Research Professional News closure is confirmed: Clarivate will discontinue the publication on 31 December 2026, citing the long-term sustainability challenges of running a specialist journalism business. For UK research offices, that removes a three-decade primary-source channel for research policy and funding news, and the gap needs a deliberate replacement plan built from professional-body, funder-direct and independent-commentary sources — not a single like-for-like substitute.
Research Professional News is the Clarivate-owned trade publication — successor to Research Fortnight and Research Europe — that has covered UK and European research policy, funding calls and higher-education strategy since the 1990s.
- What is happening to Research Professional News?
- Why is Clarivate closing its research journalism arm?
- Which sources fill the research-intelligence gap?
- How should research offices build a replacement workflow?
- Common questions on the closure
- Outlook for UK research-policy intelligence
What Is Happening to Research Professional News?
Clarivate confirmed in a statement published on its Academia & Government portfolio pages that Research Professional News will discontinue publication on 31 December 2026. The company says it is exploring options with third parties to host the archive, but has committed that past content “will remain available and freely accessible to readers and the wider research community” regardless of whether such an agreement is reached.
Emmanuel Thiveaud, quoted in Research Information’s coverage of the announcement, described three decades of “authoritative, high-quality reporting and analysis across the complex landscape of research policy, funding and higher education” and thanked the editorial team by name in the closure notice. The final edition publishes on 31 December 2026; UK, European and Funding Insight coverage continues on a business-as-usual basis until then.
Why Is Clarivate Closing Its Research Journalism Arm?
Clarivate frames the decision as strategic reallocation, not financial distress in its wider business. The stated rationale is a shift to focus the Academia & Government portfolio on “scalable data, insights, analytics, workflow solutions and expert services” rather than editorial journalism.
This is a narrower move than it first appears. Clarivate’s funding-opportunities database, Pivot-RP, and its Web of Science analytics products are not part of the closure — only the specialist-journalism arm is affected. Research offices should not read this as Clarivate exiting research intelligence; it is exiting one product line within it, a distinction most coverage of the announcement has not spelled out.
- Final publication date: 31 December 2026
- Archive: committed to remaining free and publicly accessible
- Unaffected: Pivot-RP funding database and Web of Science analytics
- Affected: original editorial reporting, Funding Insight, and UK/Europe policy news
Which Sources Fill the Research-Intelligence Gap?
No single outlet replicates Research Professional News’s combination of daily policy reporting, funder-call tracking and sector commentary. Research offices need a three-tier stack: a professional body for practitioner context, funders’ own direct channels for primary-source accuracy, and independent commentary for cross-sector analysis.
| Source | Type | Coverage | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARMA (Association of Research Managers and Administrators) | Professional body | UK | Practitioner news round-ups, CPD, regional network updates |
| UKRI direct channels (council e-alerts, Funding Finder) | Funder-direct | UK | Primary-source funding calls and mandate changes |
| Wonkhe | Independent commentary | UK | Daily higher-education policy analysis and politics |
| EARMA (European Association of Research Managers and Administrators) | Professional body | Europe | Horizon Europe and pan-European funding context |
| INORMS | Global network | International | Cross-jurisdiction benchmarking of research-management practice |
ARMA’s UK membership network already circulates sector news and event round-ups to research managers, making it the closest practitioner-facing analogue to Research Professional News’s community role. UKRI’s own site and council-level e-alerts remain the authoritative first-party source for funding-call detail, since a trade publication was always a secondary layer over that primary data. For the wider policy debate — REF, research culture, institutional strategy — Wonkhe‘s daily briefing already covers much of the ground Research Professional News’s opinion and analysis sections held.
How Should Research Offices Build a Replacement Workflow?
Treat this as a migration project with a fixed deadline, not a passive wait for 31 December 2026. Research offices that rely on Research Professional News alerts for grants, mandates or REF-adjacent policy should act on three horizons.
- Immediate: archive or bookmark any internally cited Research Professional News articles now, since URL structures may change if a third party takes over hosting.
- Short term: subscribe research-office staff to ARMA’s news channels and set up UKRI council-specific e-alerts and Funding Finder saved searches to replace daily funding-call tracking.
- Medium term: add Wonkhe’s daily briefing (and, for European-facing offices, EARMA’s newsletter) to cover the analytical and cross-sector commentary that funder-direct channels do not provide.
Institutions should also audit which internal reports, board papers or policy briefings cite Research Professional News as a source, and flag those for a citation review once the archive’s final hosting arrangement is confirmed.
Common Questions on the Research Professional News Closure
Why is Research Professional News closing?
Clarivate states the closure reflects a strategic refocus of its Academia & Government portfolio onto scalable data, analytics and workflow products, combined with the “long-term sustainability challenges” of running a specialist journalism business inside a data-and-analytics company.
When does Research Professional News stop publishing?
The final edition publishes on 31 December 2026. Clarivate has committed that the existing archive will remain freely and publicly accessible after that date, whether or not a third party takes over hosting of the content.
What should UK research administrators use instead?
Build a three-source stack: ARMA for practitioner news and community context, UKRI’s direct e-alerts and Funding Finder for primary funding-call data, and Wonkhe for independent cross-sector policy commentary and analysis.
Is Clarivate exiting research intelligence altogether?
No. Only the editorial journalism arm is closing. Clarivate’s Pivot-RP funding-opportunities database and its Web of Science analytics products continue unaffected, since the decision targets specialist journalism specifically, not the wider research-intelligence business.
Outlook for UK Research-Policy Intelligence
The closure removes a single point of aggregation the UK sector had relied on for nearly three decades, and no successor has consolidated its full scope by the 31 December 2026 deadline. Research offices that build a professional-body-plus-funder-direct-plus-commentary stack now will be better placed than those waiting for a single replacement to emerge, because none is likely to appear.
For institutions building broader research-administration capability alongside this transition, CASRAI’s research administration resources cover related standards and workflow context.