Short answers, pulled from the story.
Elsevier was founded in 1880 and adopted its name and logo from the Dutch publishing house Elzevir, founded by Lodewijk Elzevir in Leiden in 1580, though the two companies have no direct organizational connection. The logo, a tree entwined with a vine and the words Non Solus (Latin for "not alone"), was the Elzevir family's original printer's mark.
Elsevier reported a profit before tax of £2.295 billion with an adjusted operating margin of 33.1% in 2023. Critics argue the margins are high because much of the research Elsevier publishes is funded by public money through government grants, yet the company charges universities subscription fees that some schools pay at over a million pounds annually.
The Cost of Knowledge boycott began after mathematician Timothy Gowers publicly announced on the 21st of January 2012 that he would refuse to submit papers to, review for, or serve on editorial boards of Elsevier journals. A petition on the site The Cost of Knowledge gathered over 5,000 signatures by February 2012 and grew to over 17,000 by November 2018.
Germany's DEAL consortium, representing over 60 major research institutions, canceled contracts with Elsevier effective the 1st of January 2017, citing Elsevier's refusal to adopt transparent business models or make publications more openly accessible. By August 2017, at least 185 German institutions had canceled, and as of 2023 almost no academic institution in Germany subscribes to Elsevier.
Between 2000 and 2005, Elsevier's Australia office produced six publications under the Excerpta Medica imprint that were made to resemble peer-reviewed journals but contained only articles favorable to pharmaceutical clients, including the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine. In May 2009, Elsevier Health Sciences CEO Hansen acknowledged these were "an unacceptable practice".
ScienceDirect is Elsevier's platform for online access to its journals and over 40,000 e-books, reference works, and handbooks. It launched in 1997, built on research and trials going back to 1991, and was the first online repository of electronic scientific books and articles. Articles are grouped into Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences and Humanities.