October 4 & 5, 2023
AGU Conference Center | Washington, DC + Online
We are living through a time of accelerating change and transformation, where the landscape of scholarly publishing is undergoing tectonic shifts in how we operate, how we communicate, and where we add value to the research and learning lifecycles. Like all organizations dedicated to the business of information and data, content and service providers in our industry are experiencing challenges brought on by open access mandates, ongoing institutional budget crises, technological revolutions, and more.
The 2023 New Directions Seminar will focus on how those working in scholarly communications are managing commercial and cultural disruptions. Where are the sands shifting most dramatically? How are content and service providers responding to these disruptions? What are the priorities and what is being left behind? What tools and methods do we need to successfully weather these disruptive changes?
Framework
Viewed through the lens of a typical research workflow, we can observe disruptions and systemic changes underway at every step along the journey. The 2023 New Directions seminar will be designed to address where and how the “sands” are shifting at each junction of the scholarly communications lifecycle. Sessions will address topics from how changing funder mandates and AI tools are impacting researcher practices to open peer review, data sharing, and more. We hope to close the session with a change management workshop-style session designed to support resiliency in publishing professionals.
New Directions Seminar Working Group
Matt Cannon (Taylor & Francis)
Lettie Conrad, Outsell, Inc. (Lead)
Janaynne Carvalho do Amaral, University of Illinois
Jamie Devereaux, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers
Jon Gurstelle, APSA
Ginny Herbert, Frontiers
Avriel Licciardi, Frontiers
Jordan Schilling, Wolters Kluwer
Lillian Selonick, National Academy of Sciences
Heather Ruland Staines, Delta Think Inc
Walker Swain, Silverchair
Simone Taylor, American Psychiatric Association
Sophie Reisz, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (Education committee co-chair)
Jeff Lang, ACS (Education committee co-chair)
Sponsors
Access Innovations, Inc. | Cadmore Media | Data Conversion Laboratory Inc. | Morressier | Silverchair | Wiley Partner Solutions
Seminar Program
The seminar keynote “New Directions in Research Integrity: Values to Value in Research and Publishing” will feature Rebecca Brendel, Director of the Center for Bioethics and the Director of the Master of Science in Bioethics Program at Harvard Medical School. Please scroll down to view the complete program.
Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Session 1 The Impact of Externalities: Rethinking Funding, Research Projects, and the Global Body of Knowledge
As the knowledge ecosystem becomes increasingly global, conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion in the research lifecycle within the scholarly communication community are broadening from focusing on topics such as biases in peer review and citations to considering how entrenched inequities and geopolitical considerations impact the broader context in which research occurs and shape the fabric of what we consider to be scholarly inquiry.
This one-hour panel will focus on the externalities that affect knowledge production, from the factors that determine the kinds of research questions that receive funding and the individuals who can pursue research projects to definitions of “science” and what we consider to be knowledge. The session aims to challenge participants’ assumptions about objectivity in research and promote conversations about the global body of knowledge.
Moderator
Ginny Herbert, Associate Publisher, AIPP
Ginny Herbert is an Associate Publisher at AIPP, where she manages a team of journal managers and editorial assistants and leads the organization’s content acquisition strategy. With a background in both HSS and STM publishing, she has worked in several capacities at Frontiers, Taylor & Francis, and the American Economic Association. Ginny is passionate about increasing research transparency and efficiency via open science and sees tremendous opportunity for making the scientific literature more inclusive using artificial intelligence.
Speakers
Ben Goodrich, Associate Director, Government Relations & Public Engagement, American Political Science Association
Ben Goodrich is the Associate Director for Government Relations and Public Engagement at the American Political Science Association (APSA). He enjoys a wide array of responsibilities including leading APSA’s public engagement and advocacy portfolio, focusing on issues in the Federal government impacting higher education, research funding, and academic freedom. Ben joined APSA in 2023 after nearly five years at the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) where he led the organization’s public affairs efforts and supported policy and advocacy efforts on behalf of the greater social and behavioral science community. Ben holds a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Rachel Pietersma, Journal Development Specialist, Canadian Science Publishing
Rachel Pietersma is a Journal Development Specialist at Canadian Science Publishing. Her work in various publishing roles and with the journal Arctic Science has involved co-creation of resources to promote and encourage Indigenous-led and co-produced research. Rachel advocates for the publishing process to be more inclusive of the diverse contributions that occur in community-engaged projects and research involving Indigenous Knowledges.
