Opening Keynote: Publishers in the Age of Mistrust

Scholarly communication faces significant challenges, both in terms of its credibility as a process as well as questions about the value it delivers to society at large. Recent Pew Research Center polls show a continued decline in US public trust in scientists, fed by a steady stream of research misconduct, accusations of political bias, and deliberate misrepresentation of research. How can scholarly communication reconnect with society to rebuild trust, and what lessons can we learn from initiatives outside of our industry to bring understanding of research and its contributions to a broad, international audience.

Our keynote speaker, Deborah Blum, has a long and distinguished career as an educator, scholar, and commentator on the intersection of scholarly research and society. We've asked her to share her views on how scholarly communication has changed over the last decade, what she's learned, and her thoughts on how we can more effectively build trust and engagement.