Elsevier and Taylor & Francis: contractless situation - update

Elsevier

1. General

swissuniversities has been mandated by all participating Higher Education Institutions in Switzerland to lead the negotiations with Elsevier for the renewal of the previous Read & Publish agreement. These negotiations are guided by the negotiation mandate “Big Deal Negotiations: Aims and Governance”. Despite the diligent efforts of the negotiation team to secure an agreement, Elsevier’s offers did not meet the requirements. In light of this situation, swissuniversities has decided to enter a “no deal” state. swissuniversities has prepared further information on the current situation and a FAQ.  

2. Read

For the time being, nothing changes. As negotiations are ongoing, Elsevier has granted a “grace period”. New content from 2024 can be accessed and read as usual. If Elsevier should decide to end the grace period, only access to new content from 2024 will be affected. If this should happen, we will update our “current status indicator” and inform you about alternative paths to get such new content. 

3. Publish

For articles submitted until the end of 2023, nothing changes. These articles remain eligible for OA publication under the previous agreement.  
Articles submitted in 2024 are currently not eligible for OA funding through the HSG-Library. Retrospective eligibility will be part of the negotiations.  
Researchers can still publish in Hybrid Journals but are encouraged not to pay any Article Processing Charges APC. APCs are a source of revenue for the publisher that weakens the Swiss negotiation position.  
Instead, researchers should make use of the rights they retain and deposit the Accepted Manuscript version accordingly in Alexandria (Green Open Access). Depending on the journal’s policy, an embargo period may apply. The HSG-Library can support you with this: openaccess@unisg.ch.

Taylor & Francis

After six weeks without a contract, the parties were able to reach an acceptable compromise. The new Publish & Read Agreement with Taylor & Francis will cover the period 2024 to 2027.

Articles accepted for publication in Taylor & Francis journals from 01.01.2024 onwards can once again be published Open Access at no further cost. Additionally, selected titles from publishers Dove and F1000 now also offer this option. You can find additional information on our Open Access page under “Discounts on Open Access publication”.

Our Read Access has not been affected by the contractless situation and continues now as usual.

Conclusion

We appreciate your patience and understanding during these negotiations. Our top priority remains to secure access to essential resources for your research and to enable OA publishing options. The way forward is to secure fair and sustainable agreements with scientific publishers.  

If you should have any questions, please contact us: openaccess@unisg.ch.