Susana Ramirez, Associate Professor, University of California, Merced
As an infodemiologist, Dr. Susana Ramírez applies communication science to advance public health goals. She is a nationally recognized expert on media, inequality, and health. Her research—published in Social Science & Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Health Communication, and other journals—has examined the development and effectiveness of culturally tailored messages for Latinas, centering an interrogation of “culture” and acculturation processes in message effectiveness studies. Her current work examines policy discourse and media advocacy strategies pertaining to population health. She is a co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare (Wiley, 2024). Dr. Ramírez earned a PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Public Health from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Santa Clara University. She is currently an Associate Professor of Public Health Communication at the University of California in Merced.
Session 2 Tech Topics that ChatGPT Thinks You Should Know About
While current tech news is dominated by the advent of Chat GPT, and AI’s many implications (both known and unknown), there are other emergent trends the scholarly publishing industry would do well to note – believe it or not! This session will be a sampler of three topics, presented by three speakers with unique perspectives on each: 1) changing reader consumption habits, namely the shift from .pdf to full-text and its causes, implications, and opportunities; 2) evolving dynamics around access controls and credentials; and 3) why curated content and sophisticated search are more important than ever.
Speakers
Paul Gee, VP Digital Product Management & Development, American Medical Association, JAMA Network and AMA Ed Hub
Paul Gee is the Vice President of Digital Product Management and Development at the American Medical Association. He is a solutions engineer and product development executive with 22 years’ experience transforming medical publications into digital platforms that drive audience and revenue growth. His leadership experience crosses diverse business functions including editorial, publishing, platform operations, product management and development.
Andrea Hoffman, Chief Delivery Officer, Hum
Andrea Hoffman is the Chief Delivery Officer at Hum, the only customer data platform purpose-built for scholarly & professional publishers, and other content-driven organizations. She leads the Customer Success team and oversees company Operations, but spends the majority of her time providing strategic platform support to Hum’s largest scholarly clients. Andrea graduated from George Washington University with an M.P.S. in Publishing in 2012, and then built the foundation of her career in book publishing at a non profit association and leading multinational technology clients for an international marketing agency. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her husband and two young children.
Tim Lloyd, CEO, LibLynx
Tim Lloyd is founder and CEO of LibLynx, a company providing Identity, Access & Analytics solutions for online resources. His career spans several decades in a variety of product development and operational roles in online publishing, with a particular focus on developing innovative products and services to support online learning and research. Tim is a member of the governance committee of SeamlessAccess.org and co-chair of the outreach committee, and serves on the Project COUNTER working group on OA/unpaywalled reporting and the OA Switchboard’s Message Structure working group. He volunteers regularly to support a variety of industry initiatives, including mentoring, and is co-chair of the Society for Scholarly Publishing’s Annual Meeting Program Committee.
