The N8 Research Partnership – the collective body for the North of England’s eight research intensive universities – has released a landmark new statement urging fundamental reform in the way scholarly research is published, citing concerns over the financial sustainability, equity, and transparency of the current publishing system.
The statement, developed collaboratively by senior leaders across the N8 universities – including Library directors, Pro-Vice-Chancellors for Research, and Vice-Chancellors – calls on publishers to shift away from operating in a manner that no longer serves the interests of academic communities and offer limited innovation in how research is disseminated.
Despite the rise of open access publishing, many titles remain inaccessible to those without costly subscriptions, and article processing charges (APCs) have shifted the financial burden without fundamentally changing the system.
During a period of major economic challenges for the UK’s higher education sector, the N8 statement highlights the unsustainable nature of the current publishing ecosystem and calls for alternatives that are financially viable, transparent, and aligned with the values of open research.
This includes a stronger role for mission-driven scholarly societies and non-profit publishers who are already leading the way in developing new, more equitable models.
Key commitments in the N8 statement include:
- Exploring shared infrastructure and supporting enhanced green open access proactively through institutional repositories’
- Investing in non-profit tools and platforms that support open research and transparent publishing
- Engaging researchers in conversations about the impact of their publishing choices
- Sharing best practices with the wider library and research sector
- Championing a positive research culture through open access, responsible metrics, and inclusive infrastructure
This initiative reflects a wider call within the sector for more diverse, innovative, and sustainable solutions with external suppliers – approaches that serve researchers, institutions, and the public good rather than commercial shareholders.
JISC is currently renegotiating the five largest transitional agreement publishing deals (Elsevier, SAGE, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis and Wiley). The key aims of the negotiations are improved financial sustainability and increased equity in academic publishing, ambitions which are aligned with the N8’s new statement.
The launch of the statement is being marked with an event taking place today (Thursday 12th June) at the University of York.
During the event speakers will share insights on the national approaches being taken to drive efficiency and deliver value for money in the scholarly publishing model. Attendees will also hear from scholarly publishers who have already made a strategic commitment to supporting open research and introducing sustainable open access business models.
The event will conclude with a panel discussion between researchers about the importance of communicating their work to the widest possible audiences, and the role of open access in increasing public engagement and understanding of scientific findings.
Speakers at the event include:
- Anna Vernon, Head of Research Licensing, Jisc
- Sara Ball, Strategy Lead for Open Science, UKRI
- Dr Caroline Edwards, Executive Director, Open Library of Humanities, and Senior Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Literature, Birkbeck, University of London
- Clare Curtis, Associate Director of Content & Community at the Biochemical Society/Portland Press
- Chris Bennett, Global Commercial Director at Cambridge University Press & Assessment
The N8’s intervention on scholarly publishing builds upon its Rights Retention statement of 2023, which strongly recommended that researchers do not by default transfer intellectual property rights to publishers and use a Rights Retention statement as standard practice.
The full N8 Statement on Sustainable Scholarly Publishing is available here.
Professor Charlie Jeffery, Chair of the N8 Research Partnership, said: “For too long, we’ve seen the consolidation of scholarly publishing into the hands of a few major commercial players whose priorities are increasingly divorced from the academic communities they were meant to serve.
“Our researchers are delivering work that will help improve the world around us. They then review and edit this work – often without compensation – and yet institutions are charged both to publish and to access this knowledge. The balance has tipped too far, and we hope this statement represents a first step towards the N8 working with publishers to develop a different approach that will benefit all parties.”
Read the full N8 Statement on Sustainable Scholarly Publishing here, and the summarised version here.