Elsevier in-principle agreement reached

CAUL and Elsevier have reached an in-principle understanding for a new read and publish agreement commencing in 2026.

We're pleased to announce that a new in-principle Elsevier Read and Publish Agreement for 2026 has been endorsed.

What does this mean?

The immediate impact for ACU is that there will be little to no disruption to Elsevier read and publish services.

What does the new agreement include?

• Substantial reduction in sector expenditure, representing savings of nearly $20 million annually compared to 2025.
• Extremely low annual uplifts, improving value relative to inflation over the life of the agreement.
• Increased publishing value through uncapped hybrid open access publishing across the full Elsevier portfolio, including Cell Press and The Lancet.
• Re-baselined expenditure that enables CAUL to begin addressing the inequities associated with Elsevier's legacy pricing model.
• A commitment from Elsevier to work with us on a more transparent transformed model for the future.

For more information, see the joint media release from CAUL, Universities Australia and Universities New Zealand.

In-principle agreement reached with global academic publisher Elsevier

Negotiations will continue throughout January, and we will continue to provide timely updates.

Thank you to everyone for supporting this work over the last few months.

Contact us if you have any questions.