In April 2026, we hosted the Oxford Journals Executive Summit at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford.

The event brought together senior leaders from scholarly partner societies and OUP journals colleagues for open, strategic discussion about the future of journal publishing. The Executive Summit provided a dedicated forum to explore shared challenges and opportunities in scholarly publishing, strengthen partnerships, and support long-term, sustainable decision-making in an increasingly complex research environment.

Previously run as Oxford Journals Day from regional locations, the Executive Summit has evolved into a re-imagined global event that aligns our journals strategy with informed insight into the real challenges facing our society partners. By bringing our community together in one location, the Summit reinforces our leadership role within the scholarly publishing sector.

This year’s event provided a platform for us to share our strategic direction and convene more than 125 society leaders around their shared responsibility to steward exceptional scholarly content. Through open dialogue and transparency, we aim to help shape the future of mission-driven publishing.

Creating space for strategic conversation

A central aim of the Executive Summit is to move beyond operational updates and provide space for candid, forward-looking discussion. Sessions focused on the challenges societies face as they seek to balance mission, quality, and sustainability in the context of shifting research behaviours, financial pressures, and technological changes鈥攎any as a result of rapidly-changing AI.

Participants attended a variety of session formats and explored questions around data-driven journal growth potential, portfolio stewardship, and how editorial, production, and publishing models may need to evolve. The Summit encouraged peer-to-peer exchange across disciplines, allowing society leaders to learn from one another’s experiences while engaging directly with OUP colleagues on shared priorities.

As one society delegate noted:

“I learned something new from each session and valued the opportunity to hear how OUP is approaching the most important issues facing the field of scholarly publishing today.”

Partnering through change: technology, integrity, and trust

Another key theme of the event was navigating change together, particularly in areas where publishers and societies must work in close partnership. Sessions addressed the impact of emerging technologies, including AI, on editorial processes and researcher expectations, alongside ongoing commitments to research integrity, trust, and transparency.

Discussions emphasized that no single organization can address these challenges in isolation. Instead, long-term success depends on strong relationships, shared understanding, and an honest assessment of trade-offs.

Feedback from the Executive Summit continues to shape how we engage with society partners, informs follow-up conversations, and influences the design of future events. By reinforcing shared goals and encouraging thoughtful, strategic dialogue, the Executive Summit plays an important role in supporting the sustainability and evolution of society journals within our broader mission.

Find out more about our journals publishing .

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Publishing plays a key role in educating future generations on social and environmental issues, promoting critical thinking, and increasing the impact of research.

At 糖心VLOG Press, we publish for all ages, from children to adults, helping to build climate literacy and strengthen education at every stage of learning. Many of the titles and content we publish address some of the world鈥檚 most pressing sustainable development challenges, as well as inspire action.

As a signatory to the , we actively promote and acquire content that advocates for themes represented by the SDGs, such as equality, sustainability, justice, and safeguarding and strengthening the environment.

This , hear from some of our colleagues about how we鈥檙e supporting climate literacy and education in our publishing.

Alexandra Kanovsky

Acquisitions Editor

鈥�Oxford Intersections, an interdisciplinary resource aimed at addressing key global challenges, is proud to present several upcoming climate-focused topics including听,听,听, 补苍诲听.

鈥淭丑别蝉别 Intersections will publish timely and critical research from across humanities and social sciences disciplines to explore complex global issues, including how humanity and nature adapt and respond to climate change and other societally induced environmental challenges.

鈥滱n interdisciplinary approach to commissioning allows Oxford Intersections to explore concerns from a litany of perspectives, both throughout history and with a forward focus, such as in the sections 鈥淣ew Frontiers鈥� (Environmental Change and Human Experience), 鈥淲aste Futures鈥� (Cultures of Waste), and 鈥淣arratives of the Future鈥� (Climate Adaptation). These topics will provide an important outlet for researchers and practitioner experts to share their scholarship in concert, creating a kaleidoscopic resource of interlinked material that will be of interest to a variety of audiences.鈥�

Maxine Spence

Senior Product Manager,

鈥淥ur goal was simple, but ambitious: to introduce sustainability听to young readers听through engaging storytelling, rich non-fiction, 补苍诲听age鈥慳ppropriate concepts.听What makes this听series unique is听the alignment听of听its听42听carefully levelled books听with the听.听All the books are听dedicated to helping children understand and care about their world.

