Academic publishing could be facing a watershed moment

"For those wondering why three universities (including my own) have decided not to continue with their Elsevier read-and-publish deals, the explanation is both simple and complicated.

It has undoubtedly been triggered by the financial difficulty that UK higher education finds itself in, but it is also indicative of unresolved issues in academic publishing. It comes against a backdrop where transitional agreements (TAs) with commercial publishers have been found to be unsustainable, and the sector is looking to negotiate the next generation of open access agreements...."