With SSP’s Annual Meeting now in the rear-view mirror, we asked the Chefs to reflect on what they took away from the conversations and vibes at this year’s event in Baltimore.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe 

The SSP Annual Meeting is typically my first conference after the spring semester ends and grades have been entered. It’s a welcome opportunity to gather with colleagues in anticipation of the different pace of the academic summer and a more focused time for research and writing.

While uncertainty was a recurring theme throughout the sessions this year, what stood out most was the collective commitment to keep moving forward, navigating as best we can in an ever-shifting environment, with the wisdom to change course when necessary. I felt this especially in the “Charleston Trendspotting” session, which I co-led with Leah Hinds. We took as our theme “perseverance and resilience” and guided workshop attendees through a series of exercises to identify what society needs from scholarly publishing, its enduring value, and how to counter threats to mission and vision. It was heartening to see participants recognize that things are unknown and uncertain, and then develop constructive paths for moving forward as best we can. The conversations were honest and insightful with a palpable sense of both urgency and hope.

Beyond the sessions, the true spirit of the community was on display at the EPIC awards ceremony. It was such a delight to gather and celebrate not just individual achievements, but the passion and purpose driving our collective work. As Chair of the ORCID Board, I was especially proud to see the ORCID team honored with a Silver Award for ORCID’s Community Trust Network marketing collateral. And, of course, I’m looking forward to seeing my “pink carpet” photos!

Charlie Rapple

I loved having science communication front and center on the agenda and throughout the program. There were some valuable practical insights, and some thought-provoking (and fun) exploration of what good sci comm looks like, what it can achieve, why we do it, and how to do it in the prevailing climate (hat tip to David Shiffman). But it’s telling that an early question from a publisher in the audience was “how do we get institutions to do more of this?” People who work for publishers and institutions tend to be supportive and enthusiastic about sci comm on a personal level. But on an organizational level, it’s hard to get the resources (time + budget) to expand sci comms because it’s not really required or incentivized. It only happens when researchers are confident enough to do it themselves, AND when they have the circumstances/privilege/drive to do it all on their own time/dollar. But as was acknowledged again in this meeting, if we don’t do a better job of communicating science to broader stakeholders, we are creating a vacuum for misinformation – and we are now seeing the direct line from misinformation to defunding to the closure of institutions, societies, and publishers. If we want our sector to survive, we have to see the correlation here and make science communication a properly valued and resourced part of what we do.

Roy Kaufman

I was relieved to see the degree to which publishers have moved from “whether” to engage with artificial intelligence (AI) to “how.” Our industry has moved past paralysis and into a phase which recognizes that AI is not one thing, but rather presents opportunities for revenues and cost savings along with threats to scientific integrity, revenues, and copyright.

Also, although not new, it was nice to see the continuing focus on infrastructure projects, PIDs and metadata. Speaking of which, I of course need to shout out to my colleagues Jamie Carmichael, Casey Pickering, and Shannon Reville for their Gold Epic Award win for our OA Intelligence product as well as Jessica Thibodeau’s Ringgold Researcher presentation. PIDs in action. Wow, how nerdy!

Robert Harington

I arrived in Baltimore expecting a downbeat, somewhat morose gathering. Instead, I found my colleagues astonishingly upbeat. They were determined and resolute in their will to discuss difficult topics. So much is uncertain and uncertainty breeds fear, but it also appears to have provoked a will to solve and survive. For me, the main themes of uncertainty that drove our conference lay in how to respond to what appears to be a dismantling of US academic infrastructure, researchers’ ability to do their work, educators’ ability to teach regardless of political doctrine, and inclusive notions of student populations. In addition, the omnipresent and unknown impact of AI in shaping our publishing enterprise and working lives threaded many of our conversations.

Just yesterday (as I write), The New York Times reported that there are nearly 2,500 NIH grants that have been ended or delayed. “The impacts extend far beyond studies on politically disfavored topics and Ivy League universities like Columbia or Harvard. The disruptions are affecting research on Alzheimer’s, cancer and substance use, to name just a few, and studies at public institutions across the country…” Similar cuts are being seen across federal funders, including the NSF.

Our discussions at SSP centered around the question of how to communicate beyond our own sectors on how essential science is to our nation. How do we ensure we do not lose a generation of expertise? How do we broaden our messaging?

There was a palpable sense of needing to take action to support our academic communities; a realization that even in the small actions of many, a wider collective voice may be heard. In the case of my society, The American Mathematical Society (AMS), recently announced $1m in backstop grants for the mathematical community.

Through strategic financial planning and careful allocation of resources, the AMS has been able to budget $1 million for distribution to impacted mathematical societies, institutes, programs, and departments. These grants are intended to provide one-time financial relief and ensure the continuity of some essential projects, conferences, and scholarly activities that align with our mission to advance research, education, and the full participation of all individuals in the mathematical sciences.

