Purpose-built for the scholarly research community, Meridian builds a new bridge between library collections and the AI tools researchers are using
SALT LAKE CITY, UT, UNITED STATES, November 3, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Cambridge University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press and Princeton University Press today announced they are Founding Publishers of Meridian, a new University Press community initiative convened by Cashmere, its initial operator and platform provider. Meridian is a mission-driven, market-informed Model Context Protocol (MCP) gateway for scholarly content, authorized by the University Presses themselves, bridging library collections of peer-reviewed scholarship and the AI tools researchers use. It provides streamlined, authorized access with clear provenance, full attribution, citation and usage reporting through a single integration platform.
Researchers increasingly turn to AI assistants to explain, summarize and connect scholarly ideas. Meridian ensures those answers are grounded in trusted, properly licensed scholarship. Scholarly publishers have always cooperated on infrastructure; Meridian applies that model to AI, with governance in publishers’ hands from the start.
SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY
For researchers, AI-assisted research can stay within the authorized scholarly ecosystem: every answer is grounded in authoritative, peer-reviewed content, carries a full citation and directs readers, through their library’s access, to the publisher’s version of record. For libraries, Meridian provides COUNTER-aligned reporting on how licensed collections are used in AI-assisted research, supporting collection decisions and demonstrating value. Content reached through Meridian is never used to train or fine-tune AI models, or sublicensed or redistributed.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR PUBLISHERS
For University Presses, Meridian is one integration rather than one per AI platform, and the opportunity to use shared AI infrastructure. Participation is opt-in and non-exclusive: it does not disturb other licensing deals or channels, and titles can be withdrawn at any time. Meridian also gives publishers statistics showing the questions that their catalog answered, where it ranks in content search, and how often it is cited across AI tools, to help better quantify the impact of their publications in the AI research environment.
GOVERNED BY AND FOR THE SCHOLARLY COMMUNITY
Meridian is both a program and a product, that allows participating presses to opt in for distribution, control access and rights, and collaborate on new models for content discovery and engagement in an increasingly AI-first world. As operator, Cashmere handles onboarding, client success and support, metering and reporting on behalf of the community, and as platform provider supplies the infrastructure Meridian runs on. The Founding Presses join Cashmere on Meridian’s Advisory Council, with institutional library representation forthcoming. The Council shapes Meridian’s mission, principles, membership criteria and quality standards, and becomes the board of directors when Meridian incorporates as an independent not-for-profit entity.
STATEMENTS FROM THE FOUNDING COMMUNITY
“The terms for how AI uses scholarship are being set right now, and university and other mission-aligned presses have an opportunity to take part in setting them. Johns Hopkins University Press has spent decades building trust with our partner publishers, scholars and readers, and Meridian lets us extend that trust into the AI systems that researchers and scholars are using on the terms so highly valued by our community.”
— Barbara Kline Pope, Executive Director, Johns Hopkins University Press
“The opportunity to collaborate with peer presses, and to expand our partnership with Cashmere, aligns fully with the mission of Princeton University Press to bring the best scholarly content to the most generative global environments for knowledge making and exchange. Meridian is designed to help us adapt the discoverability and accessibility of PUP content to new research methods and methodologies while maintaining every integrity of the underlying intellectual property and copyrights, the valuation of that content, and our ability and agency to steward its engagement and impact.”
— Christie Henry, Director, Princeton University Press
“As a university press, we are committed to protecting our authors’ rights while ensuring that high-quality trusted research is discoverable by those who need it, including through AI tools. This new partnership with Meridian will help libraries connect students and researchers with trusted scholarship from a strong and diverse group of participating university presses”
— Mandy Hill, Managing Director, Cambridge University Press
“We believe in the power of human knowledge to improve the world. Meridian is shared infrastructure that belongs to the scholarly community, and our role is to build and operate it in service of that community, to bring trusted scholarship into AI together.”
— Jonathan Munk, CEO, Cashmere
AVAILABILITY AND ROADMAP
Meridian’s founding community opens today. Founding publishers will onboard catalogs this month, and a closed beta pilot opens to select institutions and libraries later this Fall. Recruitment of launch publishers has already started. Cashmere has committed its platform for an initial 24-month evaluation period. Libraries and mission-aligned publishers can learn more at meridianalliance.org.
ABOUT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Founded in 1878, Johns Hopkins University Press is the oldest continuously operating university press in the United States. It publishes books and journals across the humanities, social sciences, life sciences, education, health, and public health, and operates Project MUSE, a leading platform hosting humanities and social sciences scholarship from hundreds of publishers, BioOne, an online aggregator of books and journals in the life sciences, and HFS, a book distribution business. Learn more at press.jhu.edu.
ABOUT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Princeton University Press is an independent nonprofit publisher founded in 1905 with close connections to Princeton University. With over 10,000 titles across diverse subjects, the Press brings influential voices and peer-reviewed ideas to readers around the world.
PUP publishing advances the frontiers of knowledge, fosters dialogue, and cultivates our shared humanity through scholarship and expertise. Learn more at press.princeton.edu.
ABOUT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge University Press is the academic and Bibles publisher of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It publishes books and journals, serving customers in higher education through research, education products and services. It is part of the University of Cambridge, delivering trusted research and learning materials that spread knowledge, spark curiosity and aid understanding of the world we live in. Learn more at cambridge.org/universitypress
ABOUT CASHMERE
Cashmere is the responsible data infrastructure platform connecting premium content publishers with AI companies. Cashmere enables publishers to protect, license, and monitor their intellectual property without exploiting content for model training without permission. Learn more at cashmere.io.
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