Beginning in 2019, SPARC has regularly provided our community with market analyses and suggestions for accompanying action to better navigate the rapidly evolving research and education environments. This page hosts our most current analysis as well as those we’ve produced in the past for reference.
Financial Landscape Analysis 2026: Scholarly Publishing & Research Analytics Companies
SPARC commissioned market analyst Claudio Aspesi to produce an updated 2026 Financial Landscape Analysis covering the largest scholarly publishing and research analytics companies: RELX/Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and Clarivate.
This analysis indicates that AI is the primary driver of the share price declines each company has seen over the past 18 months, despite strong underlying financial performance. In contrast to the external AI infrastructure providers they now rely on, these companies have kept their capital expenditures flat or reduced them, instead returning capital to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends. Market analysts expect these companies will face risks related to their reliance on AI providers and the cost pressure that could create.
In addition to the public report, SPARC members will directly receive an additional resource providing implications for institutions of the trends described in this analysis. If you would like access to this resource, please contact SPARC directly.
2021 Update: SPARC Landscape Analysis & Roadmap for Action
This 2021 report examines the growing concentration of scholarly publishing, courseware, and data analytics among a small number of commercial vendors and the risks this poses to academic values, institutional control, and equitable access to knowledge. It highlights key developments from the previous year, including industry consolidation, emerging community-owned infrastructure initiatives, and policy progress, while exploring strategies academic institutions can use to regain control over their content, data, and infrastructure in support of equity, inclusiveness, and academic freedom.
2020 Update: SPARC Landscape Analysis & Roadmap for Action
This 2020 report reviews the events of 2019 – 2020, particularly the global COVID health crisis and its resulting economic impact, and provides updates on the academic publishing market landscape and the status of the key companies involved.
2019 SPARC Landscape Analysis & Roadmap for Action
SPARC’s original landscape analysis report was commissioned in response to the growing trend of commercial acquisition of critical infrastructure in our institutions. It was intended to provide a comprehensive look at players in this arena, their strategies and potential actions, and the implications of these on the operations of our libraries and home institutions.
The 2019 report was complemented by as a solution-focused Roadmap for Action, which spurred engagement with the changing academic publishing industry and the implications of publishers’ evolution to become data analytics businesses. In this report, SPARC offers a roadmap of potential steps that different constituencies can take, individually and collectively.
