2023 is slowly coming to an end. It has been a busy year for AEUP. We organised our 3rd conference and signed a contract with ScienceOpen to run our catalogue. Before we all go and relax with our families in the Christmas atmosphere, let’s get together once again for the Annual Members Meeting and discuss the future direction of the Association.

Please save the date: this year’s annual all members meeting of the AEUP will take place on Thursday November 23rd from 3 PM to 5 PM CET online. The link to the meeting as well as an agenda will follow soon. 

For now plase save the date and let us know if there is anything you want to discuss with other member presses and guests. 

The 3rd AEUP Conference, held in Tallinn, Estonia, brought together publishing professionals, academics and experts to explore the challenges and opportunities facing institutional publishing. In this blog post, we offer a glimpse into the engaging discussions and thought-provoking presentations that took place, as well as a summary of key highlights and insights from the conference.

Setting the stage

Since the last AEUP conference, the world has seen a global pandemic and a war raging on the borders of some of our members’ home countries, the likes of which Europe hasn’t seen in 70 years. But it is not only in international relations that we are experiencing these nervous times and great changes. We are also living in a time when technological change is so rapid that it is sometimes difficult to keep up.

The aim of the conference was not only to discuss how the current rapid scientific, technological, political and security developments are affecting institutional publishing, but above all to provide a platform to do so in a very profound, personal and un-nervous way. So we started with an exciting concept of a ‘walkshop’, where participants engaged in conversations while walking and sightseeing. This innovative approach, which is sure to become a new tradition at future AEUP events, encouraged participants to explore relevant topics in a relaxed and immersive environment.

Exploring scientific integrity and the “AI situation”

The first day of the conference opened with a keynote address by Frances Pinter. She highlighted the importance of sustainable open access business models and suggested a combination of old and new approaches in a compelling talk on scientific integrity in institutional publishing. Pinter’s message was one of experimentation and co-operation with parent institutions and libraries as a means of progress and innovation.

Sarah Eaton of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) considered the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for research integrity and scholarly publishing. Acknowledging concerns about the future of scholarly communication in the “AI era”, Eaton emphasised that AI is a tool that, if used effectively, can improve various aspects of the publishing process. From editing and proofreading to peer review and translation, AI has the potential to be immensely helpful.

How to reach technical maturity?

The second day got a little more technological. Pierre Mounier’s keynote was an exploration of the journey to technical maturity in the publishing industry. Drawing an analogy between a book and a spoon, Mounier highlighted the enduring nature of the book and delved into the evolution of technical advances in the field. He emphasised that only shared technology can truly be mature and stressed the importance of open infrastructure and open science.

The conference provided an appropriate opportunity for the AEUP Board to launch a new partnership between the AEUP and ScienceOpen. This collaboration represents a major step forward for AEUP. It will enable AEUP member presses to increase the visibility and accessibility of their publications through ScienceOpen’s platform. This strategic move reaffirms AEUP’s commitment to promoting scholarly communication by opening up new avenues for the dissemination of scholarly work.

The “Tartu satellite event”

The participants were invited to the University Library of the University of Tartu, one of the oldest in the Baltic States. As well as getting to know Estonia and its people, this enabled them to gain a better understanding of the Estonian system for scientific assessment and the challenges faced by Estonian libraries and publishers of scholarly literature. As expected, these problems are not very different from those faced by other members of the Association in their daily work. Networking, joint problem solving, and mutual inspiration are the reasons why individual publishers join our association.

Wrapping up

The conference “Publishing in Nervous Times” wasn’t nervous at all, nor was it large in terms of the number of participants. It was, however, extensive in terms of the variety of topics it covered, from sustainable open access models to the role of AI in publishing. It provided valuable insights and inspiration for participants. The conference not only sparked meaningful discussions, but also paved the way for future events, promising further exploration of emerging trends and challenges in institutional publishing. AEUP remains a vital platform for shaping the future of scholarly communication as it continues to foster collaboration and innovation.

The AEUP Board is proud to announce new cooperation with a view to provide a new catalogue service to our members based on DOIs. This project will promote best practices in metadata generation for optimal digital discovery. Automation technology and support for an attractive, up-to-date catalogue embedded within a global discovery environment of over 85 million records will be provided by our strategic partner, ScienceOpen.

“We are particularly excited about this project because it will showcase the importance of DOIs for books in today’s digital publishing environment and their value for citation tracking and alternative metrics,”

Stephanie Dawson, ScienceOpen CEO

The AEUP aims to increase the visibility of member presses and share knowledge and support about scholarly publishing. ScienceOpen will assist AEUP in their mission of knowledge distribution by providing cutting-edge publishing services and facilitating communication between members of the association and scholarly circles in Europe and beyond.

“AEUP’s collaboration with ScienceOpen enables our members to present the scientific books of their authors and editors within a powerful scientific network such as ScienceOpen. Readers will be able to identify connections among topics, author networks or cited work, no matter whether they show up in books, journals, articles, or other scientific content available at ScienceOpen.”

Margo Bargheer, Chair of AEUP

Many European university presses are at the cutting edge of FAIR and interoperable metadata. However, AEUP members who are not yet depositing DOIs for books and chapters can use the free BookMetaHub metadata management services to easily create Crossref-ready XML files. In addition, ScienceOpen can provide further support and paid services for customers who have specific needs or projects involving book metadata. This collaboration will help AEUP members to increase the digital reach of their publishing programs.

With the submission deadline now passed, the Board is hard at work finalising the conference programme. Those of you who have submitted papers should be hearing from us soon about the status of your submission.

