"Timothy Gowers's first big assault on academic publishing started almost by accident.
In 2012, the Cambridge mathematician took to his blog to write a post bemoaning the exorbitant prices that journals charge for access to research. Gowers vowed to stop sending his papers to any journal from the world's largest academic publisher, Elsevier.
tim gowers
To his surprise, the post went viral — and spurred a worldwide boycott of Elsevier, [...]"
Be top scientist
Publish a statement of intent on your widely followed blog
People who have felt the same way but could not express their opinion without damaging their career follow
be surprised
How much is this article insulting the reader's intelligence?
Well, Gowers went at great length explaining its motivations [0] (see the following quote, from [1]). So saying that Gowers started attacking Elsevier "by accident" and "was surprised that it grew as a movement" is very disrespectful to Gowers, to truth, and also a bit to the reader.
"Once I did hear about Elsevier’s behaviour, I made a conscious decision not to publish in Elsevier journals and I started to feel bad about cooperating with them in any way. [...]
Now, however, I have decided that my previous quiet approach was not enough."
Comments
In 2012, the Cambridge mathematician took to his blog to write a post bemoaning the exorbitant prices that journals charge for access to research. Gowers vowed to stop sending his papers to any journal from the world's largest academic publisher, Elsevier. tim gowers
To his surprise, the post went viral — and spurred a worldwide boycott of Elsevier, [...]"
How much is this article insulting the reader's intelligence?
I didn't get that sense. Could you explain why you feel it's insulting?
Well, Gowers went at great length explaining its motivations [0] (see the following quote, from [1]). So saying that Gowers started attacking Elsevier "by accident" and "was surprised that it grew as a movement" is very disrespectful to Gowers, to truth, and also a bit to the reader.
[0] https://gowers.wordpress.com/category/elsevier/
[1] https://gowers.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/elsevier-my-part-in-...