New direction for agreements with academic publishers
NEWS
After a decade of agreements combining reading access and publishing, two trends are clear: more articles from organisations participating in the Bibsam Consortium are being published open access, but this has not resulted in changes to pricing or publishers’ business models, as the agreements were intended to achieve. The consortium has therefore decided on a new direction.
Employees at Umeå University can publish articles open access through agreements that the library has with more than 40 different publishers. Employees and students also have access to scholarly articles through these agreements. The agreements are largely negotiated through the Bibsam Consortium, a national consortium comprising 97 participating organisations.
Focus on open access journals
The hybrid publishing model has generated substantial profits for publishers, but the costs of publishing for researchers have not decreased. At the same time, publishers continue to rely on subscription-based publishing, which runs counter to Bibsam’s goal of gradually increasing open access to research outputs. The Bibsam Consortium has therefore decided on a new direction for its agreements. In short, the new approach entails:
a focus on fully open access journals, meaning that agreements covering both reading access and publishing in hybrid journals will no longer be signed;
support for new publishing models, such as researcher-led journals; and
requirements for publishing under open licences in accordance with the FAIR principles.
Some agreements may change as early as 2027
Publisher agreements are renegotiated on an ongoing basis according to different timelines. Ahead of 2027, the read-and-publish agreements with the following publishers will be renegotiated:
American Physical Society (APS)
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Wiley
For researchers submitting articles in 2026 to journals covered by these agreements, different terms may apply if an article is accepted or published in 2027. There is also a risk that some journals may no longer be covered by an agreement.
Positive long-term effects and short-term challenges
The new direction brings both potential benefits and certain challenges in how research is published and made accessible. In the long term, the transition may strengthen open science and contribute to a more transparent and sustainable publishing landscape.
In practical terms, the transition may in the short term result in fewer publishing venues covered by financial support, as well as uncertainty regarding both publishing agreements and access to scholarly content.
The library will keep you informed
Umeå University Library is monitoring developments and will provide regular updates on the website for researchers. There you will also find answers to frequently asked questions about the changes to the agreements.
