New Directions in Open Access

SSP’s 2021 New Directions Seminar is a deep dive into the breakneck speed in which our industry is currently transitioning, transforming, and evolving, while also recognizing and highlighting the limits (and uncomfortable consequences) of moving too quickly. Topics covered in the seminar include new pressures on scholarship and science communication in a post-Covid world; new Open Access and funding models; the drive toward diversity and inclusion in workplaces and publications; the surge in preprints and the demand for accelerated publishing workflows; emerging metrics of impact; and the latest—and truly exciting—developments in tools, techniques, and technology that drive our industry forward. Speakers will examine these issues through the lens of the “need for speed” and how to find the right cadence or risk slamming on the breaks. Join us as we explore how we can respond quickly to changing conditions within the scholarly publishing industry and community, and work towards reaching a universal speed—hopefully, without breaking things.

Heather Staines is Senior Consultant at Delta Think and Director of Community Engagement for the OA Data Analytics Tool. She currently holds the record for human with the highest number of annotations. She is a frequent speaker and participant at industry events including the COUNTER Board of Directors, the Charleston Library Conference, the STM Futurelab, Society for Scholarly Publishing, Council of Science Editors. She has a Ph.D. in Military and Diplomatic History from Yale University.

Sara Rouhi is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at PLOS focusing on developing new business models for sustainable, inclusive open access publishing. Since she’s joined PLOS, the organization has launched three non-APC based business models, one of which — Community Action Publishing — was awarded the ALPSP award for Innovation in Publishing. As a member of PLOS’ leadership team, she works to ensure PLOS’ commercial work aligns closely with its mission to foster open science globally. Sara is active in the scholarly communications community as a volunteer and thought leader speaking frequently on open access, equity in publishing, and diversity in scholarly communications. She is currently Board Member for the a Society of Scholarly Publishing (SSP) and was the recipient of SSP’s Emerging Leader award in 2015.

Susan Doerr is Associate Director of the University of Minnesota Press. With grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Minnesota developed Manifold, a web-based platform for publishing scholarly projects, in collaboration with the CUNY Graduate Center and Cast Iron Coding. Susan has experience in literary, corporate, and scholarly publishing and distribution, and has served on the AUPresses board of directors and is a past President of the Minnesota Book Publishers Roundtable, Minnesota’s book publishing association.