SPARC has released two studies examining the public investment that supports published research and the profitability of four major academic publishers: RELX (Elsevier), Informa (Taylor & Francis), Springer Nature, and Wiley. The studies, conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney Business School, estimate the resources invested in research before journal submission and analyze the financial performance of the publishers from 2005 to 2025.
Released ahead of International Open Access Week, scheduled for October 19–25, 2026, the studies align with this year’s theme, “The Cost of Knowledge.” According to the findings, more than 95% of the total investment associated with a published research article is typically incurred by the public before the article is submitted to a publisher. The analysis also reports that academic publishing generated profit margins of 24% to 38% at the four companies in 2025.
The first study, The Cost of Knowledge, by Alam and colleagues, introduces a method for estimating the resources invested in research throughout the process, from initial ideas and grant applications to ethics approvals, data collection, analysis, writing, and revision. An accompanying online calculator, available at costofknowledge.org, allows researchers and institutions to estimate the investment associated with their own work.
The second study, How Profitable Are the Big Four Publishers?, analyzes the financial performance of RELX, Informa, Springer Nature, and Wiley between 2005 and 2025. It found that academic publishing was more profitable than the other business operations of the parent companies in 68 of the 69 company-years examined.
In 2025, Elsevier’s academic publishing margin was 38.1%, compared with 31.7% for its parent company, RELX. Across the four publishers, academic publishing margins ranged from 24% to 38%. The combined operating margin of the publishers increased from 14.9% to 27.5% over the period covered by the study.
The report also found that RELX returned $30.8 billion to shareholders between 2005 and 2025. In 2025, the company returned 95.9% of its operating cash flow to shareholders. The amount of cash returned annually increased from $349 million in 2005 to $3.63 billion in 2025, according to the study.
The studies were released ahead of International Open Access Week, during which SPARC is encouraging researchers to use the online calculator to estimate the public investment behind their work. The organization also advocates retaining publication rights, depositing research in open repositories, and supporting community-owned publishing models.
The studies are available through the following links: The Cost of Knowledge and How Profitable Are the Big Four Publishers?.
Click here to read the original press release.
