The future of scientific publishing under the spotlight for ISC member organizations in Europe

More than forty senior representatives from the ISC’s Member Organizations met virtually to hear the latest on the ISC’s project on the future of scientific publishing, as part of the Annual Meeting of the European ISC Members group.

The session provided an opportunity to hear more about feedback that has been received to date from ISC members on the draft discussion paper developed as part of our ongoing project on the future of scientific publishing. Following a presentation given by Geoffrey Boulton, who chairs the project, Anna Mauranen, and Luke Drury, both members of the project’s Scoping Group, moderated a thought-provoking discussion on the contemporary landscape of scientific publishing in Europe and the rest of the world. Key topics for discussion included the role of peer review, the incentives system for scientific researchers and how it interacts with publication activity, and the role of pre-prints in different disciplines.

The final part of the session focussed on how ISC members could take forward the ambitions envisaged by the project, and there was broad agreement on the importance of awareness-raising, collaboration and mobilisation among the scientific community to work towards models of scholarly communication that can better serve all researchers everywhere.

Feedback on the draft discussion paper is still being collected from ISC members until 30 September. More information is available (please contact Anne Thieme to request the password)

Additional virtual meetings will take place:

• On Tuesday 22 September, from 14:00 – 16:00 UTC/16:00 – 18:00 CEST.
• On Tuesday 29 September, from 07:00 – 09:00 UTC/09:00 – 11:00 CEST.

If you are an ISC member and would like to attend a meeting and have not yet received an invitation, please contact Anne Thieme.

Photo: Tobias von der Haar via Flickr.