Home
Services
Platform
Products
Solutions
Services
Resources
Company
About us
Careers
Contact us
Request a demo

Publisherspeak US 2024

Elevating scholarly publishing through collaboration

For updates about upcoming events

Subscribe to our newsletter

Publisherspeak: An unconference-style scholarly publishing event

Publisherspeak is an in-person unconference-style event by Kriyadocs. The first edition of this event took place on 26 September 2023 at the AGU Conference Center in Washington, DC. Publisherspeak 2023 brought together stakeholders from the publishing industry to collaborate, generate innovative ideas, and acquire actionable insights to overcome the challenges faced in scholarly publishing at the time.

Reflections: Feedback from delegates

We are committed to continually enhancing Publisherspeak to ensure a fantastic experience for our community. The feedback from our community plays a key role in helping us do so. We are delighted to report that our delegates rated their satisfaction at 4.5/5, and we strive to raise the bar even higher.

‍

‍

Highlights from Publisherspeak US 2024

Welcome address: Elevating scholarly publishing through collaboration

Louise Russell, the Conference Chair for Publisherspeak US 2024, opened the event with a warm and inspiring welcoming address. Her words not only set the stage for the conference but also ignited a sense of anticipation for the enlightening discussions around various themes in scholarly publishing throughout the event.

‍

Louise is a publishing consultant focused on digital and publishing strategies within the scholarly communication industry. She brings 20 years of diverse experience in scholarly publishing, covering primary and secondary publishers, intermediaries, and software providers.

‍

Keynote talk: Guarding truth in the age of deception: The role of scholarship in the emerging information paradigm

Carlos Álvarez-Aranyos, Co-Founder and Chief Communications Officer at The American Sunlight Project, delivered an enlightening keynote presentation, exploring the evolving role of publishers in safeguarding truth amid rising disinformation. His insightful address highlighted the critical challenges facing the scholarly publishing community, from the spread of misleading narratives to the responsibility of publishers in protecting the integrity of information in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

‍

As the Co-Founder and Chief Communications Officer of The American Sunlight Project, Carlos advocates for transparency and integrity in the evolving information landscape.

‍

Interactive workshop on breaking boundaries: Break boundaries and embrace change to unlock your ultimate self and team success

With the expertise of seasoned executive coach Ranieka Weston, our participants engaged in an interactive workshop titled Break boundaries and embrace change to unlock your ultimate self and team success. The session delved into real-world strategies for breaking personal and professional barriers, empowering attendees to embrace change and foster growth. The audience explored actionable techniques to drive both individual and team success in today’s ever-evolving landscape.

‍

Ranieka is a seasoned executive coach with a proven track record of empowering leaders and teams through transformative coaching.

‍

Community survey: Celebrating Peer Review Week 2024

At Publisherspeak US 2024, we observed Peer Review Week 2024 by asking our delegates about their thoughts on the current and future state of peer review. The insights from the survey are summarized below.

‍

The highlights from this survey are shared below.

‍

‍

‍

‍Key takeaways from the breakout session

The unconference-style breakout sessions at Publisherspeak 2023 were designed to help delegates ideate and craft actionable solutions for the challenges facing publishing today. The audience was divided into 4 groups, and each group—led by a key stakeholder in the industry—tackled a specific and critical theme within scholarly communication.

‍

‍

First, each group engaged in a collective brainstorming session to identify the three most significant challenges associated with their designated themes. Following this, they singled out one specific challenge to delve deeper into during the latter part of the session. To address this selected challenge, the teams conducted a detailed analysis and brainstorming process, which culminated in the creation of a Solution Canvas.

‍

The Solution Canvas

The Solution Canvas is a framework inspired by the Lean UX Canvas that aims to guide participants of the breakout session in brainstorming about the challenges in scholarly publishing with a holistic perspective.

‍

The 5 key components of the canvas are briefly described below:

‍

  • In the Challenge segment, participants put down the challenge they selected as a group in the previous step. 
  • The Stakeholders segment encourages participants to list out all the stakeholders that are related to the challenge at hand, fostering a collaborative mindset.
  • Solutions encourage the generation of diverse ideas and strategies to tackle the challenge. 
  • Outcomes facilitate the envisioning of the desired results and impacts of proposed solutions. 
  • The Stakeholder Outcomes & Benefits section encourages participants to analyze the positive effects and advantages that their proposed solutions may bring to stakeholders.

‍

The Solution Canvas empowers participants to address challenges comprehensively and systematically. With this structured framework, participants can take a well-rounded approach to problem-solving, ensuring that stakeholders remain a central focus throughout this exercise.

‍

Theme 1: Creating efficient workflow processes and metadata

This theme explored the expanding role of publishers beyond traditional tasks, supporting stakeholders like funders, governments, and indexers with mandates on reporting, data sharing, and accessibility. It questioned whether current workflows meet these demands and considered the need for rethinking processes, balancing automation with the human element.

Audra E. Cox

With over two decades of experience in editorial and production workflows, Audra Cox serves as the Publications Director - Production at the American Physiological Society (APS). She specializes in innovative workflow development, strategic planning, and implementing new tools for copyediting and XML

Theme 2: The influence of AI on scholarly publishing

Here, participants explored the vast and transformative impact of artificial intelligence on the scholarly publishing landscape.

John W. Warren

John Warren is the Director and Associate Professor of the Graduate Program in Publishing at The George Washington University, with over three decades of senior management experience in book and journal publishing, marketing, sales, licensing, global distribution, and digital content development. He is the founder and publisher of the GW Journal of Ethics in Publishing, and the organizer of the GW Ethics in Publishing Conference and the Student Journal Symposium for Literary and Research Publications.

Theme 3: Metadata infrastructure

This theme focused on the critical underpinning of academic publishing—metadata. Attendees explored the significance of well-structured metadata and opportunities for industry wide improvements.

Damita Snow

Damita Snow serves as the Director of Accessibility & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy, Publications & Standards at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Her expertise includes managing publication content and user interfaces, DEIA implementation, strategic planning, and project management.

Theme 4: Diversity in authorship and editorial processes

Exploring ways to promote inclusivity in scholarly publishing, the focus of this theme involved examining the role of diverse authorship and editorial practices in enhancing academic content and perspectives.

Katherine Lavallee-Sharma

With extensive experience in scholarly publishing, Katherine Snow serves as a Senior Publisher at Wiley. She specializes in managing and growing journal portfolios, implementing strategic growth initiatives, and fostering strong partnerships with publishing collaborators. Katherine is also the Co-Chair of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Early Career Subcommittee and is dedicated to creating a more inclusive environment for early career professionals in publishing.

Ready to witness what agility
in publishing looks like?

Request a demo