鈥滱t OUP, we have decades of experience听creating levelled readers that build reading confidence. With听Green Sparks, we wanted to harness that听expertise听to听address听one of the biggest themes in education today: sustainability.鈥�

Read more from Maxine

Lou John

Head of Children’s and Primary IP

鈥淭丑别 opens the door to big ideas for readers who are just beginning to explore the world around them. Each book distils complex topics into clear, engaging explanations that spark curiosity, helping young people build confidence as independent thinkers.

鈥� VSI is a particularly important example: it gives children the tools to understand not only what climate change is, but why it matters, and how their choices can shape a more sustainable future. Our hope is that climate literacy empowers young readers to feel informed rather than anxious, and to see themselves as part of a global story of care and responsibility. Across the series, that鈥檚 our aim鈥攖o nurture curiosity, inspire questions, and make knowledge feel accessible to every young mind.鈥�

Matt Davidson

Head of International Primary and Curriculum

鈥淎t every stage of creating the , we鈥檝e had to ask how learning can encourage active exploration and inspire learners to see how they can contribute to solutions鈥攍arge and small鈥攖hat make our planet more sustainable. This is an international curriculum, and we鈥檝e ensured place-based learning, which engages students in their community鈥攊ncluding their physical environment, local history, people, or culture.鈥�

Read more from Matt

Alicia Smith and Fiona Simmons

Portfolio Product Manager听补苍诲听Managing Editor

鈥淭丑别 central message of听 is that the young learners of today are the changemakers of tomorrow.

鈥淏y employing a concept-based inquiry methodology in conjunction with English language learning methodologies, we aim to develop students鈥� metacognitive skills to better understand the world around them. When students can see how conceptual ideas are transferable across different situations, they are better equipped to think critically and approach the challenges we all face in the context of how to deal with a rapidly changing climate.

鈥漇tudents using听Blue Dot will explore a rich variety of content that is aligned to concepts such as sustainability, energy, and cooperation. Through this, they will discuss and debate the challenges and potential solutions to some of our biggest environmental issues both today and in the future. We hope students using Blue Dot feel as inspired using it as we felt making it.鈥�

Our book recommendations for Earth Day

The Wild

by Yuval Zommer

Stella and the Seagull

by Georgina Stevens and Izzy Burton

Who Ate All the Bugs?

by Matty Long

Into The Wild

by Thomas Docherty

Maya’s Walk

by Moira Butterfield and Kim Geyer

Marv and the Killer Plants

by Alex Falase-Koya and Paula Bowles

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Last year, we launched the First Book Prize for early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences. The award, now in its second year, aims to support emerging scholars by providing broad dissemination for their first monograph.

The 10 winners from the award’s first cohort will have their debut book published fully open access鈥攚ith all fees waived鈥攁longside hardback publication, tackling subjects from ageing and migration to decolonization and digital archives in the Global South.

To celebrate the prize being once again, we speak to some of the individuals who made its inaugural year possible below.

Professor Madhu Krishnan

Chair of the Prize Committee for 2025

“This is a thrilling new initiative that champions the transformative power of humanities and social science research, which enables us to understand our world and its complexities in fundamental ways. At a time when the higher education landscape and such research are both under ever-increasing pressure, the OUP First Book Prize will provide a global platform for excellent and original research from the next generation of scholars.”

Jack McNichol, Acquisition Editor at OUP:

“I’ve had a fantastic year leading on the First Book Prize, and can’t quite believe that we’re already at the point of seeking applications for the 2026 award.

“It has been really rewarding to work with colleagues from across OUP to deliver this new initiative, and the reaction from the winners on hearing the news has been encouraging and inspiring. We hope this prize will really make a difference to their academic careers and the audiences they can reach with their work, and I’m looking forwarding to providing these opportunities to a new group of excellent scholars this year.”

