Alex Afouxenidis (National Centre of Social Research, Greece)
Biography
Dr Alex Afouxenidis (Political Sociology) studied Sociology & Social Administration at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1983-1986). In 1990 he received his PhD in Sociology from the Sociology Department at Durham University. From 1992 to 1996 he taught Sociology and European History at the British-Hellenic Educational
Association in Athens. From 1996 to 1999 he taught Political Sociology, Qualitative Methods of Research & European Integration at the Department of Geography of the Aegean University. Since 2002, he has taught Human Geography and European Material Culture at the Hellenic Open University, where he also acted as Chief Researcher of the Euro-Mediterranean Research Unit. From 2008 until 2011 he taught at the Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of the Peloponnese. He has a strong research and publication record and has coordinated several national and European Research Programmes. He has also acted as project evaluator for the EU and for national research funding organizations. Alex has published 9 books and a significant number of peer-reviewed articles in English and Greek.
He currently works as a Senior Researcher, at the National Centre of Social Research in Athens, Greece.
Statement of Interest
I have been on the Editorial Board of the Greek Review of Social Research (GRSR) for the past 5 years, which is run on an extremely tight budget (approx. 6000 Euros). The strategy for developing the journal has been based on three elements: a) full commitment to open access publishing; b) internationalize the journal and include it in organizations such as OASPA, Scopus, etc. and c) make the basic profile of the journal stronger and more identifiable. The journal is research oriented with an emphasis on qualitative methodology and contemporary theory. This approach has yielded significant results over the past three years, the most important of which is the greatly increased accessibility and readership. We had 22000 new users last year and over 410000 article downloads. Although the re-structuring model has, to a large extent, been successful, there are significant new challenges, with the most important being related to human resources and infrastructure. As the journal grows bigger adjustments have to be made on both of these, something which is not easy.
Therefore, I would like to nominate myself as a candidate for a seat at the Board. I think that as a representative of a fully open access (small) publisher, I may be able to contribute positively to OASPA, especially regarding ideas on how to develop smaller-size open access academic publishing.
Bernd Pulverer (EMBO
)
Biography
Statement of Interest
OASPA has emerged as a key voice and indeed force in framing a constructive transition to high quality OA publication and Open Science dissemination. Its vision is congruent with that of EMBO and EMBO Press in supporting both the basic principles of a global transition to Open Access, while not loosing sight of important attributes of quality journals such as scientific quality control, selectivity, peer review, data curation and editing services, and, importantly, policing community standards for scientific dissemination. Indeed OASPA and DOAJ play a critical role in setting standards for OA journals and in protecting the community from so called ‘predatory journals’.
At the same time, EMBO/EMBOPress has emphasized on numerous occasions that OA is one key stepping stone to a more holistic Open Science dissemination system that will include sharing FAIR data on databases, preprint and pre-preprints. Indeed, in our view the time has come to encourage a whole sale conversion to an Open Science based research environment and that the focus in OA has to remain firmly fixed on that goal, which will require investment in additional platforms, processes and standards that will convince the scientific community itself to embrace these principles. Thus, we believe that efforts towards OA need to be focussed on quality and new facilitating developments, rather than becoming a cost saving exercise to protect decreasing library budgets and – as a side effect – encouraging high volume publication over high quality publication.
Beyond its own OA journal publishing activities and setting relevant policies at EMBO level, EMBO is involved at numerous levels in supporting the OA and OA agenda, including sitting on the Open Science Policy Platform (OSPP) committee and Advisory Boards of MULTIMOT, BioSharing/FAIR sharing, Biomodels, bioRxiv preprint server, the PREMIER Project at Charité, and DORA among others.
EMBO Press is actively collaborating on new standards and platforms with eLife, PLOS and ASAPbio. EMBO’s SourceData project, which renders scientific figures machine readable, FAIR-sharable and discoverable by open source data directed search technology developed in house (’smart figures’, see https://sourcedata.embo.org), promises to be a major contributor to Open Science. Equally, EMBO Press has played a leading role in established a new publishing standard based on transparent peer review (practiced for a decade at EMBO Press), in posting curated source data on a CC-0 licence with its research papers (for over 8 years) and in systematic research integrity screening before publication (for 8 years, including ongoing development of partial automation that allows scaling up to all platform, including preprints). We have thus demonstrated for a decade that transparency and openness works at every level of the publication process.
