Do transformative agreements reduce pricing?

Determine whether transformative agreements between library consortia and scholarly publishers lead to reduced pricing for journal publishing and access.

Background

Transformative agreements are contracts between library consortia and publishers that bundle reading (subscription) access with open access publishing, aiming to control costs while increasing immediate open access. Policymakers and stakeholders have promoted these agreements as a transitional mechanism intended to be temporary and cost-conscious.

Despite widespread implementation and monitoring of output, there remains a lack of clear evidence on the cost effects of transformative agreements. In particular, whether these agreements actually reduce pricing is explicitly identified as uncertain in the paper, highlighting a key unresolved question not addressed by the study’s bibliometric analysis of open access uptake.