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CU Boulder agrees to a temporary contract extension with academic publisher Elsevier

CU Boulder’s three-year contract with Elsevier expires at midnight on Dec. 31, 2023, after which the university has agreed to a contract extension for access to read the publisher’s academic journals as negotiations continue over renewing a multi-year contract. 

The temporary contract extension expires on Jan. 31, 2024.

“We are continuing to negotiate with Elsevier and are moving closer to an agreement that provides our campus with access to read journal articles at a reasonable price, in order to support our scholars, teachers, and our campus’s research goals,” said Dean of Libraries Robert H. McDonald. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith for as long as it remains productive.”

The University Libraries at CU Boulder are negotiating with Elsevier as part of a consortium of 16 research universities in Colorado and Wyoming known as the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. Negotiations have been ongoing for the past six months as the libraries seek an agreement with Elsevier that supports a sustainable academic publishing model. "If the parties cannot come to an agreement, then every library in the consortium—including all research libraries in the University of Colorado system—will be impacted by loss of direct access to Elsevier journals," McDonald said.

“The Boulder Faculty Assembly stands in full support of the University Libraries and the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries as they seek a fairer and more affordable model for academic publishing,’’ said BFA Chair Shelly Miller, who is a member of the negotiating team with Elsevier. “We look forward to a productive conclusion to this negotiation.”

The Boulder Faculty Assembly, which is the representative body of the faculty in the shared governance of the university, passed a resolution on Oct. 5, 2023, supporting the Libraries mission for equitable access to information and author’s rights. Approved without dissent, the resolution recognizes the impact of subscription costs on the campus budget and champions open access to information and protecting authors rights to retain copyright of their work.

Elsevier is the world’s largest publisher of scholarly journals, with 70 offices in 24 countries. It publishes 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell Press, covering topics in science, technology, engineering, health/medicine and other areas.

The Alliance institutions collectively have more than 180,000 students in Colorado and Wyoming and thousands of faculty. Their Elsevier journal subscriptions cost the group more than $7 million annually or $21 million for the three-year contract.