TCA Letters to the Editor
Press Release
Title: Bentham Open
Date: July 2009
Organization: Georgia State University Library
Letter:
In an otherwise fair and sensible review of Bentham Open in the July 2009 issue of TCA, Jeffrey Beall quotes former Reed Elsevier CEO Sir Crispin Davis' 2004 testimony to the UK House of Commons:
"if you are receiving potential payment for every article submitted, there is an inherent conflict of interest that
could threaten the quality of the peer review system."
He follows this by arguing that statements such as Davis'
"offer a new perspective on the high subscription costs of journals published by companies like Reed Elsevier. Perhaps the consistent high quality their journals bring justifies the high subscription prices after all."
This seems ironic in the wake of revelations, reported in April by both The Australian and The Scientist, that Elsevier published The Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine without disclosing that: a)it wasn't a legitimate journal, and b)it was was paid for by Merck.
William Walsh
wwalsh@gsu.edu
George State University Library
