to RELX reports, in 2022 Elsevier published more than 600,000 articles annually in over 2,800 journals. As of 2018, its archives contained over 17 million documents and 40,000 e-books, with over one billion annual downloads.

Elsevier has been criticized for its high profit margins and copyright practices. The company had a reported profit before tax of £2.295 billion with an adjusted operating margin