Statement on Elsevier agreement

We welcome the news that UK universities and research institutions/our members have reached an open access agreement with Elsevier following the sector’s acceptance of the latest proposal.

The agreement, which offers unlimited open access publishing and maintains read access, means that researchers from across our membership can publish open access across Elsevier’s full portfolio of journals including the Cell Press and Lancet titles.

The agreement meets the challenging objectives set by out the sector at the start of the negotiations: to deliver full and immediate open access, materially reduce costs to a sustainable, fair and reasonable level and deliver full compliance with UK funder policies. The savings will help our members respond to the multiple financial challenges they face and support their research ambitions.

As the largest open access agreement with UK institutions, this agreement represents a key milestone in the sector’s transition towards full and immediate open access to UK research; 80% of UK research output can now be published open access (versus a global average of 30%).  

Open access to research has never been more important and we seek to build on our collective success in these negotiations to push for greater transparency and to challenge other major suppliers to deliver greater value to UK institutions.