EMBO has not been a member of OASPA for very long, but it has a long history in OA, having launched one of the first fully OA scientific journals, MSB, in 2005 and demonstrating with the conversion of EMBO Mol Med in 2012 – to our knowledge for the first time in the biosciences – that a highly selective journal can be successfully converted to OA. We launched a new OA journal with an innovative editorial process aimed at improving the overall efficiency of the scientific dissemination process last year as a joint venture with Rockefeller University Press and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory press. Importantly, EMBO Press also publishes two journals that were ‘hybrid’ from the very beginning of this model. We are continuously analyzing at what point a flip to full OA will be possible and under what parameters. As such, I would also bring the perspective of high-quality journals poised for OA to OASPA, including reasons why conversion is all but easy.
EMBO is a not-for-profit organization that supports excellence in science in Europe and the world. Everything EMBO does is informed and supported directly by the research community. We believe that our contribution to OASPA would be at multiple levels, as we reflect the needs of the bioscience research community (often overlooked in these developments), high-level journal publication, cutting edge open science initiatives, as well as the perspective of a major research funder.
OASPA is a key voice in OA and OS, and it will play a major role in ensuring that PlanS becomes a transitional initiative to support high quality OA. These developments are happing at unprecedented speed and we are ready to play our constructive part in this important transition.
Carrie Webster (Springer Nature)
Biography
Carrie has worked in open access for 15 years. Starting her publishing career at BioMed Central in 2003, she was involved in the early growth of the OA movement. Carrie joined Macmillan Science & Education in 2012 where she developed OA policies, launched their open access monograph program, and was also involved in the flip of Nature Communications and rise of Scientific Reports, two of the leading open access titles.
In her current role, Carrie is responsible for open access across Springer Nature, as well as transformative business models. Carrie is a member of various industry associations and boards.
Statement of Interest
The drive and pace towards open access has seen an intense acceleration over the past 8 months and is moving in a way that the industry has not previously seen. A unified and diverse group of voices to help support, drive and engage in the conversations that are directly affecting the global publishing community, demonstrating the value and importance open access, is more vital than ever.
OASPA has always been a leading voice within these debates, supporting and representing theinterests of open access journal and book globally, and I am proud to have participated in every meeting (excluding maternity leave) since the organisation was set up. In my current role as Vice President, Open Access, my focus is on overall business model migration for OA, supporting the development and transition of solutions that support the advancement of OA, preserving the integrity of our research, and through this helping to place Springer Nature as a leading OA publisher and a trusted conveyor supporting effective debate around the values and role of OA publishing.
Open access is at a pivotal point. With my over 15 years’ experience and my commitment to remaining close to the community, the current drive towards the sustainable development of and engagement with OA, is something that I am passionate about. The opportunity to be an active and shaping member of these debates is something that I would relish being a part of.
As the largest OA publisher, Springer Nature has given me a broad exposure but it is our position as a mixed model publisher who is actively seeking to transition its entire portfolio to OA where I feel I could bring value and offer an important perspective to the board. It enables me to understand the needs of pure OA , but also traditional who are trying to lead the way – an approach and understanding that I think is vital to sustainable business model and policy development. As an OASPA Board member, I would encourage and defend the need for clear cross collaboration between scholars, librarians, funders and institutions and speak pointedly about the need for clear promotion and value around OA options and models.
With 2019 set to see many changes to OA through Plan S progression, DEAL, UKRI policy review, to name a few, it is now more vital than ever that we have a diverse group of voices collaborating to speak to, challenge and champion a vibrant and healthy OA market that supports and discusses, a wider variety of innovative solutions and business models relevant to the communities we serve. OASPA and its board members have the most effective platform to be able to do this and support effective industry engagement.
Dominic Mitchell (Directory of Open Access Journals)
Biography
Dominic Mitchell started life as a publisher, working for 6 years in London for the BMJ Publishing Group before then going on to work for HighWire Press, then part of Stanford University Libraries, and was lucky enough to work under the visionary influence of foundingDirector, John Sack. HighWire was ahead of the technological curve and it was exciting to see them find technical solutions for online publishing which no-one else had yet achieved.
