News: Academic Publishing Weekly

New AI position at publisher, more titles flip to open, and introducing The Independent Press Top 40 list

Posted on January 16, 2026 in News

Deals, Disputes, and Appointments

Clarivate announced that it has entered into a multiyear agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR). The agreement appears to focus on a consultative approach anchored by data insights into the research efforts and capabilities of Iraq’s Ministry and university system. According to the announcement, London-based Clarivate will “provide high-level analysis of Iraq’s research landscape, using Web of Science data and insights to identify priority areas, supporting evidence-based decision-making across the ministry and participating universities.”

Sage got its wrist slapped after sending an email to some of its authors with instructions to claim their share of proceeds from the $1.5 billion settlement of Bartz et al v. Anthropic PBC. After finding out about the email, the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) filed a motion to intervene in the case to compel Sage to send a corrective email regarding the claims process. The upshot is essentially an alleged conflict of interest, with Sage potentially tipping the scales in their favor with the settlement payouts. Following TAA’s motion, Sage agreed to send a follow-up email correcting their earlier instructions. The TAA has since withdrawn the motion.

Wiley appointed Armughan Rafat as its Chief AI and Data Services Officer. The position, reportedly a newly created one, leads the publisher’s AI and data services initiatives and focuses on “developing and commercializing AI-ready content and data products for AI developers and corporate R&D teams,” per Wiley’s announcement. This is likely a position we will see more of among the larger scholarly publishers as more content licensing deals are struck with AI companies. Wiley says it has made $100 million in AI licensing deals since 2024.

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More Progress with Open Access

JSTOR has flipped its first cohort of titles within its Path to Open program. For the first time, 100 books are now fully open access. The titles, spanning the humanities and social sciences, were originally made available to libraries participating in Path to Open’s cost-sharing model in 2023.

IGI Global Scientific Publishing debuted a flat-fee OA publishing agreement. The fee allows institutional researchers to publish unlimited open access articles in IGI Global’s journals without incurring article processing fees.

In their pursuit of open government, the Law Library of Congress and the U.S. Government Publishing Office announced they digitized the 10,000th volume of the United States Congressional Serial Set to the freely accessible GovInfo website. The milestone is part of a multi-year effort to digitize the Serial Set back to the first volume, published in 1817. Each Serial Set “is a compilation of all numbered House and Senate reports and documents, including executive reports and treaty documents, issued for each session of Congress,” per the announcement.

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Welcome to the Library Corner: 2025 Round-Up and Report

Alan S. Inouye of Library Journal outlines 2025’s tumultuous federal library policy and looks ahead to protecting library interests in 2026. He recounts challenges to IMLS—forcing employees to go on leave, canceling grants—and the ensuing lawsuits and court battles. In addition, Inouye recalls job terminations (and attempted ones) in the US Copyright Office and attacks on the Universal Service Fund. For this year, he predicts more court battles and wins for libraries in Congress, but only if we “continue advocacy with Congressional offices to maintain this positive library position.” In other news, EveryLibrary released its 2025 Annual Impact Report, which details the organization’s advocacy efforts and 2026 outlook. The report outlines work on library ballot measures, anti-censorship campaigns, and federal policy. Looking ahead, EveryLibrary warns that “battles over culture, education, and free expression will intensify” amidst the US’s 250th year and the upcoming midterm elections. More battles over culture, education, and free expression? I’m shocked!

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Indie Bestsellers Finally Get a Top 40

James Folta of Literary Hub reports that the American Booksellers Association and the Independent Publishers Caucus have collaborated on an independent bestsellers list. The Independent Press Top 40 includes nonfiction and fiction titles “published by indie presses and sold in indie bookshops, based on nationwide, weighted sales data from independent bookstores.” Updated every Thursday, the lists salute “the distinctive voices that thrive in the indie publishing ecosystem.” This week’s nonfiction list includes three university press titles, with Oregon State University Press’s Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer taking the number 10 spot. You can find the fiction and nonfiction lists here. Woo!

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Even More Open Access News?!

The American Podiatric Medical Association’s (APMA) Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association (JAPMA) will adopt an OA model in collaboration with MDPI. Taking effect January 1, 2026, the transition “will make JAPMA’s research freely available to people everywhere…supporting broader dissemination of evidence-based podiatric knowledge and advancing foot and ankle health globally.” Though MDPI will support the model, editorial oversight will remain under APMA. Next, Taylor & Francis and Hong Kong’s Joint University Librarians Advisory Committee (JULAC) entered their first OA agreement. The three-year deal enables free publication in more than 2,000 T&F and Routledge Open Select (hybrid) journals for researchers at participating institutions. Last, Wiley and the Council of Australasian University Librarians’s (CAUL) new OA deal will allow publish and reading access for “more than 50 universities and research organisations across Australia and New Zealand.” The three-year agreement builds on Wiley and CAUL’s existing partnership; this phase will “[introduce] AI-powered services to support Australasian research.”

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