{"id":163534,"date":"2024-01-25T13:52:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T12:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=163534"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:08","slug":"only-paid-subscriptions-can-save-scienceguide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/01\/25\/only-paid-subscriptions-can-save-scienceguide\/","title":{"rendered":"Only paid subscriptions can save ScienceGuide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalist platform ScienceGuide will cease to exist as of 17 February 2024, unless enough subscribers can be found before that date. According to the editorial staff, the financial prospects are currently not sufficient to continue.<\/p>\n

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ScienceGuide has been active as a journalist platform on the subject of higher education for 26 years. The medium is funded by a group of universities of applied sciences and other institutions affiliated to higher education such as SURF, a cooperative association of Dutch educational and research institutions. Erasmus University is not one of the financiers of the website which plays a key role in the public discussion surrounding higher education.<\/p>\n

Not one positive reaction<\/h2>

In order to help the platform recover financially, the editorial staff has asked all research universities, universities of applied sciences and umbrella organisations to make contributions over the last year. \u201cNot one positive reaction came in, despite people claiming to attach great value to an independent platform and eagerly reading the articles\u201d, wrote the editorial staff in a final urgent appeal on its website.<\/p>\n

The editorial staff therefore now has a deadline: if 2500 paying subscribers cannot be found before 17 February, the plug will be pulled. A one-year subscription costs 85 euros<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

Exclusive access<\/h2>

Should the target number be reached, then the editorial staff feels that the prospects will be sufficient to further expand the platform. The website will then be accessible to subscribers and partner institutions only.<\/p>\n

It is going to be a tense time for the three-person editorial staff. \u201cEvery day, the editorial staff\u2019s inbox is inundated with responses from readers and each year, hundreds of articles are sent in for publication. But we don\u2019t know how our valued readers and users feel about it. We\u2019re going to find that out now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial conflict with Maastricht<\/h2>

Just last October, ScienceGuide got into a conflict with Maastricht University, one of the website\u2019s financiers. The university was apparently demanding repayment of its contribution to the platform from the last two years because of an objectionable article. According to Maastricht University, that was incidentally a \u2018complete misrepresentation\u2019, the agreement with ScienceGuide had expired and the university had transferred the money by mistake. \u201cIf the money is successfully claimed back, it will likely mean the end of ScienceGuide\u201d, stated the editorial staff at the time.<\/p>\n\n\t

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