2024-2025 Ballot Issues

Cast Your Vote!

In addition to the 2024-2025 Board of Directors election, we are also asking our members to vote on a proposed bylaws change and requesting feedback on suggested organizational membership criteria. Please read the proposed change details and suggested guidelines below.

Members must log in to access the ballot and vote. Voting is open through Friday, April 12; results will be announced in early May. 

Bylaws Change

Amendments to the SSP bylaws require a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members casting ballots. The Board is seeking support for a revision to SSP’s Bylaws, specifically the section regarding member discipline and expulsion. The goal of the revision is to clarify disciplinary actions SSP may take towards a Member.

Article III (Membership) Section 8 of the SSP Bylaws currently states:

Section 8. Expulsion: Members may be expelled from membership, for cause, by three-fourths (3/4) vote of the entire Board of Directors. For any cause other than nonpayment of dues, expulsion shall occur only after the member has been given ample notice of the complaint and has been given an opportunity to present to the Board, either in person or in writing, a defense against the expulsion.

Article III (Membership) Section 8 of the SSP Bylaws suggested revision:

Section 8. Discipline and Expulsion: Members may be disciplined (which discipline may include, without limitation, censure, suspension and/or expulsion) for conduct that violates the codes, rules or guidelines of the Society or is otherwise prejudicial to the interests or reputation of the Society by a three-fourths (3/4) vote of the entire Board of Directors. For any cause other than nonpayment of dues, the Board shall not impose discipline until the member has been given notice of the complaint and has been given an opportunity to present a defense to the complaint to the Board, either, at the option of the Board, in person or in writing.

Requested Feedback

The Board is seeking feedback from the membership regarding its support for implementing the following guidelines effective for the 2025 membership year. Accepting these guidelines would become a condition of membership for current and future organizational members.

The SSP Board of Directors has developed the following Organizational Member Guidelines to establish a set of general guidelines that we would expect an organizational member of SSP to uphold. These guidelines were thoughtfully crafted, with input from existing organizational members and key industry stakeholders, to protect the SSP brand and strike a balance between outlining expectations for our members, mitigating legal exposure, and avoiding the perception that SSP is policing industry activities. These guidelines, along with SSP’s Core Values and Code of Conduct, signal to our community the importance SSP and its members place on integrity and ethical behavior.

Organizational Member Guidelines

The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) expects its members to respect the organization’s Core Values of community, inclusivity, adaptability, and integrity and conduct themselves in accordance with our Code of Conduct at SSP programs (in-person and virtual). In addition, organizational members and their employees should strive to adhere to industry, ethical, and legal best practices, including but not limited to the following guidelines:

• Adhere to legal requirements within the member organization’s jurisdiction.
• Follow relevant ethical and best practice guidelines (e.g., those regarding privacy, intellectual property, and peer review) recommended by trusted regional and international organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Effectively address any errors and correct the publication record where appropriate. Policies should be publicly available whenever possible.
• Use commercially reasonable and good faith efforts to ensure that organizationally authored content or vetted publications do not contain any incorrect or fraudulent information or infringe on the rights of any other person or organization.
• Use commercially reasonable and good faith efforts to not defraud or mislead any of its stakeholders (including authors, readers, subscribers, advertisers, employees, users, etc.) by making false promises, unrealistic claims, or charging hidden fees.
• Respect the confidential information (personal or business) to which it has access (including personal details, transactional information, original unpublished research, etc.) and use commercially reasonable and good faith efforts to keep such confidential information secure in accordance to the member organization’s published policies or mutually agreed upon terms between the member organization and the other party including creators, customers, and partnering organizations.

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