Roundtable Exploring New Directions: Reverse Roundtable Discussions
Reverse roundtable discussions will kick off the afternoon. In person attendees stay in one group while seminar presenters and organizers rotate, facilitating discussions around phases of the research and publishing lifecycle. Facilitators will also be available for virtual attendees. Small-group discussions will focus on changes and disruptions in these areas:
Editorial, publishing and product strategy, and business models
Facilitators: Dax Rodulfa-Blemberg, American Society of Hematology (in person); Cheryl Johnson, American Psychological Association (in person); Chris Rudyj, American College of Physicians, (virtual)
Peer review and research integrity
Facilitators: Lillian Selonick, PNAS and Brian Solis, AIP Publishing (in person); Kendall McKenzie, Frontiers (virtual)
Submission, production, and publishing technologies
Facilitators: Anna Jester, EJP/Wiley (in person); Shelby Jenkins, American Psychological Association (in person); Matt Cannon,Taylor & Francis (virtual); Kristen Swendsrud, American Academy of Neurology (virtual)
Content discovery, indexing, dissemination, and archiving
Facilitators: Dylan Ruediger, Ithaka (in person); Jennifer Gibson, Dryad (in person); Kay Burrows, Taylor & Francis (virtual)
Marketing and promotion activities
Facilitators: Chelsea Tharp, BioOne and Neen LeMaster, American College of Gastroenterology (in person); Ashlina Chin, PNAS (virtual)
Session 3 Sharing and Publishing Research Data: Challenges & Opportunities
Sharing and Publishing Research Data: Challenges & Opportunities
Making underlying research data openly available is a prevailing expectation of many institutions and funders, accelerated by new guidelines from OSTP and others. We can expect the demand for data publishing to only increase over time, but is the scholarly communications community prepared to respond? What are the impacts of data-sharing mandates on researchers? Do these impacts vary across fields of study? What new data types and formats are coming out of the latest research? This panel will explore the challenges and opportunities in research data sharing, indexing, publishing, and archiving from the perspectives of data librarians, publishers, editors, and researchers. An esteemed group of speakers will give us a sense of what research data publishing will look like in the next decade.
Moderator
Jon Gurstelle, Publishing Director, APSA
Jon Gurstelle is Senior Director of Publications at the American Political Science Association. He has spent over a decade and a half in academic publishing at Blackwell Publishing, Springer, and Wiley as both a book and journal editor in various disciplines. He has been a regular attendee at the SSP Annual Meeting and New Directions seminars since 2018 and is a member of the SSP’s Finance Committee, Education Committee, and DC Regional Committee. Jon is based at the APSA Headquarters in DC and oversees the 25 APSA and affiliated journals as well as the other association publications including books, magazines and a preprint server.
Speakers
Juliane Schneider, Metadata and Research Data Management Librarian, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Curator/Steward/Describer/Translator/Taxonomer/Project Manager of data in any form you care to throw at me. My goal is always to get the most out of the data for the end user, and have it easily accessible from multiple points. Currently interested in digital curation and research data, linked data and working with NLP-based technology to build effective text-mining tools, especially when applied towards aiding interdisciplinary research. Highly skilled in the ability to translate complex technological concepts to a non-techie audience. Experienced in handling archival materials and digitization projects, complex digital objects and their dependencies, metathesauri, and metadata standards/schemas. Currently working with researchers in the scientific and digital humanities fields to describe, package and transfer their data to our search and discovery tool. Major considerations throughout the process include maximum re-use and understanding of the data by end users, proper application of copyright, licensing and access levels, and the constant analysis of our data model for flexibility and effective interaction with open repository software. Specialties: Data curation, data analysis, metadata standards and schemas, digitization of archival materials, indexing and taxonomies, data design for bibliographic databases, project management, and translator of techie language and concepts to non-techie people.
Kiera McNeice, Research Data Manager, Cambridge University Press
Kiera is the Research Data Manager at Cambridge University Press, overseeing Press policies and practices in data sharing and research transparency as part of the cross-departmental Scholarly Communications R&D team. A key part of Kiera’s role is working across the Press portfolio of over 400 journals to understand their needs and challenges with respect to data sharing in different fields – and helping to develop and implement best practices and new initiatives. Kiera is currently a member of the Qualitative Data Repository’s Research Advisory Board, a Stakeholder Advisor on the FAIRsharing Advisory Board, and an active member of the Research Data Alliance. A former chemistry researcher, Kiera has also worked previously worked for the British Library and Royal Society of Chemistry on challenges and opportunities related to sharing and re-use of research outputs.
