EHB, Elsevier Survey Results

Dear HBES Members:

The results from the survey you all filled out about Evolution and Human Behavior and Elsevier were very clear, and very helpful. We received around 280 responses to each survey question.

The main question of the survey was: Given that the transition would eliminate $130K/year inflow into the Society’s reserves, how important is it to you that the official journal of HBES be an open-access journal…. (first chart) eventually, within ~5 years …. (middle chart) soon, within ~2 years ….(last chart) ASAP. The scale was: -5 = strongly against to +5 = strongly in favor.

 

 

 

Most people did not want to cut ties with Elsevier ASAP to go open-access (panel c); many people were in favor of having our own open-access journal in about five years (panel a), and the field was split on the question of exiting to go open-access in about two years (panel b).

Given these results, we negotiated a 3 year contract with Elsevier, on good terms, which can be reconsidered in 2022. Many thanks for the guidance, helpful comments, and feedback! We will continue to involve you in these decisions moving forward.

 

Sincerely,

HBES Executive Council and Publication Committee