New Zealand Universities Hate (Academic) Paywalls Too

Dan Moskovitz (he/him)

In a rare show of trans-Tasman unity, New Zealand universities are teaming up with their Australian counterparts to negotiate more favorable terms with major academic publishers—aiming to expand access to scholarly research while curbing costs.  

Academic publishing remains a costly affair, with journals charging steep fees for both access and publication. According to Chris Whelan, chief executive of Universities New Zealand (UNZ), subscriptions to academic journals account roughly 60% of university library budgets.

So when contracts with four major publishers—Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and Taylor and Francis—came up for renewal simultaneously across both countries, the institutions seized the opportunity to negotiate collectively. 

“Those four academic publishers publish roughly 10,300 journals collectively,” Whelan said. “As eight very small universities in a very large world, we don’t have much leverage. But we get a lot more if we negotiate with the 40 Australian universities.”

Central to the negotiations is the issue of open access publishing, which allows articles to be freely available for the public—typically for a higher fee up front. While costs vary by journal, Whelan estimates libraries are spending tens of millions of dollars annually on open access fees.

In a tertiary sector squeezed for cash, that’s a lot of money. 

Open access is a major priority for UNZ, not only because it increases the visibility and impact of research, but also because most academic work is funded by the taxpayer. 

“Almost all of our research is publicly funded, coming from either the government or directly through the universities.” Whelan says. “We have an obligation to make that public research publicly available.”

UNZ has set a target of 70% of Aotearoa’s academic output to be open access. Currently, the figure stands at 62 percent, and Whelan hopes the upcoming negotiations will help close the gap. 

He expects agreements with the four publishers to be finalized within the next three to four months.