Since Elsevier also plays in the database and scholarly publishing arena, we thought this article was worth posting.
As if the textbook industry didn’t have an image problem already…
Elsevier officials said Monday that it was a mistake for the publishing giant’s marketing division to offer $25 Amazon gift cards to anyone who would give a new textbook five stars in a review posted on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. While those popular Web sites’ customer reviews have long been known to be something less than scientific, and prone to manipulation if an author has friends write on behalf of a new work, the idea that a major academic publisher would attempt to pay for good reviews angered some professors who received the e-mail pitch.
The full text of the email asking for a positive Amazon or B&N review and sent to textbook contributors is included in the article.
Source: Inside Higher Ed
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 and is filed under Information Industry.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.