Dr. Lauren Cadwallader, Open Research Manager, PLOS
Lauren Cadwallader is Open Research Manager at the Public Library of Science (PLOS). In this role she works to advance of the adoption of open science practices in the research communities that publish with PLOS. This includes working with communities to understand their needs, the challenges they face and any assets they may bring, and from there develop solutions that can increase the adoption of open science. This work is shared as openly as possible to encourage other publishers and communities to learn from PLOS’ work and hopefully implement their own solutions. Prior to working at PLOS, Lauren worked in the Office of Scholarly Communications at Cambridge University Library in roles related to Open Access, Open Research training and Research Data Management. Before that, she worked as an archaeologist, gaining her PhD in 2013.
Keynote “New Directions in Research Integrity: Values to Value in Research and Publishing”
Values including objectivity, respect for participants, reliability and reproducibility, and transparency have guided standards for research in the sciences and humanities, and publication in scholarly literature. Notwithstanding these efforts, substantial disparities persist regarding who is included in research, how broadly findings may be generalized to all in society as opposed to those included in sufficient numbers to power research, and how using existing research data in rapidly evolving algorithms and other forms of augmented intelligence will affect equity and social justice.
Articulating the values at stake in the research enterprise and explicitly attending to these considerations in scholarly publishing—from the point of solicitation of submissions to post-publication engagement—has the potential to enhance both the impact of research and its applicability across an increasingly diverse population. These considerations are especially critical now amidst the explosion of innovative technology and machine learning, rapid scientific advances, and the rapidly changing health care ecosystem more broadly.
This talk will start a conversation in what we value, and how those values will define our commitment to the integrity of the research-to-publication-to-engagement-research cycle.
Keynote Speaker
Rebecca Weintraub Brendel, Director of the Center for Bioethics and the Director of the Master of Science in Bioethics Program, Harvard Medical School
Rebecca Weintraub Brendel is Director of the Center for Bioethics and the Master of Bioethics Program at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Dr. Brendel practices clinical and forensic psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Director of Law and Ethics at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior. She is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. She previously served as Medical Director of the One Fund Center for Boston Marathon bombing survivors at MGH and Clinical Director of the Red Sox Foundation and MGH Home Base Program for returning veterans and their families. Dr. Brendel is also admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
Dr. Brendel received her BA in philosophy with distinction from Yale and medical and law degrees with honors from the University of Chicago. She completed psychiatry and forensic psychiatry training at MGH-McLean.
Dr. Brendel works at the intersection of psychiatry, medicine, law, and ethics and is a past president of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (2018-2019) and the American Psychiatric Association (2022-2023). She has served on ethics committees of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP), and chaired the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Ethics Committee and Massachusetts Medical Society Committee on Ethics, Grievances, and Professional Standards. She is currently in her fifth of a seven-year appointment to the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA).
Thursday, 05 October 2023
Session 4 Authorship in the Age of AI
Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are not new to the scholarly publishing community, but recent, compelling technologies like ChatGPT and DALL-E are rapidly transforming the processes and methods used by authors in the manuscript preparation and presentation stages of their research workflows. In this session, we will hear from an expert panel convened to discuss and debate the current trends surrounding AI applications positioned to support researchers in the writing and presentation of their work. Panelists will present cutting edge AI use cases bringing new workflows and insights to the authorship process—e.g., AI to reduce language barriers, data scraping, and reference accuracy. This session will highlight guidelines that are in place to help authors and reviewers—as well as editors, publishers, and readers—correctly source and cite AI tools in their manuscripts. Learn from this expert panel as they take a closer look at specific tools being deployed today, their uses, and their limitations.
Speakers
Ashish Uppala, Chief Technology Officer, scite.ai
Ashish is the CTO of scite.ai. In a previous life, he was a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute before he got cold feet from pursuing an MD / PhD. He spent years developing his craft, both as a consultant for various early stage startups and as an engineer in numerous industries. Research is still close to his heart, and he loves being able to combine his skills to improve how we improve the institution of research everyday.
