EIFL, Cambridge Press Extend Journal Access Deal
The renewed agreement runs through December 2027 and covers free and discounted access to Cambridge University Press journals for eligible institutions worldwide.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Financial Aid
EIFL and Cambridge University Press have renewed their agreement for one additional year through December 2027. The deal provides free access to 426 CUP journal titles for institutions in 13 partner countries and discounted access for institutions in six more countries.
Why it matters
The agreement gives researchers and institutions in lower-resourced regions access to a large scholarly journal collection and reduces barriers to publishing open access. It also offers a read and publish model that bundles journal access with unlimited open access publishing.
Article processing charges are waived for authors from 23 EIFL partner countries across 262 Gold Open Access, 41 Research Open, and 158 Hybrid CUP journals. Botswana and Namibia authors receive a 50% APC discount on open access articles.
The players
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing arm of the University of Cambridge and one of the oldest and largest academic publishers in the world.
EIFL
EIFL is a non-profit network of libraries in developing and transition countries that negotiates licensing agreements for electronic resources on behalf of its members.
The details
Eligible countries receive free access, discounted access, waived APCs, or read and publish pricing based on their EIFL partner status. The read and publish model combines journal access with unlimited open access publishing in CUP Gold Open Access, Research Open, and Hybrid journals, and is offered in 12 partner countries.
Timeline
December 2027: The renewed agreement expires.
Access Landscape
The renewal continues EIFL's consortium approach of negotiating bundled access for libraries in lower-income countries rather than leaving each institution to bargain alone. It follows the same pattern of pairing journal access with open access publishing discounts that EIFL has used in its prior publisher agreements.
Researchers and students at eligible institutions can read CUP journals for free or at reduced cost through their library. Corresponding authors from 23 partner countries can publish in eligible CUP open access journals without paying article processing charges.
The takeaway
Institutions and authors should check whether their country is an EIFL partner to see which access or publishing benefits apply to them. Eligibility depends on country status, so confirming it early avoids unexpected publishing costs.
Further reading
Explore more on Financial Aid for context on how access programs like this one reduce costs for students and researchers.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Knowledgespeak.
