The University of Dundee’s current subscription to Elsevier journals is our largest, both in terms of volume and cost. We currently subscribe to 1865 journals, representing almost 20% of our expenditure on scholarly materials.

As well as being widely read, researchers at Dundee publish extensively in Elsevier journals.

Our current subscription agreement with Elsevier officially expired on 31st December 2021, but whilst sector-wide negotiations have been underway, Elsevier have agreed to maintain access to their journals. The new agreement under negotiation is what is known as a ‘Read & Publish’ or Transformative Agreement. It will comprise of a ‘Read’ element which determines access to the collection of Elsevier journals, including Cell Press and Lancet titles,  as well as a ‘Publish’ element, which is intended to provide researchers with the ability to publish their research as Open Access, without the requirement for further payment of Open Access fees. The current negotiations, led by Jisc on behalf of UK universities, also have the aim of reaching an agreement which will comply with the Open Access requirements of major research funders, such as the Wellcome Trust, UKRI and Cancer Research UK.

These negotiations have been long and detailed, and we are currently in the 7th round of talks, but the most recent offer from Elsevier appears to be the most acceptable to the UK Higher Education Institutions community, and we are hopeful that a successful conclusion may be imminent. An article in the Times Higher Education on January 19th provides more background information on the negotiation. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-universities-near-elsevier-deal-after-publisher-drops-price

Should an acceptable deal be agreed, the LLC Research Services team will communicate details of the agreement to all Schools.