Plan S,self‐publishing,and addressing unreasonable risks of society publishing

Key points

• Societies face increasing pressure to contain costs and retain revenues, which are threatened by open access mandates.
• Funders and other science publishing campaigns need to recognize the value of learned societies and work with them to sustain the production of quality knowledge.
• Self‐publishing via preprint servers may threaten the quality of academic research.
• Societies can reinforce their value proposition through a model of academic entrepreneurship, including research activities, media engagement, and consultancy.

     

E‐learning: new opportunities in continuing professional development

The growth in professional learning is opening up many new opportunities for the application of e‐learning to the world of continuing professional development (CPD). CPD programmes require professionals to engage in annual programmes of professional development, and in some cases revalidation or recertification. To date, most of this activity has been off‐line. Increasingly, CPD requirements will be satisfied through the use of learning resources available on‐line or packaged into specially tailored e‐learning courses. Societies and professional associations – as the primary managers and coordinators of CPD programmes – are in a strong position to expand upon their existing Web‐based initiatives to deliver a new generation of e‐learning services to their members.     

Should scholarly societies embrace open access (or is it the kiss of death)?

In assessing the role that organizations of scientists with publishing activities – such as scholarly societies – can or should play in furthering the science and practice in their chosen fields, they face a dilemma: should they primarily be fund‐raising organizations for other activities in their disciplines, using their publications to bring in the necessary money, or should they be promoters of efficient scholarly communication and use their publications more directly to that end – for instance, by embracing ‘open access‘.     

On shifting sands: assessing the financial sustainability of UK learned societies

This article provides a quantitative assessment of the extent to which UK learned societies rely on publishing revenues. Drawing on work completed as part of a Universities UK project to monitor the transition to open access in the United Kingdom, it considers the risks that increased market consolidation and a shift to open access publishing present for societies' financial sustainability in the coming years. The project identified 279 UK societies that publish peer‐reviewed publications. It is estimated that publishing accounts for just over £300 million, or 26%, of these societies' overall revenues of £1.2 billion, but an in‐depth analysis of 30 societies found that the proportion is as high as 80% in some cases. Publishing is typically a profitable activity for societies, and thereby supports their charitable activities and makes an important contribution to their overall financial sustainability. Although most societies are presently in good financial health, the combined pressures of market consolidation and open access, coupled with early indications of an increase in the costs of publishing, suggests that their reliance on publishing could prove an uncertain foundation in the years to come.     

Open access: scientists as paradoxical consumers

The potential dangers of open access journals to the publishing activities of learned societies and thus to their financial stability and to the other activities they support are described. The interests of scientists in respect of access to research information may be opposed to their interests as members of learned societies.     

The Public Knowledge Project and Open Journal Systems: open source options for small publishers

This article provides an overview of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) and its open source software development projects, with a particular focus on Open Journal Systems (OJS), an online journal publishing platform now used by over 11,500 journals around the world. OJS is just one of many examples of software and services that provide new and cost‐effective alternatives, especially for small scholarly societies and commercial publishers. The development of online publishing, open source software, and virtual communities are together opening up new opportunities for scholars, researchers, societies, small publishers, and librarians to reassert their independence and control over the publishing process, and provides a wider range of options than has ever existed before.     

Publishing and the digital library: adding value to scholarship and innovation to business

Sydney eScholarship is a framework and suite of services that enables integration of digital collections, open access repositories, and research data services with scholarly publishing. The primary platform for scholarly publishing at the University of Sydney – Sydney University Press – currently operates as part of the University Library's Sydney eScholarship program. Three sets of publishing initiatives demonstrate the integration of the digital library with scholarly publishing to deliver different forms to different audiences: (i) new publishing and the literary canons – rediscovery, customisation and critical interpretations; (ii) book and web – open access publishing; (iii) publishing in the mix – data and experimental scholarly publishing.     

