Across higher education, the cost of scholarly journals has risen at a rate that far outpaces library budgets. Bundled packages from a handful of commercial publishers consume a disproportionate share of library resources, leaving less room for supporting new areas of research and teaching that align with a university’s priorities.
At K-State, 45% of our collections budget is tied up in journal subscriptions from five large commercial publishers. Coupled with inflation, these subscriptions place our budget under constant pressure. To keep our collections sustainable and to protect the breadth of disciplines we serve, we must unbundle and reset another one of the large packages.
On Dec. 31, 2025, K-State Libraries will discontinue its “all titles” journal subscription package with Wiley. We are committed to ensuring you have access to the current Wiley articles you need through alternative avenues as we reset.
Students, faculty and staff will continue to have access to all Wiley journal articles published through the end of 2025. New articles in Wiley titles published after that date will be available using a combination of interlibrary loan and a new service called Express Delivery from Article Galaxy Scholar (AGS) to cover the gap. In most cases, current articles are delivered within hours or sooner.
We know this change may mean an adjustment in how you access the library’s Wiley journals. But it is also a step toward a more balanced and responsible system of budget and collection management for the K-State Libraries.
Why is this information being shared? Wiley is the second largest journal package for K-State Libraries. This means the journal content published by this single vendor comprised 14% of the Libraries’ collections expenditures for fiscal year 2025.
Is this because of the changes to sponsored research overhead (SRO)? No. While this conversation was sparked by the changes to SRO, there is an increasing and continuing movement among academic libraries to rethink and reset their journal package subscriptions.
K-State Libraries has subscribed to the Wiley all-journals package for nine consecutive years (2016-2025). However, between 2020 and 2025, the price has increased approximately $77,000. By resetting how we purchase from Wiley, we can reduce our overall spend and focus on titles relevant to the university’s research and instructional needs.
How much money are we saving? We will not have an accurate view of savings for several months until after the reset is negotiated and license completed.
Unbundling the Wiley package will require K-State Libraries to purchase some individual subscriptions. We will be reviewing usage data, requests over time, research and teaching needs, journal impact metrics, ratio of open access to paywalled content, and the university strategic plan to inform subscription decisions.
Does this change mean you can purchase new journal titles? We will continue to subscribe to journals that align with the research and teaching needs of the university as our budget allows. Please contact our content development librarians at libcolldev@k-state.edu or your academic services librarian to discuss journal subscription requests.
Can I get a list of the Wiley journals from 2025 and how much they cost? No. Unfortunately, the Wiley all-titles journal package does not contain itemized prices.
Are any of the Wiley articles available open access? Yes! Open access is available for many paywalled articles. Other Wiley journals are wholly Gold Open Access, meaning the publication is freely and openly available upon publication because the author paid an article process charge to make it so. Any 2026 Wiley articles published open access are immediately available as they were previously.
Will I lose access to everything I use? No. You will continue to have the same access to all Wiley journal articles published through the end of 2025 through Search It as you have always had. Paywalled articles published after 2025 can be accessed through interlibrary loan as well as our new service, Express Delivery from Article Galaxy Scholar. Both will be available from Search It and viewable once you log in with your K-State eID and password.
How can I get the Wiley 2026 articles I want? As we actively negotiate during the gap, you will have access to Wiley 2026 paywalled articles through interlibrary loan as well as our new service, Express Delivery from Article Galaxy Scholar. Both will be available from Search It and viewable once you log in with your K-State eID and password.
How quickly will I receive my interlibrary loan request? Our interlibrary loan team works incredibly quickly! Requests made during business hours Monday-Friday usually arrive in less than 24 hours.
How quickly will I receive my Express Delivery from Article Galaxy Scholar request? Requests are delivered in minutes to hours on average after the request has been made. An email will be sent to your K-State address with a link to the article.
Unlike interlibrary loan, requests through Express Delivery from Article Galaxy Scholar cost $30-$70 per article to fulfill. The Libraries understands this is a necessary cost and option for our community as we negotiate a Wiley journal reset.
How you can impact collection decisions
Be counted We want to make sure your classroom usage of materials is included in our statistics. Instead of uploading a PDF to Canvas, create a permalink for students to use. This will ensure more accurate usage data for our librarians.
Provide feedback The feedback we receive does impact our decisions, particularly if we were unaware a given title or resource is an active part of a department’s curriculum or related to accreditation.
We encourage faculty, researchers and administrators to engage with their librarianand keep them up-to-date on their research priorities, concerns and shifting needs.
You can also contact your librarian to learn more about how and where to access materials. For questions about K-State Libraries' collection management practices, please contact Michelle Turvey-Welch, head of content development, at mturvey@k-state.edu.