However, there are still slots available for “vignette” presentations. According to ChatGPT, a vignette is “a brief, descriptive scene or account that provides a glimpse or snapshot of a particular situation, person, or event. Vignettes are typically brief and focused, with an emphasis on creating a vivid and memorable impression in the reader’s mind.”

If you’d like to share a vignette with us at the conference, don’t hesitate to contact the committee (board@aeup.eu) and we’ll see what we can do.

As the conference programme starts to fill up with excellent presentations and vignettes, this is the last call for action: submit your paper before it is too late!

The submission deadline has been extended to Sunday 9 April. It means you have more than a week to submit your abstract. Please send your proposal to board@aeup.eu. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Find out more about the conference programme here.

16–17 May 2023, Tallinn/Tartu, Estonia

Share your insights and challenges around institutional publishing and contribute to the upcoming 3rd AEUP International conference. Our conference aims not only to discuss how current rapid scientific, technological, political and security developments affect institutional publishing but mainly to provide a platform to do so in a very profound, personal and un-nervous way. 

Since the last AEUP conference, the world has experienced a global pandemic and a war raging on the borders of some of our members’ home countries, the likes of which Europe hasn’t seen in 70 years. But it is not only in terms of international relations that we are seeing these nervous times and major changes. We are also currently living in a time when technological changes are so rapid that they are sometimes difficult to keep up with.

Let’s take this opportunity to talk about how institutional publishing can best operate in these nervous times. How can we use the current situation to our advantage, how can we learn from it and how can we withstand the never-ending changes that are coming our way? 

We will have all the time we need to focus on the topics that worry us, for in-depth discussions, for profound networking with peers,  and for a lot of other extra-exchange… 

Program overview

• Day 0 Monday 15th May (Pre-conference satellite event)

A “walkshop”: “Reflecting on academic publishing in the historic urban environment of the Tallinn old town” rounded with networking and dinner. 

• Day 1 Tuesday 16th May 

Registration & Welcome

Keynote: Frances Pinter

Presentations & Discussions

Conference dinner

Topic headings for Day 1:

Scientific integrity in institutional publishing

We will discuss questions such as How open are we? How open is it safe to be in nervous times? How to maintain rectitude, publishing ethics, bibliodiversity in challenging times? How to cope with ethics and integrity infringements? How should we deal with AI in publishing, is it a threat to research integrity? How to ensure the best possible peer-review?

Balancing your publishing program with your profile and mission

We will deal with issues such as independence vs. interference (of funders, parent institutions and others), editorial decisions and integrity or policies of different stakeholders (publishers, funders, universities, readers).

• Day 2 Wednesday 17th May

Keynote: Pierre Mounier 

Presentations & Discussions

Organised transfer to Tartu, Estonia

Topic headings for Day 2:

How to reach technical maturity

We will look at technical aspects of publishing such as persistent identifiers & platforms as well as learn how ongoing projects and initiatives on a European level can help smaller presses.

Visibility, networking and dissemination in the time of global crises

We will discuss the complex issue of visibility from different points of view: What does it mean to be an international publisher? How to get the content to the readers the most effective way and how to ensure that institutional publishing remains financially viable and sustainable? What challenges do publishers face in terms of dissemination?

• Day 3 Thursday 18th May (Post-conference satellite event in Tartu) 

Visit of the University of Tartu Press, the largest academic press in Estonia

Discussions about library publishing and other topics at the University of Tartu Library

Guidelines: 

We accept contributions in the form of a presentation (20–30 minutes) or a “vignette” (short case study, 5–10 minutes). Please send us the title and a summary of your presentation (around 3000 characters) or vignette (around 1000 characters) to board@aeup.eu until 9 April. Please indicate to which of the four topics your contribution belongs. Your contribution is eligible if you are a member of AEUP, a member of a national/regional organisation for university presses or a recognised institutional publisher. We reserve the right to reject contributions from commercial publishers or service providers, especially if the eligible contributions already exceed the available time slots in the conference.  

We are very much looking forward to meeting all of you there! 

With the pandemic interruption, it has been four years since the 2nd AEUP Conference in Brno, Czech Republic and we cannot wait to see you all once again in person! So please save the date for the 3rd AEUP Conference:

This year the AEUP conference “Publishing in Nervous Times” will take place in Tallinn, Estonia on May 16–17, 2023.

More information to come very soon on our website and social media.

Dear AEUP members and friends,

the AEUP Board wish you all the best for the new year 2023. May your projects be successful, your colleagues inspiring, your workplace safe and cosy and your work-life balance accomplished!

See you at the 3^rd AEUP conference in Tallin, Estonia. (More information coming soon.)

Happy new year!

We are living in nervous times that have a strong impact on the scientific system and scientific publishing. As institutional publishers, we have to cope with this situation and find our position vis-à-vis the economic, political and environmental challenges facing society as a whole, our communities, patrons and institutions. At the same time, the growing trend towards Open Access and Open Science gives new meaning to institutional publishing and poses new technical and organisational challenges for the respective publishing units. AEUP is trying to find out more about the situation of its members in order to identify topics for future events and networking activities.

We need your help to shape upcoming workshops according to your needs and wishes. The survey will be anonymous. Please answer the following questions no later than Wednesday 16 November 2022.
We thank you in advance.

We invite all members and friends of AEUP to our online annual meeting where we will discuss the present and future of institutional publishing in Europe.

This year’s annual meeting is planned for Thursday, November 17th, 15:00–17:00 CET on Zoom.

All members will receive the Zoom link via email. If you are a member / would like to participate and don’t have the link, please let us know at board@aeup.eu.

The agenda will follow soon.