The future of open access publishing

February Branch Meeting

With guest speaker Pete Wrobel

Many of our members working on academic journals will be aware of recent developments in open access business models, which raise the prospect of major changes in the way academic publishers operate. Some US and European research funders are now demanding that any papers from studies they support are published on open-access platforms.

While this could have many positive benefits for the academic research community and bring some welcome scrutiny of the costs of peer-review publishing, it is vital that policy-makers recognise the essential contribution of highly skilled editorial staff in maintaining the quality and integrity of academic literature.

How will open access models affect academic journals publishing in future and what can the NUJ do to support members in this field?

NUJ member Pete Wrobel, who has a wealth of experience in scientific publishing including as former managing editor of Nature, will lead a discussion of the future of open access publishing and how our members should engage with this.

Notice of Branch Annual General Meeting (AGM)
The branch will hold the AGM on Monday 16 March 2020 at NUJ Headland House, 72 Acton Street, London WC1X 9NB. This will be an opportunity to review the work of the branch, elect branch officers and set out our objectives for the year.

MEETING AGENDA
1. Discussion open access publishing
2. Preparation for DM 2020 – including any further motion amends
3. Notice of Branch AGM (see below)
4. Branch motions (see below)
5. Adoption new members/
6. Workplace reports
7. NEC and MABIC reports
8. AOB

Branch motions
The following motion, postponed from last month’s meeting, has been brought back for debate:
The new branch website is now up and running, but the branch committee requires some technical assistance with its on going development.
The branch resolves to pay £150 this calendar year to web developer for technical and development assistance on the branch website.