Chirag ‘Jay’ Patel, Head of Business Development, Cactus Communications
Chirag “Jay” Patel is a business development professional with Cactus Global and specializes in working with publishers and professional societies on the implementation of AI solutions. He wants to improve the user experience by utilizing AI to better classify content, make content easier to discover and find, build custom content collections, simplify access, and personalize the content. He also leads the SDG initiative at CACTUS, which is a signatory of the SDG Publishers Compact. Before joining CACTUS he advised various startups developing solutions for advertising, virtual conferences, producing video content, and journal publishing. When he is not working on AI solutions, he likes to goof around with his kids, read, listen to a podcast, spend time in the garden, or go for a walk.
Session 5 Rethinking Peer Review: Will New Models Bring New Voices to the Scholarly Dialogue?
Throughout the history of scholarly communication, “peer reviewers” have typically been two or three academics selected by editors and dissemination has happened largely through scholarly journals. This session will discuss the ways in which this traditional model is being disrupted through initiatives such as public review and preprint workflows, such as eLife’s recent shift in their publishing model.
New modes of peer review and publication seek to increase the number of individuals reviewing new research, diversify the reviewer pool, improve research quality and clarity, bring new voices to the peer review process, and ensure that research dissemination methodologies are fit for purpose in an increasingly digital, global ecosystem. This one-hour panel will consist of three presentations followed by an open discussion period.
Speakers
Alessio Bolognesi, Head of Journal Development, eLife
Alessio joined eLife in January 2023 and is currently Head of Journal Development. He studied biology in Rome (Italy), followed by a PhD in cell biology in 2017 at the ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Before eLife, Alessio worked as scientific editor at Cell Press (Elsevier) for a little over 4 years.
Janaynne do Amaral, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Janaynne do Amaral is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Science at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro/Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology. Her dissertation identified and described the peers, concepts, and models of open peer review associated with public participation in scientific journals. She conducts research on peer review and public engagement in science. In addition, she teaches Scholarly Communications and Information Services for Diverse Users.
Elizabeth Marincola, Senior Advisor, Science for Africa Foundation
Elizabeth Marincola is Senior Advisor for Science Communications and Advocacy at the Science for Africa Foundation, which drives scientific research across Africa. Marincola is an international leader in non-profit management, open access publishing, science advocacy, communications, education and public engagement. She was CEO of the open access publisher PLOS, after serving as a long time PLOS board member. She launched AAS Open Research, an innovative scholarly publication. Marincola was President of the Society for Science & the Public, Publisher of Science News magazine, and Executive Director of the American Society for Cell Biology and the Coalition for Life Sciences. She served on the founding boards of PubMed Central and eLife, and on numerous US and EU advisory commissions on open science. She is currently on the board of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Humanitarian Health. She received her bachelors and MBA degrees from Stanford.
Session 6 Coping with New Directions: Developing a Growth Mindset
To close the seminar, Lori Carlin, Chief Commercial Officer at Delta Think, will lead attendees in an interactive workshop on managing change and developing professional resiliency. This session will offer everyone a chance to reflect on how we cope with change and address the skills and tools to help mitigate the physical and emotional impacts of stress wrought by these constant cycles of disruption and change. We will begin with a short presentation, break out into smaller discussion groups, and conclude with a reflection exercise. This workshop is designed to foster a growth mindset and to support a healthy, resilient SSP community.
Moderator
Lori Carlin, Chief Commercial Officer & Senior Consultant, Delta Think
With more than twenty-five years of experience in scholarly communications and association management, Lori Carlin is a recognized expert in business strategy, customer and market insight, and change management. Lori is currently the Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Consultant at Delta Think, a consultancy focused and has also held senior positions for a number of scholarly publishers and societies. With both creative and technical expertise, Lori is adept at building effective strategies and methodologies, helping professional societies and corporations develop and deliver results that best meet and exceed customer needs. She is also very active in the scholarly communications industry, having served as a board member, committee chair, and committee member for many organizations, including SSP, ALPSP, OSAPA, and ASAE.
