The ALPSP Impact Award 2024: A reflection from our CEO, Lizi Dawes

The ALPSP Impact Award, now in its second year, is a testament to the?power of initiatives, projects, and collaborations?to bring about change within scholarly publishing.

This year’s finalists have raised the bar, showcasing diverse and impactful endeavours that make a real difference in the lives of researchers, institutions, and communities worldwide.

The prestigious event, sponsored by PA EDitorial, is a testament to the resilience, creativity, and collaborative spirit that defines the scholarly publishing landscape. From initiatives that have driven positive impact to game-changing technologies reshaping the industry, the finalists for the 2024 ALPSP Awards represented the best that the community offers.

When we looked at this year’s finalists, it’s clear that the ALPSP Awards were not merely a celebration of individual achievements but a reflection of the collective progress and vision guiding the future of scholarly communication.

The ALPSP Impact Award 2024?recognised initiatives, projects, campaigns, or collaborations that benefit scholarly publishing and communications.

The finalists of 2024 included:

• The Forest of Biologists: a remarkable bio-positive publishing initiative spearheaded by the esteemed Company of Biologists.

• The JSTOR Access in Prison Initiative: a groundbreaking programme revolutionising access to scholarly resources for incarcerated individuals.

• Open Journal Systems (OJS): an outstanding open-source platform that removes barriers to scholarly publication for researchers worldwide.

The ALPSP Award for Innovation in Publishing acknowledged an innovative product, service, technology, business model, or project with significant value in scholarly communication.

The finalists of 2024 included:

• The Papermill Alarm: a cutting-edge technology revolutionising the detection of organised research fraud.

• Morressier’s Integrity Manager: a comprehensive platform consolidating the best integrity tech solutions in a single, seamless interface.

• Signals: a groundbreaking initiative that equips researchers, institutions, and publishers with the information they need to understand the trustworthiness and impact of research articles. By leveraging advanced data analytics and machine learning, this solution sheds light on the true value of scholarly outputs, empowering stakeholders to make informed decisions.

• Research Organisation Registry (ROR): a free and open persistent identifier service for research organisations.

The finalists each had the chance to share their inspiring stories, highlighting the tangible benefits and far-reaching implications of their work that captivated and inspired the audience.

The ALPSP Awards are guided by a distinguished panel of industry experts, each with a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the evolving landscape of scholarly publishing. David Sommer, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder of Kudos chaired this year’s judging panel. The panel included a diverse array of respected professionals from across the industry, including:

• Iain Craig, Senior Director of Market & Publishing Analytics at Wiley

• Richard Gedye, Scholarly and Professional Publishing Consultant

• Robert Iannello, Education Senior Product Manager at ARM Education Media

• Alice Meadows, Co-founder of MoreBrains

• Fabienne Michaud, Product Manager at Crossref

• Louise Russell, Director at Tutton Russell Consulting

• Steve Sharp, Head of Library Resources at Sheffield Hallam University

• David Smith, Head of Technology Strategy at The IET

• Elaine Sykes, Head of Open Research at Lancaster University

• Alexandra Winzeler

The Awards Ceremony culminated in an Awards Dinner, where the winners were announced. The event celebrated the scholarly publishing community’s achievements and honoured those who pushed boundaries and redefined the future.

It was also a time to reflect on the progress made, the challenges overcome, and the boundless potential that lies ahead. As our glasses were raised in a toast to the ALPSP Awards 2024, the attendees were filled with a renewed sense of purpose, ready to start the next chapter of their shared journey.

To find out who won the awards this year, look at our social media or ALPSP’s.

It was a thoroughly inspiring and enjoyable conference. Until next year ALPSP. Thank you, Lizi and PA EDitorial’s Management Team.

The Spotlight

This month, we are celebrating Samantha Goddard. Sam has recently made some changes to her journal portfolio.?In leaving one of her longstanding journals, the whole journal team has expressed?their gratitude?for all of Sam’s hard work under difficult circumstances and their sadness that she is moving on.

A few examples are:

“Thank you so much for all your support this past year and all your patience while I learnt from scratch (and continue to learn). You are amazing and lovely! I will miss working with you”.

“I cannot express how grateful I am to you Sam - for everything you have done for our team”.

“I enjoyed working with?Samantha and greatly value all her hard work on the journals.?Samantha, I wish you all the best for the future”.

In taking on a new journal, Sam has already received some really wonderful feedback from the EiC.

“I think you’re doing a fantastic job. While working through a bit of a backlog in my assignments, I wanted to take a moment to express a huge thanks for the exceptional support you’re providing and you haven’t been part of the team for long! So well done in finding your role so quickly.?

What I particularly like are your efforts in communicating with authors and diligently following up on overdue papers. This is brilliant and exactly what is needed because in my day-to-day role with uni work and reference letter writing, proposal reviewing etc., I just need someone who nudges me. And it turns out that it’s successful. So, I think your proactive approach and dedication significantly contribute to improving our journal metrics such as turnaround times.

Again, thanks a ton once again for all your hard work and commitment!”

Sam, thank you from all of us at PA EDitorial for the dedication and commitment you consistently show. You’re a superstar, and we’re very lucky to have you on our team.

Blog Corner

Here is a taster of this month's blog - The Developing Effects of Peer Review Growth: Causes, Consequences, and Future Potential

You can read the full article by clicking the button below:

My journey to this point has been one of unexpected twists and turns, defying the linear career paths often expected in the peer review world. Being raised in a family where the office and home blended together, I quickly developed a passion for technology and a keen understanding of the need for processes that had to be fluid in response to shifting demands and trends. These skills have served me well, especially since entering academic publishing and peer review management, where I have seen many changes since I began over thirteen years ago.

Read the article

Key Events

EASE - The??AI in research: supporting research integrity through governance and ethics?webinar takes place on the 9th October from 10:00-11:00 BST.

STM ANNUAL CONFERENCE - The?STM Annual Conference will be held in Frankfurt on 14th - 15th October 2024.

ACADEMIC PUBLISHING IN EUROPE (APE) CONFERENCE - The?APE Conference takes place on 14th - 15th?January 2025 in?Berlin, Germany.

Other News & Research

The Taylor & Francis Group?have announced a new curated resource collection to assist researchers and academics.

It brings together the latest research?on climate change, natural resources, sustainable energy, and business and development.

The collection will be available until the 31st December 2024.

Learn more about the resource below.

Find out more

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