Transforming Research Communication: ALPSP International Scholarly Communications Conference

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For the past 22 years, the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) has held the International Learned Journals Seminar every spring. This year, ALPSP changed the name of this annual event to the ALPSP International Scholarly Communications Conference, recognizing the transition of scholarly communication with a wide spectrum of options. The traditional scholarly journal is increasingly being seen as just one among many formal and informal methods now available to researchers.

Some information industry conferences appear to be navel-gazing affairs where publishers preach to other publishers without input from the real users. Librarians may get an occasional voice, but researchers, authors, and readers, who are rarely involved, are assumed to be happy with what they have used for more than 100 years. But this conference changed the playing field. Researchers occupied most of the speaking slots, followed by presenters who provided examples of new communication forms. Old-school publishing finally had an opportunity at the end of the conference to discuss whether a role still exists for them. After all, scientists created the peer-reviewed journal and all of its processes. So if they want to replace the system with something new, they have every right. As David Green of Taylor & Francis Group noted in the panel session, "It isn't the publisher's job to tell scientists how to organize the research process but …