Like many learned societies, the BES is supportive of the continued drive towards openness of research. Our mission is to advance ecology and we see the wide dissemination of ecological research as a key part of that. We already participate in many initiatives which allow broad access to our research: all published articles are made freely available after 24 months; our journals are available in over 5,000 libraries in developing world countries and we participate in the Access to Research public library initiative. However, open access remains a topical issue, both as a result of recent funder mandates and because of its significance to our members and author community.
After extensive surveying of BES authors early in 2014, it became clear that one size does not fit all for ecologists any more than it does for publishers or societies. Out of 1,200 respondents, around 34% stated that the journal offering an open access option or being fully open access was very important or fairly important when selecting where to publish; 29% stated it was unimportant and 36% felt it was neither important nor unimportant. This compares with the much-maligned journal impact factor, which over 90% of respondents still felt was very important or fairly important. However, despite the varying views on open access today, it was also clear that our respondents believe the academic publishing landscape is evolving rapidly with over 50% of responses stating that in 10 years’ time academic publishing in ecology will look very different, with most articles being published open access. This compared with just 20% of respondents who thought that subscription journals would continue to dominate the market.
These results indicate that significant changes are required to the ways in which societies support their activities over the next decade. By engaging both with the open access debate and with our own community, the BES hopes to minimise any threat and take advantage of the various opportunities presented, that is, the opportunity to publish more good science and to look for ways of publishing different types of material like data. We are currently focusing on data sharing and aim to increase preservation, use and reproducibility of ecological data. The BES now mandates that data used in BES journal articles must be made publically available and we are looking for more effective ways of encouraging data sharing across broader data sets
One final issue facing all learned societies is the rapidly changing world of technology. In just 25 years, the Internet has transformed the academic publishing world into one where research can be accessed at the touch of a button (or the swipe of a screen). Even more recently the proliferation of smart phones and tablets mean that researchers can access journals while travelling, out in the field and indeed anywhere they choose. All publishers have a responsibility to utilise this technology to make the reading experience more efficient while ensuring that discoverability of research remains high. This can be particularly challenging for smaller publishers and societies who are less able to invest in expensive technologies. However, with fewer journals in their portfolio, societies are arguably better placed to explore and innovate in this area, particularly when partnering with larger publishers who may be looking for small collections of journals to trial new technologies. Given that societies are made up of communities of researchers, we have the perfect opportunity to experiment and ensure our journals are responding to all the needs of our audience while also creating a useful dialogue around ecological research through our social media channels.
Overall, 2015 is an exciting time for learned societies and with continued innovation and collaboration, the next few years are set to be the same. Like many of the societies surveyed by Taylor & Francis, we are not currently seeing a decline in revenue but we are still looking to diversify our income streams so that the long-term future of the society can be secured. Learned societies need to continue demonstrating the importance of our role within the academic and professional world, and interacting with other like-minded organisations, regardless of discipline, enables us to do this more effectively. Organisations like the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers and commercial publishers can help facilitate interaction between societies but I would encourage all society staff to also seek more informal networking opportunities with peers. This allows us to learn from each other, support new initiatives and ensure that we best support our communities while remaining sustainable and relevant in the longer term.
Additional information
Catherine is Head of Publications at the British Ecological Society, where her role involves setting the society's publishing strategy and leading the team in publishing a portfolio of high-quality journals and long-established book list. She is passionate about learned society publishing and sits on ALPSP Council and the Society of Biology's Research Dissemination Committee. Catherine began her career working in business development for a food research company before taking on the role of managing and expanding their book publishing programme. She then worked in journal production in Taylor & Francis's Melbourne office before spending some time commissioning titles in private equity and real estate investing. In her spare time, she is usually running round after her 21-month old twins!