Rebecca Lane

Senior Publisher in Open Access at OUP

“By making monographs open access, we break down barriers to knowledge and broaden the global impact of research, as open access means vital scholarship is freely available to all.”

Kaoutar Ghilani, 2025 First Book Prize winner:

“In a sense, this prize represents not only an important change for OUP and its active recognition of interdisciplinarity, but also a powerful way to make innovative research reach a wider public through the open access agreement. It is a powerful way to both recognize and make visible research projects that would otherwise have had to restrain their innovative approach to fit within already existing boxes.”

The criteria for submission and list of materials to be submitted for the 2026 prize remain the same as last year. Applications will be judged on the quality and originality of the research, and we will continue our focus on projects which are interdisciplinary and address complex societal problems. This may involve direct impact for real-world problems, deepening our understanding of societal problems or questions, or placing them within a wider context.

Applications for the First Book Prize 2026 can be made until the end of January 2026.

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Open access (OA) publishing forms a core part of our offering to authors and readers around the globe.听

From the publication of important medical research focused on improving patient care to unlocking opportunities for early career researchers to publish their debut books, we innovate in a variety of different ways, always in support of our mission to further the University of Oxford’s objective by publishing worldwide.

60% of our journals publishing is open access, with around 40,000 new journal articles available every year globally without barriers to access or re-use. In tandem, more than 450 OA books sit as part of our offering. Our open access articles are market-leading in policy and patent mention rate, demonstrating the quality, utility, and impact of our publishing, and the importance of enabling unrestricted access to research publishing.

This International Open Access Week, we have explored the 2025 theme of ‘Who owns our knowledge?’ alongside celebrating some milestone markers in our OA publishing programme.

Experimenting with books

We have been exploring OA models for books by launching and running pilots, and learning from these new approaches.

Rhodri Jackson, our Director of Open Access Publishing and Strategy, recently shared learnings and insights from our Commit to Open pilot and Subscribe to Open pilots, and how we will continue to innovate in support of our mission.

Read more from Rhodri .

Unlocking opportunity for early career researchers

This week, we announced the winners of the inaugural First Book Prize, another initiative we’re proud to launch in OA books.

Awarded to early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences, each of the ten winners will have their debut book published fully open access by OUP鈥攚ith all fees waived鈥攁longside hardback publication. The award champions the humanities and social sciences, supporting clearer pathways to publishing for the best scholars worldwide and providing the benefits of open access publication, enabling their research to reach new, global readers. We could not be more delighted at the breadth and depth in the work of our prize winners.

Submissions for the First Book Prize 2026 will open in January 2026. More information about each of this year’s winning books and the next prize can be found .

Working together with authors, research funders, scholarly societies, and academic institutions, we will continue to see our open access publishing grow, in terms of scale, breadth, and innovations. We look forward to seeing where we are in 2026.

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Last week, OUP proudly sponsored the inaugural AI in Education at 糖心VLOG (AIEOU) conference. The event brought together over 250 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can shape the future of education in equitable, responsible, and human-centred ways.

The two-day conference convened researchers, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders from countries around the world including Australia, India, Canada, Tanzania, and the Middle East, to share insights, challenge assumptions, and build a collaborative roadmap for AI in education. With over 100 presentations and a strong interdisciplinary focus, the conference marked a significant step forward in shaping a more inclusive and informed educational future.

Exploring the role of AI in Education

OUP has been part of the AIEOU Hub since its launch in 2024 and it has since grown into a global network of more than 2,000 collaborators from over 100 countries. Its mission is to critically and constructively shape the future of education through interdisciplinary research and dialogue on AI.

Hosted by the University of Oxford’s Department of Education, the inaugural conference featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, and workshops. Topics included ethical frameworks, human agency, inclusivity, and the practical application of AI across all levels of education, from early years to higher education.

