Elsevier’s Corporate Relations Director Eric Merkel-Sobotta beklagt in Elsevier and open access (Neuroinformatics 3(1):5-10 – 2005):
that we have, as an industry, not successfully (or succinctly) explained what it is that we actually do. As a relative newcomer to STM publishing, I can safely say that it is not an industry where the KISS principle („Keep it simple, Stupid“) is widely embraced. And although what we do is definitely not self-evident from what we produce, we should spend more time coming up with better ways of explaining it. Ignorance and complication leads to misunderstanding, and that is something we don’t need right now. There have been accusations by proponents of alternative publishing models that traditional STM publishers don’t add any value.
[via Open Access News (PS weist auch darauf hin, dass nie ernsthaft in Zweifel gezogen wurde, dass Verleger einen Mehrwert beisteuern.)]