[Infowarrior] - Elsevier backtracks on review payola

[Richard Forno]

  Elsevier Won't Pay for Praise

June 23, 2009

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.

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http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/23/elsevier