With his personal life taking him from London to Stockholm, Sweden, Dominic gained an international perspective on publishing that went beyond the UK and US through exposure to the flourishing scholarly publishing ecosystem throughout the world. Being fortunate enough to meet another visionary, Lars Bjørnshauge, Dominic has worked for the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) since 2013, increasing
DOAJ’s profile globally, breathing new life into it and helping it become the crucial service to open access publishing which it is today.
Statement of Interest
My experiences have rounded out my knowledge and perception of scholarly publishing. It isn’t just about the big names, the successful and the fantastic groundbreaking work they are doing. It is just as important to support the small, entrepreneurial, unfunded publishing outfits and help them to prosper, grow and become well-established. These organisations play a key role in maintaining a diverse publishing ecosystem. I see organisations, like DOAJ and OASPA, as vital to their success and therefore the much needed diversity. One of DOAJ’s aims is to represent the smaller and those from the Global South. DOAJ allows their voice to be heard and they form a large part of our publisher base. The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association plays a vital role supporting all types of open access publisher. It gives them a vital voice, enabling them to be heard over the voices of the larger, more traditional . The advent of cOAlition S and their ambitious Plan S is an opportunity which will give open access the platform they need to be as strong, as relevant and as successful as their “closed access” colleagues and I want to be a part of that. By being present on the Board of OASPA, I hope I can bring a well-rounded and fair aspect to this important organisation.
Emma Wilson (Royal Society of Chemistry)
Biography
Dr Emma Wilson is the Director of Publishing at the Royal Society of Chemistry. She has nearly 20 years’ experience working in scholarly publishing both for commercial and not-for-profit organisations, joining the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2006. In her current role she has responsibility for the strategic development of the journals, books and databases portfolio. This includes working with the chemistry community and other stakeholders to shape and develop the Gold Open Access journals. This portfolio has grown significantly and now publishes over 5.5k Open Access articles.
Statement of Interest
I would love the opportunity to serve on the OASPA Board and collectively contribute to championing and supporting Open Access and a more open research environment. As a society publisher I hope that I am able to bring not only a experience but also a researchers and a learned societies perspective to the table and share the experiences that the RSC has in both launching Open Access journals and transitioning subscription journals to Open Access. It is both an exciting and challenging time for Open Access and I would relish the chance to support OASPA as it in turn supports its members in their transition to Open Access.
Fred Fenter (Frontiers)
Biography
Frederick Fenter is the Executive Editor of Frontiers, an innovative and rapidly growing open-access publisher based in Lausanne Switzerland. He studied chemistry (Ph.D. Harvard, 1990) and conducted research in atmospheric science for a number of years before moving into scientific publishing with an appointment as manager of the Inorganic Chemistry Program at Elsevier Science, Lausanne (1997). Since then he has been founder of a start-up in publishing technology (FontisMedia SA, Lausanne); advisor to the launch of an institutional document repository (InfoScience); and publisher of an English-language University Press (EPFL
Press, Lausanne).
In 2013 he moved back to Frontiers, which he had previously advised as a consultant during its first 18 months of activity. As Executive Editor at Frontiers, Fred oversees a program of over 60 open access journals, covering nearly 600 specialty areas, constituting one of the largest editorial boards in scientific publishing. He is also leads Frontiers program in public affairs, including organization of meetings and workshops, and he directs innovative content projects with external third parties.
Fred is a well-known advocate for open science, and is frequently invited to talk about his experiences and perspectives, or to act as a moderator, with over 10 such presentations or round-table participations over the last year.
Statement of Interest
About nine months ago, the principles of Plan S were published, followed by a more detailed articulation of its implementation guidance and an open consultation. Since then it has been a recurring theme in all discussions on the transition to open science – and it has helped all actors to more carefully consider, and express, their own views and visions.
Change is in the air, and the representation of the scientific publishing sector must be ready to adapt quickly now. On this issue, and on others that have direct impact on the operations of open-access , OASPA needs to lead with a principled stance, and it must play a central role in advising – and in certain contexts shaping – the implementation recommendations that emerge. In all cases, all stakeholders should be able to count on OASPA to keep the record straight by providing dependable information with which all stakeholders can make best informed decisions.
I am a candidate in this election because OASPA still provides an effective forum of stakeholders where this sort of change can be discussed and implemented; indeed, the current conjuncture, OASPA will be offered an exciting and exceptional opportunity to lead. Bringing my past experience in a wide range of publishing initiatives, and with the breadth of my current role at Frontiers, I would be honored to serve as an OASPA board member and to contribute my time and energy towards the accomplishment of its mission.
