Three major research universities opt out of new Elsevier deal

Three UK research-intensive universities have revealed they will not be renewing subscriptions to Elsevier journals amid concerns over the cost of a nationally agreed deal.

Last month the sector IT body Jisc, which has been leading talks with the “big five” academic publishers – Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Sage – on behalf of the UK sector, announced negotiations had successfully concluded after nine months of talks.

While Jisc said the deals represented “strong, market-leading offers that maximise value and deliver savings compared to historic pricing”, several universities have chosen not to take up subscriptions with the world’s largest publisher Elsevier, which runs more than 2,800 journals.

In an statement on future journal access the University of Kent confirmed it is “not renewing the Elsevier Read and Publish agreement in 2026”, stating “funds released will be used to support a more sustainable and researcher focused approach to Open Access (OA) publishing at Kent, which includes funding for APCs [article processing charges] in Elsevier journals.” Details of whether the university will sign up to agreements with the other four publishers have not yet been released.

An update by the University of Essex also confirms its deal with Elsevier has not been renewed, though agreements with Sage, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis and Wiley for 2026 onwards are in place.

“While the final offer from Elsevier was accepted in principle by the sector in national negotiations led by Jisc, our analysis is that the agreement is not acceptable to us locally,” it said.

“Specifically, we were unhappy with the price increases, and Elsevier’s unwillingness to commit to a shift toward a more sustainable model of open access publishing,” it continued, stating Essex would “continue to monitor Elsevier usage throughout 2026 and will continue to engage in sector conversations around this publisher to inform our approach going forward”.

The University of Sussex is also understood not to have renewed its agreement with Elsevier, listing on its website agreements for 2026-28 with Taylor & Francis and other smaller publishers but not Elsevier, Springer Nature and Sage beyond 2025. The university declined to comment. 

Most UK universities have yet to declare whether they are taking up the Jisc-negotiated Elsevier deal, with the 2023-25 agreement extended for a month until the end of January to allow for further talks.

However, more universities will opt out once the grace period has expired, predicted a senior librarian at an institution that is one of those not taking up the Elsevier deal.

“I thought it was a good deal and Jisc did well but whatever happened in the negotiations we knew we couldn’t afford the Elsevier deal,” they explained.

“We have to find significant non-pay budget savings so this was the obvious place to start,” they continued, noting such decisions were made months ago at the highest level of university management.

The universities of Sheffield, Surrey and York, which cancelled their Elsevier deals at the start of 2025, have shown researchers could cope without direct access to the publisher’s titles, which include Cell and The Lancet, they added.

“‘Read’ was always the most important part for us but those three universities showed researchers could access materials very quickly, usually within half an hour [via interlibrary loans], they explained.

“I don’t know what those three are doing but I’d be amazed if they went back in,” they added on the institutions which have yet to publicly announce whether they are taking up the Elsevier offer.

Universities had been seeking price reductions of between 5 and 15 per cent on the £112 million spent annually with these five publishing houses when their deals expired at the end of 2025.

Among those confirming they will take up Elsevier’s deal are the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter and Glasgow, as well as Queen’s University Belfast.

In a statement Elsevier said it was “delighted to see a high level of participation in our agreement across the sector, while recognising that financial pressures mean a handful of institutions will need to work with us individually to assess their options”.

“Together with Jisc, we continue to advance open access in ways that are sustainable and equitable, while ensuring UK researchers have access to trusted, high-quality content and innovative tools that support discovery and societal impact,” it added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com