It Takes a Community to Raise a Journal – Call for Action and Papers in Scholarly Publishing

Having served as an ad hoc peer reviewer and author of several scholarly publishing articles, and being a staunch supporter and long term volunteer for the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), I am honored now to serve on the Learned Publishing (LP) Editorial Board as an Associate Editor under the watchful stewardship of Pippa Smart, LP’s Editor in Chief.

I always enjoy peer reviewing articles, not just because the experience provides an opportunity to share your time and expertise with the scholarly community, but more importantly it provides exposure to interesting and cutting edge subjects within one’s area of interest (global research/publishing and publishing technologies on my end). The chance to offer input and feedback, and in many cases to help improve and develop articles and scholarly thinking is energizing and stimulating. Connecting the dots between new research and practical examples of publisher cases/industry learning, while also developing a keen understanding of what message the author is presenting is infinitely rewarding, and in numerous cases has developed lasting relationships with authors. This experience is so valuable to expand your knowledge base and create new relationships. I strongly encourage all of you to consider a volunteer position within industry/member organizations such as SSP, ALPSP, STM, ISMTE, EASE, UKSG, ORCID or CSE, whether it is helping plan annual meetings, utilizing your marketing and social media skills to help promote events and articles, and/or networking with peers to increase collaboration and understanding. These experiences are mutually beneficial and worthwhile in ways that may not be realized for years to come.

Anyway, I digress, as I embark on my new volunteer assignment as Associate Editor for Learned Publishing, I’m hoping to solicit the support of colleagues and peers within the industry to help elevate the Learned Publishing Journal, a true industry centerpiece and vital resource for all in the scholarly publishing community.

With that in mind, and a rallying cry hopefully ringing out, here’s the charge and task that I, and also fellow industry experts and Associate Editors such as Charlie Rapple, Lettie Conrad and Judy Luther are charged with:

• Encourage colleagues and peers (yes that’s you) to submit articles
• Suggest interesting articles, topics, and authors – either to me or the Editor
• Promote the journal through personal and professional networks, including social media and at meetings (I’ll be tweeting and supporting key articles, such as the recent one on Project CRediT that Amy Brand co-authored).
• Contribute to the journal development strategy – including suggesting changes and helping to plan new developments.

And for those not aware of Learned Publishing, here are a few quick facts:

• Articles on all aspects of publishing, from authorship, reviewing, technology, marketing and discoverability, new initiatives, readership, data, to internationalization, and innovative articles with challenging viewpoints
• A range of article types including research articles, case studies, industry updates and opinion pieces
• Quarterly publication, in print and online, with fully international authorship
• Distributed to all ALPSP members and free to view online for all SSP (Society for Scholarly Publishing) members – and available to everyone else for subscription
• Hybrid OA – AuthorChoice available, license to publish, authors retain copyright
• Open/blinded review – authors/reviewers select, and rapid time to publish
• Twitter feed: @LearnedPublish

So with that in mind, please do feel free to share your thoughts, comments, and contributions … I’d personally love to see cross stakeholder collaboration and co-authored articles that cover broad and deep emerging topic areas such as metrics, data publishing and new technologies that are important to the whole scholarly publishing ecosystem. I do believe the journal can be a show case and testing ground for the model publication.

As the saying goes, it takes a community to raise a journal!