages. The participating institutions sign a power of attorney which allows the National Librarian to sign contracts with the e-resource providers.
History and scope
The Bibsam Consortium was formed in 1996 in order to negotiate license agreements for electronic resources on behalf of Swedish Universities, research institutes and government agencies. The total turnover of the agreements in 2015 was € 33 million and € 35 million in 2017 {{cite web|title=Sweden stands up for open access – cancels agreement with Elsevier|url=http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/kungliga_biblioteket/pressreleases/sweden-stands-up-for-open-access-cancels-agreement-with-elsevier-2508242|website=Mynewsdesk|accessdate=21 May 2018|language=en}} with 73% of the turnover being generated by the ten largest universities in Sweden. There are six members in National Library of Sweden to negotiate and administer the 100 license agreements for approximately 40 e-resource packages.
Negotiation with Elsevier
In 2018, the Bibsam Consortium terminated its agreement with Elsevier publishers in order to stop rising prices of publishing and to support open access publishing.{{cite web|title=Sweden to open source digital science journals and boycotts Elsevier|url=https://goodereader.com/blog/digital-education/sweden-to-open-source-digital-science-journals-and-boycotts-elsevier|website=Good e-Reader|accessdate=21 May 2018|date=18 May 2018}} The termination went into effect on 1 July 2018, as a result of which Swedish Universities and colleges had no access to any items published after this date in 2100 e-journals published by Elsevier. Sll articles published between 1 January 1995 and 30 June 2018 were still available.{{cite web|title=Sweden makes a stand for open access – terminates Elsevier agreement Karolinska Institutet Universitetsbiblioteket|url=https://kib.ki.se/en/whatsup/news/sweden-makes-stand-open-access-terminates-elsevier-agreement|website=kib.ki.se|accessdate=21 May 2018|language=en}} Astrid Söderbergh Widding, president of Stockholm University, chair of the Bibsam consortium steering committee and head of the negotiation team, said:
{{quote|Increasing costs of scientific information are straining university budgets on a global scale while publishers operate on high profit margins. An alternative to the current publishing and pricing model is 'open access', where institutions pay to publish their articles and the articles become open for everyone to read, immediately upon publication. We need to monitor the total cost of publication as we see a tendency towards a rapid increase of costs for both reading and publishing. The current system for scholarly communication must change and our only option is to cancel deals when they don’t meet our demands for a sustainable transition to open access.{{cite web|title=Sweden stands up for open access – cancels agreement with Elsevier|url=http://openaccess.blogg.kb.se/2018/05/16/sweden-stands-up-for-open-access-cancels-agreement-with-elsevier/|website=OpenAccess.se|accessdate=21 May 2018|language=sv-SE|date=16 May 2018}}
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The requirements that Bibsam Consortium asks for were:{{cite news |title=The agreement with Elsevier is cancelled – Sweden stands up for Open Access - Mälardalen University Sweden |url=http://www.mdh.se/avtalet-med-elsevier-sags-upp-sverige-tar-stallning-for-oppen-tillgang-1.111854?l=en_UK |accessdate=12 June 2018 |work=www.mdh.se |language=en}}
- Immediate open access to all articles published by researchers affiliated to participating organizations in Elsevier journals.
- Reading access for participating organisations to all articles in Elsevier’s journals.
- A sustainable price model that enables a transition to open access.