The University of California System and Elsevier are still at an impasse over the negotiation of a new journal subscription deal.

The system has threatened not to renew its contract unless Elsevier, a major academic publisher, makes substantial changes to the way it charges authors to read and publish research.

The system’s subscription with Elsevier ended on Jan. 1, but UC access to journals has been extended while negotiations are ongoing.

In an email to editors of Elsevier journals who are part of the UC system yesterday, the publisher said that discussions with system representatives have been “close and productive” but have not yet resulted in a deal.

Elsevier has offered UC a deal that provides a “clear path to facilitate substantially more open-access publishing by UC authors” but still gives authors the option to publish articles in subscription journals, the email said.

"Despite our best efforts, it is still possible we may not reach an agreement," Philippe Terheggen, managing director of Elsevier journals, said in the email. "Given the flexibility and uniqueness of our offer, this would be disappointing and not the outcome we want."

Jeff Mackie-Mason and Ivy Anderson, UC's lead negotiators, said they had responded to Elsevier's latest offer in writing on Monday. "We are disappointed to see from their letter to UC editors today that they are not considering the conditions that we shared with them in that communication, and that we have been steadfast in for months."