UK university drops Elsevier deal

London: The University of Surrey has opted out of a subscription deal with the academic publishing giant Elsevier, saying the arrangement is not financially sustainable.

The move, coming after the University of Sheffield cancelled its subscription deal with Elsevier, further spotlights how the crisis in university finances is beginning to impact on universities’ subscription deals with publishers—and on the publishing industry.

Surrey had been part of arrangements negotiated by Jisc, which negotiates publisher deals on behalf of the UK’s higher education sector and other partners. A spokesperson for Elsevier told Research Professional News that it currently has an agreement with over 150 institutions in the UK, and that the publisher was “delighted” to have Jisc “as customers going into 2025”.

However, a spokesperson for Surrey told RPN that the university continuously reviews all it commercial subscriptions for value for money, and had concluded that the Jisc-negotiated ‘Read and Publish’ deal with Elsevier was “not sustainable in the current financial climate”.

“We will continue to subscribe to the most-used individual Elsevier journal titles and will enable our students and researchers to read articles via post-cancellation access to previous subscribed content, via open access and via inter-library loans,” the spokesperson said.

“We also look forward to continuing to work with Jisc and with publishers on future publishing deals which are financially sustainable, open, transparent and equitable.”

RPN understands that publication by Surrey researchers in Elsevier journals will not be affected by the move.

Last month, the Sheffield cancelled its Jisc-negotiated subscription deal, citing concerns over the “sustainability of the current commercial scientific publishing model”. A spokesperson for Sheffield also said publication for its researchers would be unaffected.

An Elsevier spokesperson said it was “aware of the difficult financial conditions some institutions are under”, adding the company has “worked closely with Jisc to provide relief, and we’ll continue to work with them on a case-by-case basis to support UK institutions”.