Sarah Ultsch

Product Strategy Director in our English Language Teaching division

鈥溙切腣LOG Press is proud to support the inaugural AIEOU conference, an important forum for advancing interdisciplinary dialogue on the role of AI in education. By convening perspectives from policy, industry, and academic research across disciplines and geographies, AIEOU is helping to shape a more equitable and informed future for learners and scholars worldwide.鈥�听

Highlights from the programme

The conference opened with remarks from Dr Sara Ratner, Principal Investigator of the AIEOU Hub and Research Officer at the University of Oxford. She welcomed participants and emphasized the importance of working together across disciplines and borders:

“At a time when AI is challenging all that we do and know about teaching and learning, I am proud that Oxford is creating the space for conversations such as these to take place.”

Keynote speakers from the University of Oxford included Professor Liz Wonnacott (Department of Education) and Professor Rebecca Williams (Faculty of Law), who shared research on AI and language learning, and the legal regulation of AI in education. Professor Anne Trefethen, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Digital), also addressed the audience, highlighting the need for AI to be used in ways that are positive, equitable, and grounded in human experience.

Alexandra Tomescu, Product Specialist for Generative AI and Machine Learning at OUP, reflected on the event sharing her favourite quote from Professor Mike Sharples, Emeritus Professor of Educational Technology at The Open University: 鈥淎I is not one thing. Education is not one thing.鈥澨�听

Alexandra noted that this simple statement captured the complexity at the heart of the AI in education conversation. She emphasized that both humans and education systems are inherently complex, and that successful integration of AI must be iterative and flexible.听

The conference also saw the unveiling of the ELT-Bench Project by OUP’s ELT Product team. This pioneering initiative introduces a global benchmark for evaluating the pedagogical effectiveness of AI systems in language learning. Developed by a cross-functional team of experts in pedagogy, data science, and AI architecture, ELT-Bench offers a rigorous, pedagogically grounded framework.

Designing AI for learners first

A recurring theme throughout the event was the importance of designing AI tools that prioritize pedagogy, equity, and real-world impact.

This was a key focus of a panel discussion featuring Isaac Pattis, AI Incubation Manager at OUP, who said: 鈥淎IEOU created space for conversations driven by educational needs. What stood out wasn鈥檛 just the content, it was the emergence of a community focused on designing AI to support meaningful learning.鈥�听

Isaac outlined four key principles that emerged from the discussions: design grounded in pedagogy, regulation that protects learners, implementation focused on effectiveness, and impact measured through equity. These themes reflect a consensus that AI in education must be shaped by the needs of learners, not just technological innovation.听

Looking ahead听听

The AIEOU Hub continues to grow as a platform for global collaboration, with plans to expand its research, partnerships, and impact. As the conversation around AI in education evolves, OUP remains committed to supporting initiatives that prioritize equity, evidence, and learner outcomes.听

You can find out more about the AIEOU Hub and its work .

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At 糖心VLOG Press, we share the University of Oxford鈥檚 mission to further excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. It鈥檚 important that we maximize the impact and reach of our research content, and that extends to how we support equitable access in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). 听

To close that gap and help institutions access our content, we are proud to be a publisher partner of Research4Life.

Research4Life provides institutions in LMICs with free or heavily reduced rate online access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content, alongside research capacity development through an active programme, helping to bridge the knowledge gap and support sustainable development. This is crucial, as their鈥�鈥痜ound that, while 85% of the world鈥檚 population reside in LMICs, only 0.2% of research comes from those same regions.听

Through this partnership, and our dedicated鈥�,鈥痳esearchers in eligible countries benefit from free or reduced rate access to our academic journals and online products. This applies to over鈥�10,000 institutions in 100 countries either directly or through our partnerships with Research4Life and EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries).

We recently hosted the Research4Life General Partners Meeting to explore how the partnership can collectively advance equity in research throughout LMICs. Held over several days in Oxford, the meeting served as a platform for collaboration, learning, and action.

Here, we reaffirmed our commitment to reducing inequalities in access to knowledge and heard directly from user representatives, Country Connectors, and partners about the challenges they face, the impact 迟丑别测鈥檝别 made, and the opportunities ahead.

Discussions ranged from inclusive publishing and local content development to calls for sustainable funding and policy alignment鈥攈颈驳丑濒颈驳丑迟颈苍驳 the transformative power of equitable access. It was a timely reminder that, while access is essential, true equity requires empowerment, visibility, and long-term investment. We were proud to host this global community and help shape the future of inclusive research.