Economics as if science mattered: the BioOne business model and the transformation of scholarly publishing

The BioOne database of scholarly journals in the biological and ecological sciences was established in the belief that broad and enduring access to scholarly literature is essential not just to the health of the scientific enterprise but also to the health of the wider society in which science is practiced. The prevailing model of profit-based journal publishing – in which high prices are impeding access – is harming the interests of the very scientists who provide its life-blood. The BioOne business model seeks to meet the interlocking goals of providing broad and enduring access, supporting the publishing enterprise of scholarly societies, and assuring that BioOne will keep pace with changes in technology and scientific communication.     

From sailing boat to steamship: the role of the publisher in an open access environment

The Internet has been a huge success in the academic world, as it makes it possible for academics to share and find research materials; open access has therefore become a fact of life for academic publishing. But what is the role of publishers in this new environment? The key functions of publishing – organizing peer review, editorial support, graphic design, marketing, and distribution of academic information – do not just disappear; publishers still have a role here, but they need to take a more service‐minded perspective. Academics still need to find ways to ensure the dissemination of their output; it is important that they realize that this will cost money, whether it is brought in‐house or outsourced. The IMISCOE project, on which Amsterdam University Press has recently embarked, offers an entirely new publishing model oriented towards online dissemination of academic research results, as well as in book form.     

Reporting on a survey of peer-reviewed publishing in cultural materials conservation: perceptions,preferences, and decision-making

Specialist publications are an important part of professional and disciplinary development. They serve to communicate research; enable the development of a shared, contestable, and expanding knowledge base; support the educational programmes that advance the profession; grow practice; and inform the evolution of the discipline. In conservation, professional and peer-reviewed journals and other forms of publications support cultural, organisational, and scientific development; facilitate new and improved forms of conservation professional practice; enable the growth of a distinctive research-led discipline; and help conservation to more effectively compete with other disciplines for influence and funding. This paper reports on the findings of a study that investigated conservators’ opinions and experiences of peer-reviewed publishing. This study examined the value conservators place on the dissemination of their research; the obstacles to, and incentives in publishing; the views held by conservators of the benefits of publication to themselves and the field; and the impact of the field's inherent interdisciplinarity on the pattern of conservation publishing. Eighty-six conservators (conservators and conservation scientists) and ten journal editors completed an online questionnaire focusing on the communication of knowledge within the field of cultural materials conservation. Findings suggest that while the peer review process is valued, a significant number who responded indicated a preference for forms of communication other than in peer review journals or publishing in general.     

Scholarly communication and open access: Perspectives from Korea

This article reports on scholarly communication and open access (OA) in Korea. Drawing on a range of databases, articles, and reference sources, it provides unique insights. In contrast to the UK/US model of scholarly communication, in Korea, most scholarly journals are published by discipline‐based scholarly societies and research institutes affiliated to universities. Payment for publication is the norm, and typically features article processing charges and scholarly society membership fees for both OA and toll access (TA) journals. Online access to journals in Korea is provided by commercial vendors who enter into contracts with the scholarly societies for exclusive use. Three online access models apply – TA, gold OA, and dual access – with the use of these models varying between disciplines. In parallel with this access provided by commercial vendors, there are a number of government‐funded open access repositories (OARs) to which university researchers are requested to deposit their research outputs, as well as OARs run by universities and other research institutes.     

The Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia (EPIC): a university-based collaboration in digital scholarly communication

Researchers and staff from the Press, the Libraries, and the Academic Information Systems within Columbia University have been actively collaborating to develop strategies and models for ongoing, sustainable programmes of electronic scholarly publishing that take advantage of the available new technologies while maintaining the traditional quality and purpose of university-based research, teaching, and publishing. The evolving structure and content of current projects are briefly described, along with some of the lessons learned and plans for future development.     

Building new societies: Insights and predictions from the 5th Wiley Society Member Survey

The 5th Wiley Society Member Survey was conducted in May 2019. We received responses from 3,112 members who either consume, produce, utilize, or support scientific research, from more than 20 countries and across 40 disciplines. This year, we intentionally sought more responses from outside the USA and Western Europe than in the past, making the results more reflective of the diversity of the global research community. This made it clear that the research world is more disparate and, in some cases, such as in the Asia‐Pacific region, more contradictory than we have seen. Previously identified observations, such as an increase in respondents' simultaneous membership of multiple societies, have been consolidated, whereas others, such as the demand for support from societies for high standards of publishing ethics, are new to this survey. Central to the survey's findings is the continuing rise in researcher demand for open access and open research as tools for both consumption and production of research. Ultimately, by using these findings, this article suggests some strategies to enable societies to navigate their way through this new and constantly evolving world of academic research.     

