Details were sparse yesterday but the alpha for-profit journal publisher has settled on three-year terms with the Council of Australian University Librarians

The deal appears similar in approach to the seven previous agreements CAUL has reached with publishers – with researchers at member institutions publishing free to read.

While payment is not mentioned, other arrangements are based on article processing charges being absorbed into subscription costs paid by institution libraries. As to the detail, CAUL director and Monash U Librarian Bob Gerrity calls the agreement, “an important first step,” “ we will continue to work with Elsevier to evolve this agreement to meet the needs of individual universities and their different research profiles.”

Whatever comes next this is a big win for CAUL. Elsevier has fiercely defended its immensely profitable patch, taking years to concede as little as possible in disputes with universities and funding bodies in the EU, UK and US. To get the publisher to the table was an achievement in itself.

With Elsevier, CAUL agreements now include four of the big five journal publishers, the others being Taylor and Francis, John Wiley and Springer. Sage is now the stand-out.