colwiz attended our first international conference of the year! Last month, Stuart Cooper (VP of Global Business) attended the ninth assembly for Academic Publishing in Europe (APE).

This annual convention of publishers and other key stakeholders, with an interest in the Open Access debate, is one of the most important platforms for discussions about the future of scientific publishing. Specifically, participants this year centred on the scientific record concept (i.e., the accuracy of how scientific findings are recorded) with a strong emphasis on Open Access and Open Data, and how these are influencing the industry. Other aspects of the conference were concerned with the impact of publishers on the dissemination of scientific content, and how to better engage the public about new scientific & technological innovations.

Feedback from Stuart

The take home message from APE was that Open Access can no longer be ignored. Publishers are beginning to confront long-standing issues in the Peer Review process, such as submission to publication / rejection turnaround times, and finding appropriate reviewers. There are a growing number of start-ups beginning to address publishing work flow issues. Personal highlights were the opening keynote speeches by Sander Dekker, who discussed Open Access in a wider context, and David Black, who communicated the interdependency between creators and curators in the modern age.  The Gala Dinner was (of course) also a triumph!

Gratifyingly, there were high levels of interest in colwiz, from both publishers and research institutions, all concerned with how colwiz can accelerate research and solidify connections between publishers and the wider research community.