From January 2026, researchers in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand will have an expanded range of open access (OA) publishing options through a new three-year agreement negotiated by the Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL) and Taylor & Francis.
The comprehensive agreement ensures all articles by researchers at participating institutions will be published OA in Taylor & Francis and Routledge journals. For the first time, the partnership supports researchers choosing to publish in fully open access journals, in addition to articles in hybrid titles.
Taylor & Francis has also announced that the partnership will enable the expansion of its OA collective funding model, Collective Pathway to Open Publishing. With sufficient support, several humanities and social sciences journals with a high proportion of Australasian authors will convert to open access for at least their 2026 volumes, including Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, published on behalf of the Australian Library and Information Association. If implemented, researchers around the globe will be able to publish OA in these titles, without paying an article publishing charge.
As well as providing continued read access to Taylor & Francis’ world-leading journals portfolio, the partnership recognizes the increasingly important role of Artificial Intelligence in today’s teaching and research. The expanded agreement will permit use of licensed Taylor & Francis proprietary content in connection with AI technologies, with appropriate safeguards, for non-commercial research and educational purposes. This might include, for example, a researcher using AI tools to summarise journal articles for teaching preparation or to generate discussion questions.
“We have been really pleased by the way Taylor & Francis has approached the negotiations with a real willingness to listen, engage and come to the table with a commitment to meeting the sector’s needs – both in terms of open access publishing, but also managing expenditure,” said Arthur Smith, Associate Director, CAUL Content Procurement. “Establishing the CAUL Open Access Negotiation Strategy Committee (COANSC) with Universities Australia, and Universities New Zealand has been instrumental in achieving these outcomes. It demonstrates what can be accomplished when we work together with a clear, shared vision.”
“CAUL and its member institutions are an essential partner for Taylor & Francis in sustaining, accelerating, and innovating in our approach to open research, across our journals and books publishing - especially during a period of change and challenge for higher education globally,” said Alex Robinson, Chief Commercial Officer at Taylor & Francis. “The collaborative negotiations that have taken place with COANSC, in a spirit of partnership and open discussion, have led to what we believe is a shared vision of expanded open access through an enduring and sustainable agreement.”
Professor Iain Martin, Vice Chancellor of Deakin University and Chair of COANSC, said, “The successful agreement with Taylor & Francis demonstrates that when universities and publishers come together in true partnership, they can deliver outcomes that benefit researchers, institutions, and the broader community through expanded open access to scholarly knowledge.”