Graham Grant, Director of Technical Sales & Delivery for EMEA and APAC within our Academic division, is also Co-Chair of Research4Life鈥檚 Eligibility Committee and a member of their Executive Council. He shared:听

鈥淎t OUP, our mission is to support excellence in research and education by publishing worldwide. But excellence cannot thrive without equity. That鈥檚 why our partnership with Research4Life is so vital in bridging the gap between access and participation in global research across LMICs.

Through its work, Research4Life have increased research output in LMICs by up to 75%. They empower researchers not just to consume knowledge, but to create it, as authors, editors, and leaders in their fields. Having served on its committees, I鈥檝e seen first-hand the passion, commitment, and collaboration that drive this mission forward. It鈥檚 a privilege to contribute to a community that is reshaping the global research landscape for the better.鈥�听

Lise McLeod, Chair of the Research4Life Executive Council, said:听

鈥淭丑别 2025 General Partners Meeting and Conference helped us reflect on what equity really means in practice鈥攏ot just widening access but ensuring researchers everywhere can participate fully. It was encouraging to see how far Research4Life has come鈥攁nd how committed the community is to the journey towards inclusion and capacity-building.鈥�听

As part of our LMIC programme at OUP, we also support open access article processing charge (APC) , enabling eligible researchers to publish their work open access in our journals without financial barriers.

Beginning in August 2025 we have extended this programme, and we now provide authors in 91 countries with a full waiver of open access charges, and authors from a further 38 countries with discounts of up to 75%.

Find out more about our LMIC programme . You can also read the latest from Research4Life and sign up to their newsletter .

Event photography by Keiko Ikeuchi.

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As a department of the University of Oxford, improving educational outcomes is core to our mission. We’re dedicated to creating educational solutions that deliver real impact in the most effective way possible. We do this by blending impactful, proven learning design with our extensive educational experience and expertise globally to ensure that we develop products and services that will support teachers, move knowledge and learning forward, and deliver the best educational outcomes for all.

Imagine planning a journey to a new destination in your electric car, but it only has a limited amount of charge and it鈥檚 important to reach the destination as efficiently as possible. Just like a GPS helps with navigation to the right place and avoiding wrong turns, using minimal power and time, evidence of impact guides educators to the most effective educational resources, helping them allocate resources wisely.

By evaluating the impact of our products and services, we can help educators in selecting the most impactful educational resources that meet their needs. We can also offer reassurance that our products and services continue to meet the high-quality standards that everyone expects.

Speaking about the importance of , Fathima Dada, Managing Director of our Education division, said: “With unprecedented changes in education and the world around us, we have seen an accelerated demand for evidence of what works and makes a real difference to teaching and learning. Oxford Impact has enabled us to work with thousands of educators across the globe to evaluate how Oxford products and services support teachers and have a positive impact on learning.”

It’s all in the research

In September 2024, for the third consecutive year, we conducted research through our in the form of two polls, to understand how important it is for schools to have evidence of impact when purchasing educational resources.

The findings were clear: educators overwhelmingly value evidence of impact, with 88% saying that having such evidence is important. This highlights the critical role that evidence is playing in the decision-making process. When investing in educational resources, schools are increasingly focusing on accountability and data-driven decisions.

Determining value for money

In the survey, 352 educators shared that they need the evidence to ensure resources are value for money (45%), to compare different products (39%), and assess how well they deliver against specific outcomes (37%), ensuring that resources are both cost-effective and impactful.

64% of respondents said their senior management needs evidence of impact to justify expenditure and allocate resources effectively. This is a growing trend over the last couple of years, in particular, which we have seen in our previous surveys. In the same way that a reliable GPS is needed for a road trip, evidence of impact is proving essential when trying to navigate funding decisions and budget approval from senior leadership teams.

Empowering educators

The survey showed that evidence of impact is not only crucial for senior management but also for educators themselves (43%) and heads of department (37%) so that they can make informed decisions about the resources they use, ensuring they are going to be effective and beneficial for their students.

