South Korean Universities Settle With Elsevier

South Korean universities, which have been engaged in a long standoff with Elsevier over access to its major academic journal database, reached an agreement with the publishing giant, Science reported. Universities complained about the way journals are bundled, saying they were being forced to pay for titles that were rarely used. Price increases were also part of the dispute, which was resolved only the day before Elsevier had threatened to cut off the universities' access to the journals. In the end, the universities agreed to price increases of 3.5 percent to 3.9 percent. Elsevier had been seeking an increase of 4.5 percent.