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Reed Elsevier officials have admitted that it was a mistake for the STM publisher's marketing division to offer $25 (£15) Amazon gift cards to anyone who would give a new textbook five stars in a review posted on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
According to website Inside Higher Ed, Elsevier's marketing division sent an email to at least one contributor to the textbook Clinical Psychology, asking them to post "some 5 star reviews" on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble to help support and promote the book.
It added: "For your time, we would like to compensate you with a copy of the book under review as well as a $25 Amazon gift card."
Cindy Minor, marketing manager for science and technology at Elsevier, said that the e-mail did not reflect Elsevier policy. She called the request for five star reviews "a poorly written e-mail" by "an overzealous employee."
Tom Reller, director of corporate relations for Elsevier, said it was not wrong to encourage interested parties to post reviews, nor to compensate them. "But in all instances the request should be unbiased, with no incentives for a positive review, and that's where this particular e-mail went too far."