When seeking sources of evidence, 49% of educators identified efficacy or impact studies as the most credible, marking a significant increase from our 2023 survey and underscoring the importance of reliable information. Additionally, case studies (30%) and reviews (28%) play important roles. This preference for rigorous, data-driven studies indicates that educators want more reliable methods of evaluation.

With 91% of educators who took part in the research saying that evidence of impact is influential when purchasing educational resources, it highlights the critical role that trustworthy impact data plays in making smart, accountable, and effective decisions. Just like the GPS that navigates efficiently and reliably to the destination, credible evidence ensures that educational investments lead to successful educational outcomes.

You can read the findings from this year鈥檚 Evidence of Impact research through our 听补苍诲听,听or visit to discover more.

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This year’s International Open Access Week runs from 21-27 October. To mark the occasion, we reflect on the open access (OA) progress that we have made.

As the world’s largest university publisher of OA research, and as a mission-driven organization, we see ‘opening up’ access to research as a vital part of how we disseminate knowledge and are proud to have made a significant contribution toward enabling greater access to academic research.

In 2024, we expect to publish more than 33,000 OA journal articles and over 100 OA books, without barriers to access or re-use. Those numbers increase each year as we increase the scale and breadth of our OA publishing, working together with authors, research funders, scholarly societies, and academic institutions. This year, we have reached a significant landmark: more than 50% of research articles across our journals programme will be published OA, with the majority of these published in fully OA journals.

Unlocking new publishing opportunities

We now publish more than 140 OA journals. In 2024, we have ‘flipped’ ten journals from subscription models to OA, including the journals of the , four of the journals of the , , and others.

We also continue to launch or take on new OA journals, working together with leading scholarly societies and academic organizations around the world. For example, in 2024 we launched on behalf of the British Institute of Radiology, , a new journal in the highly successful NAR portfolio, on behalf of the Radiological Society of North America, and on behalf of the Royal Statistical Society.

Our publishing also continues to grow and diversify. In 2024 we will publish more than 100 OA books for the first time, and we have launched an exciting new initiative,听, through which we aim to make three collections of 10 books OA on publication.

Throughout our OA books publishing we aim to support early career researchers. One of the听Commit to Open collections,听, is focused on works by early career researchers. We have also introduced a 40% discount on Book Processing Charges for early career researchers, and we have further plans for supporting this group which we will announce soon.

We’re also expanding into OA for different types of products. In 2025, we aim to convert the to OA through our first experiment with ‘Subscribe to Open’, where if enough customers choose to renew their subscription, the encyclopedias will become OA from April 2025.

Transformative agreements

Our transformative or ‘Read and Publish’ agreements help make OA publishing available to more authors worldwide. We now have over 60 Read and Publish agreements covering more than 1,200 institutions around the world鈥攊ncluding recent new agreements in Canada, Andalucia, Singapore, Lebanon, and Mexico. Read and Publish agreements help expand OA publishing across subjects, by providing funding for OA where that may not have existed in the past.

For example, in 2020, before we signed a Read and Publish agreement in the UK, only 13% of our OA publishing in hybrid journals (journals offering OA and non-OA content) was in humanities, social sciences, and law. In 2023, the third year with the Read and Publish agreement in place, that figure had risen to 40%.

This has a positive impact for authors publishing OA with us, as they can get more attention for their work.

Looking at 2023 articles, OA led to increased Altmetrics (the way we measure reach and impact of research) across disciplines. In particular, OA led to 195% higher Altmetrics in hybrid humanities journals, and 197% Altmetrics in medical journals. OA articles published from 2018-2020 have also been cited more across subjects, most notably 73% more in life sciences and 57% more in law journals.

Speaking about our OA progress so far, Rhodri Jackson, Director, Open Access Publishing and Strategy, said:

“Our commitment to OA publishing is a key part of how we deliver on our mission to achieve the widest possible dissemination of trusted, high-quality research which upholds the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. It is this approach that steers our future direction and influences the way we work with authors, societies, institutions, and funders to maintain the highest quality research while creating a more open world for everyone.”

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