The storm warning over Topology was ineffective, and frustration within the mathematics community has become so intense that Tim Gowers, a Cambridge professor, has organised a boycott of Elsevier. As the London Mathematical Society says in the March issue of its newsletter, "the focus...is on Elsevier because of the widespread feeling among mathematicians that they are the worst offender".

Elsevier is rattled, and has sent members of the mathematics community an open letter trying to limit the damage. I doubt it will work. In his widely read blog (Gowers's Weblog), Gowers does them the courtesy of answering the points they raise in the letter, but he clearly thinks Elsevier is behind the curve. His opinion is that "the entire system of commercial publishing of academic papers needs to be replaced . . . When a paradigm shift takes place, one does not expect the main players to remain the same."

So what will happen? Academics can be a tough lot, mathematicians in particular. They spend years thinking intensely about problems they consider important, and the publishing business is vital to them because the promotion prospects of up-and-coming young researchers depend on it.

The motto of the academic community always used to be the warning "Publish or Perish", but many academics are changing it to "May the Publisher Perish". If a publisher is to survive, emollient letters like the one from Elsevier will not be enough.