Robert Harington argues that funders, be they national, or private, should consider directly funding their field through funding societies and institutions, with a focus on equitable distribution of funds across scholarly communities.
In periods of disruption, commercial publishers have traditionally found opportunities to make capital investments that ultimately strengthen their relative position in the market — opportunities that are not necessarily available to their not-for-profit counterparts. With this in mind, we offer up the beginnings of an analysis of the state of not-for-profit publishing today.
Mark Thomas discusses lessons learned in moving ALPSP’s face-to-face workshops into an online offerings.
Robert Harington asks how scholarly societies are coping as the global coronavirus pandemic continues to cast a shadow, certainly well into 2021 and very likely into 2022 and beyond?
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, learned societies are facing some challenges that call for adaptive-transformative resilience. Guest author Trevor Perry-Giles discusses steps societies must take in crafting a “new normalcy” for sustainability.
In this article Robert Harington describes how scholarly societies are an indelible part of the research and support system for academics across many disciplines. Robert suggests rather than requiring societies to seek alternative revenue streams beyond publishing, why not turn that argument on its head and more fully support society and academic community life?
A glimpse behind the scenes as a research society added a popular magazine to its publishing portfolio.
Robert Harington suggests that despite the critical role of scholarly societies in publishing and academia, the sad reality is it is the big corporate publishers who win.
In the wak of Plan S, many independent and society publishers are investigating partnerships with larger publishing houses. It’s important to understand what it means to join a publisher’s Big Deal program, and so here we revisit Michael Clarke’s post that explains the changing nature of the Big Deal and what it can mean for these partnerships.
The scholarly communications marketplace has become increasingly difficult for the smaller independent and the society publisher. Here we preview our upcoming webinar looking at the future for these publishers.
Randy Townsend from the American Geophysical Union discusses the strides that organization has made toward equity and diversity.
With many professional societies finding their revenue sources under pressure, this month we asked the Chefs: How might professional societies continue to be sustainable?
Many society publishers, concerned about the disruptive implications, of Plan S, are nervously considering selling off their publishing assets.
How can not-for-profit organizations outcompete their commercial rivals? Revisiting Joe Esposito’s 2011 post that lays out a blueprint for success.
Plan S seems to favor larger, commercial publishers over smaller, independent, not-for-profit publishers. Is this an acceptable sacrifice or are societies, and not-for-profit publishing, worth preserving?