(22 Apr 2026) The Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) has announced a major milestone in the development of open access (OA) publishing across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with the publication of its 100,000th open access article through a consortium agreement.
CAUL first established OA agreements with two small publishers in 2020 and has since expanded significantly. Its portfolio now includes 26 publishers, spanning small society presses through to some of the world’s largest academic publishing platforms.
The consortium’s OA agreements have played a significant role in reshaping funding flows for scholarly publishing. By leveraging library financial resources and expertise, CAUL has implemented models that contain costs for researchers while expanding access.
Collectively, these agreements have now exceeded $500 million in article processing fees saved – costs that would otherwise have been paid directly by universities and researchers to publishers.
The announcement in full is here.