Jennifer McLennan (eLife)
Biography
Jennifer is an advocate for change in research communication and Head of External Relations for eLife, a non-profit and research funder-backed initiative to improve science publishing and publisher of an open-access journal. In this expansive and changing role, she works with scientists, funders, , developers and others to explore fresh paths toward accelerating science through openness and open-technology innovation. As part of the core team behind the launch of the eLife journal and setting the eLife strategy, Jennifer’s responsibilities have included the eLife brand and message, editorial and early-career community management, raising the profile of the journal, marketing eLife’s open-source publishing suite, and recruiting new partners to the eLife initiative. Prior to eLife, Jennifer contributed to education, collaboration, and policy development in support of open access as Director of Programs for SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). In earlier years, she led marketing and public relations for academic and nonprofit organizations.
Jennifer is a member of the FORCE11 Board of Directors and Co-chair of the FORCE2019 annual meeting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Athabasca University – both in Canada.
Statement of Interest
I share OASPA’s commitment to innovation in scholarly communication and would very much like to help drive the transition to comprehensive, high-quality, open-access publishing as a member of the board. At eLife for the last seven years I’ve contributed: to the launch and establishment of a new open-access journal and addressing myriad related challenges; the introduction of a publication fee and examination of (as well as publicising) our costs; enlisting support from major research funders for open access and open technology development; our journey from outsourced infrastructure to open-source solutions developed in collaboration with a growing community committed to common aims; and more.
Before joining eLife, I was deeply involved in all kinds of work in the OASPA sphere via SPARC. I contributed to promoting open-access alternatives to subscription journals, open-access policy adoption by research funders and institutions, the establishment of open-access funds, educational efforts for authors around copyright and Creative Commons, and community-building programs including Open Access Week and what has become OpenCon.
I have 15 years experience with open-access publishing and am more optimistic than ever about what’s happening in the landscape today. It seems to me that we’re working more collaboratively than we have before (across sectors, for example), and are focused on developing solutions for common problems (like reducing the cost of publishing). I would look forward to the chance to take these discussions further forward via the OASPA board.
Juan Pablo Alperin (Public Knowledge Project)
Biography
Dr. Juan Pablo Alperin is the Associate Director of Research for the Public Knowledge Project, where he has worked on open source solutions for scholarly publishing for over 10 years. He is also an Assistant Professor at the School of Publishing at Simon Fraser University, where he co-directs the Scholarly Communications Lab. He is a multi-disciplinary scholar, with training in computer science (BMath, University of Waterloo), social science (MA Geography, University of Waterloo), and education (PhD, Stanford University), with interests in a broad range of issues in scholarly publishing, technological and social, but has paid special attention to open access, the public’s use of scholarly work, and on how these topics play out in Latin America.
Dr. Alperin believes that research, especially when it is made openly available, has the potential to make meaningful and direct contributions to society.
Statement of Interest
I am interested in serving on the board of OASPA in my capacity as an Associate Director of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), whose open source software is used by over 10,000 open access journals around the world. PKP has supported this growing number open access for over 20 years and is increasingly being called upon to serve as a voice for this diverse and disparate group of primarily non-commercial and scholar located in the Global South. I believe that I can serve as an interlocutor between this community of and OASPA, which shares their commitment to high quality open access publishing. Doing so would not only help to ensure OASPA’s activities support the work of small scholar , it would also provide a platform from which I would be able to articulate the value and relevance of OASPA membership to this community.
I have extensive experience building software for scholarly publishing, which gives me an understanding of the technical challenges open access face. I have travelled extensively, speaking to those involved within the research community at all levels, which gives me an understanding of the socio-cultural challenges that publisher’s constituents face (e.g., researchers). Finally, I am a well-established researcher on scholarly communications, which gives me a unique understanding—as a practice and subject matter—of how science is communicated.
Stephanie Paalvast (Brill)
Biography
After graduating in History (Victorian Studies) and Publishing, Stephanie Paalvast gained publishing experience both with a commercial publisher as well as with a library-led publishing program. She has worked on developing sustainable Open Access models for HSS journals in the publishing program of Utrecht University Library. She is currently responsible for developing the Open Access program of Brill.
