What’s happening?
Negotiations are taking place this year to establish new Read and Publish agreements with five of the major commercial journal publishers – Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, and Sage.
The new agreements being negotiated are for 2026 onwards. Current agreements covering reading and publishing in journals owned by these publishers are still in place until the end of this year.
The negotiations are sector wide, involving many other UK universities alongside us. Jisc – the not-for-profit UK digital, data and technology agency focused on tertiary education, research and innovation – is representing the higher education sector in these negotiations.
Over the coming months, Jisc will work with the publishers on their renewal offers and consult with the sector on the acceptability of the publishers’ offers. Throughout this process, we will be consulting regularly with the academic and research community at Cambridge.
What we are asking for
Part of the Next Generation Open Access programme, these negotiations seek to accelerate the transition to more sustainable and inclusive publishing models. Its two overarching goals are to:
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Achieve cost savings and long-term financial sustainability by securing agreements that reflect the sector’s financial realities.
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Broaden participation in research by promoting equity and inclusivity in research dissemination by moving away from article-based models.
Key factors we are considering in negotiations:
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Academic needs across disciplines for teaching and research
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Our financial position
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Advancing open research
We’ll prioritise agreements with publishers that make positive steps towards what’s right for the academic community and the advancement of research.
Which journals are included in the negotiations?
All journals published by Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, and Sage.
You can look up the journals that matter to you at: https://www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk/publishing-open-access/read-publish-journals
Do I need to do anything differently this year?
All existing agreements are fully in place until the end of this year for reading and publishing. You don’t need to do anything differently this year.
For researchers publishing work, remember to deposit your articles in the University’s research repository Apollo by uploading the file to your Symplectic Elements account. This allows you to retain your rights and ensures you meet REF and other funder requirements to publish open access. If you need help with this or have questions about open access and funder requirements, you can email the University’s Open Access team: info@openaccess.cam.ac.uk
What are the issues with the current agreements?
The deals with these five publishers cost millions every year, across the sector, and for Cambridge individually.
The current pricing model for the read and publish agreements uses costly article processing charges (APCs), which is a charge from the publisher per article for making research open access. This can cost thousands per article, which limits or even excludes some researchers in less well funded institutions, locations and disciplines.
At the same time, the agreements overlook the unpaid contributions of academics and researchers to publishers: universities and researchers provide research free of charge, pay to publish it, provide unpaid peer review and editorial services, and then pay to read the articles.
Publishers provide a service and want to make a profit, but this must be in proportion – with fair agreements that work with, not against, the research community they rely on.
Everywhere, including Cambridge, has reduced budgets and tough choices within that – rising costs in one area has consequences for investment in others.
What happens if new agreements can’t be reached before 2026?
It is in everyone’s interest to have new agreements in place with all five publishers before 2026.
If that’s looking like it won’t be possible, with any of the publishers, we have detailed contingency plans, which we’ll share with you.
Why these negotiations matter
The current pricing model has been unfair for some time and has led to unsustainable costs for universities and barriers for many researchers.
We want to invest in fair, inclusive and sustainable agreements that best serve the academic and research community.
By prioritising inclusivity, integrity and collaboration within the research ecosystem, we can accelerate knowledge discoveries, support economic growth, raise standards, and ensure the UK, and of course Cambridge, remains a global leader in research and innovation.
How can I give my views?
We will be consulting with students, researchers and academics at all levels across the University throughout this process.
We’ll keep this web page up to date, including adding new FAQs and new information as we have it to share. Please do participate in meetings, town halls and surveys as they come up.
If you have any questions or want to give feedback individually, you can use this simple feedback form.
We are working to get the best deals for you and it really matters what you think.