Since 2019, SPARC has regularly released landscape analyses to help the academic community navigate the evolving research and education environment. These reports provide market insights and recommendations for action, with past editions available for reference.
The 2026 Financial Landscape Analysis: Scholarly Publishing & Research Analytics Companies was commissioned by SPARC and prepared by market analyst Claudio Aspesi. The report examines major companies in the sector, including RELX/Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and Clarivate.
According to the analysis, artificial intelligence has been the primary factor driving share price declines across these companies over the past 18 months, despite otherwise strong financial performance. Unlike external AI infrastructure providers on which they increasingly rely, the companies have kept capital expenditures flat or reduced them, opting instead to return capital to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends. Analysts suggest that this reliance on external AI providers could create risks and cost pressures in the future.
In addition to the public report, SPARC members will receive a supplementary resource outlining the implications of these trends for academic institutions.
Earlier reports include:
• 2021 Update: Examined the growing concentration of scholarly publishing, courseware, and data analytics among a small number of vendors, highlighting risks to academic values and institutional control. It also reviewed industry consolidation, community‑owned infrastructure initiatives, and policy developments.
• 2020 Update: Reviewed the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic and economic disruption on the academic publishing market.
• 2019 Report: Provided a comprehensive analysis of commercial acquisitions of critical academic infrastructure and offered a roadmap of potential actions institutions could take to respond to publishers’ evolution into data analytics businesses.
Click here to read the original press release.