Statement of Interest
Open Access holds a wealth of potential for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Now that the focus on societal relevance and impact of research is ever increasing, Open Access enables HSS research to be distributed far and wide, and read by researchers, interested citizens, and policy makers across the globe. Open Access HSS research has the potential to immediately influence the discourse on urgent social topics – from migration to terrorism. By consequence, Open Access for the HSS can reinforce the importance and urgency of these research fields.
The road to Open Access, however, needs to be carefully developed with an eye for the characteristics of the various fields in HSS: specific research and publication cultures, variety in size, availability of funding, as well as the continuing prevalence of book publishing, are all factors that need to be taken into account when developing models for Open Access HSS publishing. This is where the strength of the HSS – its rich diversity in large and small, from commercial to non-profit – becomes a challenge. While there are opportunities for discussion, and while we are all to some degree in touch with other stakeholders (institutions, funders, policy makers) our voice could be even louder. The only way to achieve this is to join forces, as HSS publishing community, and to continue to work on the development of Open Access together: both within the rich and diverse community of HSS , as well as together with our colleagues from STM, funders, policy makers, research communities, and institutions.
This would be my key aim as member of the OASPA Board of Directors: OASPA provides the perfect platform to continue, and expand, this conversation. I would seek to strengthen and foster relationships within the HSS publishing community, so that we can make sure our voices are heard. I would also seek to accommodate opportunities to discuss the practical side of HSS Open Access publishing: from workflows to business models. Moreover, I would aim to facilitate discussions with other stakeholders across the board: institutions, funders, researchers, policy makers. I would, in this role, be proud to represent the rich diversity of small-to-medium HSS , from commercial to institutional, many of whom Brill has an excellent relationship with (most recently, through our shared response to Plan S) to make sure we build an inclusive road towards Open Access together.
Sven Fund (Knowledge Unlatched)
Biography
Sven Fund has about 20 years of experience in the publishing industry, including 14 years in Open Access publishing. After starting his professional career as a senior in-house consultant at Bertelsmann AG, Sven joined what is now SpringerNature in 2004 as managing director for Birkhäuser in Switzerland. From its inception, Sven was a member of the working group in charge of implementing Springer’s first OA journals program, Springer Open Choice, across all parts of the business. Sven held different positions within Springer and was ultimately a member of the executive board.
After joining De Gruyter as CEO in 2008, Sven began to experiment with and implement
Open Access for books in the humanities and social sciences. To date, the program has grown to become one of the largest in the industry. Sven initiated the acquisition and subsequent integration of what is today De Gruyter Open. After his departure from De Gruyter in 2015, Sven invested in Knowledge Unlatched when its founder, Francis Pinter, decided to step down. Through his consulting business fullstopp, which Sven has run alongside Knowledge Unlatched since 2015, he helps , libraries, consortia, and other stakeholders in the academic publishing industry implement OA strategies.
Sven is an assistant professor (Lehrbeauftragter) at Humboldt University’s Institute for Library and Information Science. He is an advisory board member of the Academic Publishing in Europe and Publishers’ Forum conferences as well as The Charleston Conference. Also, he has been a board member at Crossref. He frequently writes about Open Access issues for journals such as Against the Grain, b.i.t. online, Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis, The Scholarly Kitchen, and many others. He is a frequent speaker at conferences in the UK, Mexico, the United States, Asia, and all over continental Europe, for example last year’s keynote presentation at OASPA in Vienna. Finally, Sven has participated as an expert in several panels, most recently for the Wellcome Trust and a high-level European working group on OA books.
In the last months, via his consultancy company fullstopp, he carried out a significant project to inform UK policy regarding OA monographs for the Universities UK Monograph Working group – commissioned by Research England, Jisc, the British Academy and AHRC. The results are expected to be published in June 2019.
Statement of Interest
Coordination within and across stakeholders is key to enable the transition into Open Access for books and journals, and for this OASPA is very well positioned. I would value the opportunity to proactively contribute to this with, and for the benefit of, OASPA community members.
My background of entrepreneurial experience, and involvement and understanding of the policies and current discourses around the OA model globally, gives me pragmatism and expertise to contribute to OASPA. I have worked closely with international funders, policy makers, library (consortia), researchers and all types of . This 360 view and understanding of the market is vital to facilitate coordination and thus serve the interest of OASPA.