科技论文发表费收取的合理性及其规范

从学术研究和论文出版的公益性、国际惯例和科研经费转移支付的角度,论述学术期刊收取论文发表费的合理性,提出了发表费收取的录用与收费分离、科研经费支付、用途特定和稿费不抵等4条原则.认为问题的关键不在于发表费的存废,而在于国家、社会、学术期刊和科研单位是否承担起各自的社会义务,建立起比较完善的学术期刊出版保障体系.     

Mentoring as a career development tool: A universal resource or only for the ‘anointed’?

Key points

• Most employers offer skill‐based training, but formal mentoring programmes are rare.
• Training tends to be responsibility‐specific and organization‐centric, with fast‐tracking of stand‐out individuals.
• Cross‐organizational mentoring can be more objective and multidisciplinary and support publishers’ needs for innovation.
• Mentoring programmes usually focus on early careers, and there is little support for senior publishing professionals.
• All professional development requires engagement from all parties – no pull without push!

     

Plan S and purpose: The future direction for UK learned societies

• A group of UK-based learned societies were anonymously interviewed to understand how trends are affecting their missions, strategies, and operations.
• The societies' missions focus on supporting academics and disseminating knowledge, with publishing being a means to achieve those goals rather than an end in itself.
• The responses were concerned about addressing open access (OA) but, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era, this was not necessarily their highest priority.
• The societies expressed reliance on larger corporate publishers on them to navigate the transition to OA publishing.
• The societies' focus is on evolving their missions to meet the changing needs of their academic communities, with issues around premises as a result of COVID-19 being more pressing than publishing industry changes.
• The societies face challenges in adapting to the shift to online and digital operations, particularly in regards to maintaining engagement with their members.

     

德国图书学研究与教育——"图书学研究与教学"学术研讨会综述

2007年5月在德国埃朗根举行了"图书学研究与教学"学术研讨会。会议分三个部分:第一部分由设有图书学专业的德国高校代表作报告;第二部分是来自档案馆、图书馆和相关协会的代表作报告;第三部分是一个国际化的讨论,由来自瑞士、奥地利和中国的从事图书学研究和教学的代表发言。     

Open access developments in France: the HAL Open Archives System

This article presents an overview of open access publishing and open access archiving in France. In natural sciences, most articles are published in international journals; authors must therefore comply with the policies of their publishers, irrespective of their nationality. For humanities and social sciences, where publication tends to be distributed among many small journals, portals have been created to provide electronic publishing, with varied access policies. Open archives repositories have been in existence in France since 2001; from 2006, a proactive policy led the main research agencies and universities to coordinate their actions towards a common archiving platform, HAL (Hyper Articles on Line), operated by CNRS (Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique), with individual portals, either thematic or institutional. HAL stores now the majority of open access records – presently some 10–15% of French output – and is growing almost exponentially.     

The new engagement game: the role of gamification in scholarly publishing

Gamification – the application of game mechanics to solve problems and engage users – is gathering significant momentum in the wider business world, and there are many ways in which it could benefit librarians, academic publishers, and learned societies. At its core, gamification is a way of tapping into motivational forces to increase individual investment in a system, process, or resource; applied correctly, these mechanics could be used to increase engagement with a publisher's back catalogue, drive society members to explore the value their membership offers, and encourage students to connect with on‐campus learning resources. Gamification can help satisfy both business and audience objectives, but frameworks have to be carefully designed to avoid some of the common pitfalls that such systems face. Although there are few examples of gamification at work in the learned publishing sector, those who are willing to explore, experiment, and iterate on solutions will be better placed to meet the needs of the increasing ‘digital native’ student and academic population.