New Zealand Universities Secure Landmark Elsevier Open Access Agreement for 2026

Background to the Agreement

The previous read-and-publish agreement between CAUL and Elsevier, which covered the period through the end of 2025, had reached its conclusion amid broader negotiations involving the four largest academic publishers. In November 2025, talks with Elsevier paused after parties could not align on pricing, agreement structure, and the treatment of gold open access journals. Negotiations resumed in December with the full support of Universities Australia and Universities New Zealand, culminating in an in-principle agreement announced on 16 December 2025.

This latest arrangement completes CAUL’s renegotiation round with the major publishers and represents a significant step toward more sustainable and transparent models for research dissemination in the region.

Key Terms of the 2026 Elsevier Deal

Under the agreement, corresponding authors affiliated with participating New Zealand universities will be able to publish open access in hybrid journals across Elsevier’s full portfolio at no additional cost to the author. This includes high-profile titles from Cell Press and The Lancet. Gold open access journals remain outside the scope of the uncapped provision.

The agreement is expected to enable more than 10,000 research articles from Australia and New Zealand combined to be published openly with Elsevier in 2026 alone. It also incorporates measures aimed at addressing legacy pricing inequities that have historically affected smaller or regional institutions.

Sector expenditure is set to decrease substantially compared with previous arrangements, providing greater financial predictability for university libraries and research offices.

Participating New Zealand Institutions

All eight New Zealand universities are covered through the CAUL consortium arrangement, alongside Crown research institutes and other eligible organisations. Institutions such as the University of Auckland, University of Otago, Massey University, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Canterbury, Lincoln University, University of Waikato, and Auckland University of Technology will see their researchers benefit directly.

Library teams at these institutions have already begun updating internal guidance and author workflows to ensure smooth transitions when the agreement activates on 1 January 2026.

Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash

Implications for Researchers and Publishing Workflows

For individual academics and research teams, the change removes a major financial barrier to open access publishing in Elsevier titles. Authors will no longer need to source article processing charges from grants or departmental budgets for eligible hybrid journals.

Workflows are expected to mirror those used under previous transformative agreements. Corresponding authors will identify their institutional affiliation during submission, and eligible articles will be routed automatically toward open access publication under a Creative Commons licence, typically CC BY.

Research support staff and librarians across the sector are preparing training sessions and updated eligibility checkers to assist authors in the first months of the new agreement.

Broader Sector Impacts

The agreement strengthens New Zealand’s position in global open science discussions and aligns with national priorities around research accessibility and impact. By increasing the proportion of publicly available research, universities expect greater visibility for work in fields ranging from health sciences and engineering to social sciences and humanities.

University administrators note that the cost savings can be redirected toward other research support priorities, including early-career researcher development and infrastructure for data management and reproducibility.

Comparison with Previous Arrangements

Earlier CAUL-Elsevier deals included article caps and more restrictive journal lists. The 2026 agreement removes these caps for hybrid titles, representing a clear evolution toward fully uncapped transformative models. This mirrors trends seen in other recent CAUL negotiations with publishers such as Taylor & Francis.

The shift also reflects sustained pressure from the Australasian sector for agreements that deliver both read access and publish rights in a single, transparent package.

Future Outlook and Next Steps

With the Elsevier agreement now in place, attention turns to monitoring uptake, compliance, and any refinements needed during the multi-year term. CAUL and Universities New Zealand will continue to evaluate performance metrics and researcher feedback.

Institutions are also exploring complementary strategies, including diamond open access models and strengthened support for preprint servers, to further diversify dissemination options beyond traditional journal routes.

Photo by Duskfall Crew on Unsplash

Stakeholder Perspectives

University librarians have welcomed the certainty the agreement provides after months of negotiation uncertainty. Researchers in high-output fields such as medicine and environmental science anticipate immediate benefits from the expanded open access options.

Early-career academics, in particular, stand to gain from reduced reliance on grant funding for publication fees, potentially levelling opportunities across different career stages and institution sizes.

Resources for Authors

Researchers seeking further details can consult their institutional library guides or the official Elsevier agreement page for the CAUL consortium. Eligibility checkers and submission workflows will be updated on university websites in the coming months.

Workshops hosted by library and research offices are scheduled for late 2025 and early 2026 to familiarise staff and students with the new processes.