SSP is important and is one voice among many. I feel lucky to be a part of this organization.

Alice Meadows

The SSP annual meeting was the first scholarly publishing conference I ever attended, and it remains my favorite. But this year there was some stiff competition, as I unexpectedly attended – and enjoyed –  more conferences than usual (write-up on the EASE Conference from fellow Chefs Haseeb Irfanullah, Phill Jones, and me to follow).

Having said that, SSP certainly lived up to my (always high!) expectations. The highlight is, of course, connecting and reconnecting with friends and colleagues and I had some really valuable conversations –  many of which, inevitably, circled back to the current political climate and what it means for our community and industry. I especially appreciated talking to several of this year’s Fellows, a smart, thoughtful, and well-informed group of early career professionals. Their thoughts on how SSP can – indeed must! – continue to live our values was particularly helpful. We’ve done a lot of work to embed DEIA in our organization but there’s still more to be done, and we need to make sure we demonstrate to the next generation of scholarly publishers that DEIA is genuinely part of our DNA. So another highlight was seeing my long-time mentee (and former SSP Fellow), Kasia Repeta, receive one of this year’s Emerging Leader Awards, in part for her work establishing and leading the SSP Accessibility Subcommittee.

As usual, I didn’t attend as many sessions as I would have liked (too busy talking!), but I very much enjoyed and appreciated the opening keynote by conservation biologist and shark defender, David Shiffman. That may seem like an odd choice of speaker but, in fact, it was inspired! His work to educate the public about sharks is a model of good scientific communication, something we need to be doing a lot more of! I was also happy to finally make it to the Previews session for the first time in forever, and to catch up on some of the new products and services being developed by and for scholarly publishers – kudos to fellow Chef Tim Vines, whose new DataSeer SnapShot product, won the People’s Choice!

Huge thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make the 2025 conference such a success, especially the Annual Meeting Committee (led by Greg Fagan, Erin Foley, and Jessie Slater) and the SSP staff. I’m looking forward to next year already!

Lettie Conrad

I echo my fellow Chefs’ reflections that the vibe this year was fiercely resilient and resolved to face the current attacks from the current US Administration together. While the anxiety and uncertainty were palpable, the energy was laser-focused on solutions and survival. From creative funding strategies and cunning start-ups (Jessica Miles & The Informed Frontier or Jeff Lang & Figure 2), to how we leverage AI and how we measure impact, attendees who gathered in Baltimore were determined to deliver positive change regardless of being a few miles away from the epicenter of chaos.

For someone who has worked from home for more than a decade now, the SSP Annual Meeting is an important opportunity each year to connect #IRL with colleagues past, present, and future. This is an incredibly special community, and I’m so grateful to be contributing in new ways, in particular as TSK’s first Deputy Editor!

Randy Townsend

This year’s SSP Annual Meeting was embedded with promise. We are a resilient community, and at our best when we gather, connect, challenge, and triumph. I was moved by the compassion from President Heather Staines in her heartfelt address, whose words continue to resonate with me.

“History is indelibly marked by leaps forward followed by periods of harsh backlash. Positive developments don’t happen just as a matter of course. You have to fight for them. You have to follow in the footsteps of the fighters who have come before and undertook their fight in times that were objectively speaking much, much bleaker than even how these times appear to us. It always feels like it’s the worst when it is happening to you.”

That emotional moment quickly transformed into a dopamine rush when our “wartime president,” Rebecca McLeod, called on each of us to stand up for responsible research, the researchers we support, and for one another.

I participated in interactive sessions like “Shark Tank: Where to Invest to Achieve Our Goals,” which allowed us to workshop innovative ideas and encouraged us to think outside of the box. I was able to spend some face time with former and current mentees, students, and Fellows, as well as friends and former colleagues that were attending SSP’s annual conference for the first time, all enthusiastic about tackling industry challenges head on and excited to participate in conversations that will shape the future scholarly publishing. This does not mean that the solutions we need to solve those challenges will be easily achieved, but our journey towards solutions will be more rewarding and meaningful (and fun) when we’re working together.

As I concluded my duties as the immediate past president, I was proud to recognize Erin Foley, Sean Pidgeon, and Stephanie Lovegrove Hansen for the Appreciation Awards, Kasia Repeta and Ginny Herbert for the Emerging Leader Awards, and honor my dear friend Emilie Delquie as the 2025 Distinguished Service Award, recognizing nearly two decades of impactful volunteer commitment.  As I reflect backwards to this year’s conference, I simultaneously project forward. We have a brand new SSP app that allows us to stay connected through a platform governed by our core values! We have the EPIC Awards to elevate the inspiring work that is being done every day throughout our community!