London, January 22, 2026 — Three UK universities—Kent, Essex, and Sussex—are declining to renew their subscriptions to Elsevier journals, signaling a growing rift over the escalating costs of academic publishing. The move comes despite a recently negotiated national deal intended to provide savings for UK institutions.
Universities Balk at Rising Costs, Seek Open Access Alternatives
A wave of UK universities are reconsidering their relationships with major academic publishers, prioritizing sustainable open access models.
- The University of Kent, Essex, and Sussex will not renew their Elsevier agreements in 2026.
- Concerns center on price increases and Elsevier’s commitment to open access publishing.
- Other universities are still evaluating the Jisc-negotiated deal, with a final decision deadline approaching.
- The universities of Sheffield, Surrey, and York previously cancelled Elsevier deals without significant disruption to research.
What’s driving this shift in university publishing strategies? Universities are increasingly prioritizing affordable access to research and supporting open access publishing models, where research is freely available to all, rather than locked behind paywalls.
Last month, Jisc, the UK’s sector IT body, announced the successful conclusion of negotiations with five major academic publishers—Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and Sage—after nine months of talks. Jisc stated the deals offered “strong, market-leading offers that maximise value and deliver savings compared to historic pricing.” However, the savings weren’t enough to convince some institutions.
The University of Kent confirmed in a statement that it is “not renewing the Elsevier Read and Publish agreement in 2026.” Kent plans to redirect those funds toward supporting a more sustainable approach to Open Access (OA) publishing, including funding for article processing charges (APCs) in Elsevier journals.
Similarly, an update from the University of Essex confirmed its decision not to renew its Elsevier deal, despite reaching agreements with Sage, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley for 2026 and beyond. “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,” the university stated.
Essex officials specifically cited concerns about price increases and Elsevier’s perceived lack of commitment to a more sustainable open access publishing model. The university intends to “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 to have not renewed its agreement with Elsevier, listing agreements for 2026-28 with Taylor & Francis and other smaller publishers, but not Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Sage beyond 2025. The university declined to provide further comment.
Most UK universities are still weighing their options regarding the Jisc-negotiated Elsevier deal. The 2023-25 agreement was extended by a month, until the end of January, to allow for further consideration. However, a senior librarian predicted more universities will opt out once the grace period expires.
“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,” the librarian explained. “We have to find significant non-pay budget savings so this was the obvious place to start,” adding that the decision was made months ago at the highest levels of university management.
Universities had been seeking price reductions of between 5 and 15 percent on the £112 million spent annually with the five publishing houses when their deals expired at the end of 2025.
Conversely, the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, and Queen’s University Belfast have confirmed they will participate in Elsevier’s deal.
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.” The publisher added that it continues to work with Jisc 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.”
