Friday 30 April 2010

IOP Publishing announces appointment of Steven Hall

30 April 2010
Bristol, UK
IOP Publishing today announced the appointment of Steven Hall as the company's new Managing Director.

Dr Robert Kirby-Harris, Chief Executive of the Institute of Physics, said: "Steven's track record in publishing, and STM in particular, is extensive and impressive. Having started out at Macmillan Press, Steven went on to Chadwyck-Healey as Sales and Marketing Director and then Managing Director. Following ProQuest's acquisition of Chadwyck-Healey, he was appointed Senior Vice-President, Publishing and Publisher Relations of ProQuest. He moved on in 2004 to become Journal Sales and Marketing Director for Blackwell Publishing and later Commercial Director for Wiley-Blackwell. Steven then used his considerable breadth of strategic experience to form and run his own scholarly publishing consultancy from 2008 onwards.

"Steven joins IOP Publishing at a particularly exciting time, both in terms of the company's strategic direction and also given the challenges and opportunities facing scientific publishing. He starts his appointment as Managing Director on 5 July, which will allow time for a smooth and effective transfer of operations from Jerry Cowhig.

"Jerry Cowhig will be retiring from IOP Publishing having successfully led the company for the past 15 years, during which time he has been the driving force in building its reputation, growth and effectiveness - both commercially and also in the eyes of the scientific community - with the result that IOP Publishing is regarded as one of the world's leading scientific publishers. He is recognised as a highly influential champion for the publishing industry, where he has played a significant worldwide representational role, including acting as Chairman of the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers from 2005 to 2008."

Jerry Cowhig said: "I am grateful to the Institute of Physics, and especially to its wonderful publishing staff, for the privilege and enjoyment of working with them over the past 15 years. I welcome Steven and I confidently wish him and the company a successful future."

Additional information

The Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of more than 36,000 and is a leading communicator of physics-related science to all audiences, from specialists through to government and the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics. Go to www.iop.org.

For further information, please contact Joe Winters at IOP.
Tel: +44 (0)207 470 4815
Email: joseph.winters@iop.org

Saturday 17 April 2010

Webinar - Understanding Digital Natives: How does academic publishing need to change to serve tomorrow's scholars?

Register Now for the SSP/AAUP Web Seminar: Understanding Digital Natives: How Does Academic Publishing Need to Change to Serve Tomorrow's Scholars?

To be held Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 11.00 am - 12.30 pm EST

There has been much talk about the challenges of publishing for the "Google generation," digital natives for whom the availability of Internet connectivity is assumed. As the first members of this "millennial" generation begin to enter graduate school, the need to understand how they interact with specialist information, and whether they will research and publish differently or in much the same way as their predecessors, has become acute.

This seminar takes advantage of the webinar format to bring together researchers from two important, but geographically widely spread, centers that have pioneered the systematic study of scholarly behavior. Using the data they have collected, these experts will focus on evidence of particular relevance to scholarly publishers. Their findings will be discussed by an expert commentator, and they will answer questions from participants.

Presenters:
David Nicholas, Ph.D., Director, Department of Information Studies, University College London
Sophia K. Acord, Ph.D., Research Associate, Center for Studies in Higher Education Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California at Berkeley

Organizers:
Rebecca Kennison, Director, Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, Columbia University
Charles Watkinson, Director, Purdue University Press

Join us if you want to:
- Hear focused summaries, designed for scholarly publishers, of the latest information science research on “digital native” scholars
- Acquire important evidence about emerging trends vital to shaping your publishing strategy
- Question international experts about changes in behavior among your authors and users

The Society for Scholarly Publishing in collaboration with the Association of American University Presses presents another great web-based seminar on a hot topic. With web seminars, you don't have to leave your office to learn. All you need is a telephone and a computer with Internet access. You can submit questions to the speakers using your computer, and there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. Registration is per-computer rather than per-site, but you can invite as many staff as you like to participate using a single speakerphone and projector. Why not use the seminar as the basis for your own brainstorming session? All participants receive a recording of the seminar after the event, so you are free to review the presentations again and again.

Who Should Attend:
Supplying focused and evidence-based information, this seminar will be invaluable to senior managers and other individuals responsible for setting strategy at small- to medium-sized publishers of scholarly content, and for the consultants advising them.

REGISTRATION FEE: $99 for SSP and AAUP members; $149 for non-members

To register and for more information please go to the “Events” tab on the SSP website: https://www.sspnet.org/

Submitted by Karen King on behalf of SSP

Friday 16 April 2010

Your vote counts! Vote Scholarly Kitchen for a Webby!

Earlier this week some great news filtered through...

The Scholarly Kitchen (the excellent blog from the Society for Scholarly Publishing) is up for a Webby - the web's version of an Oscar!

This is a really big deal!  The Webby will be determined by a public vote and Scholarly Kitchen is currently running in a strong second place - YOUR VOTE COULD LIFT IT INTO FIRST PLACE!

Quite apart from anything else it would be great to have a site on scholarly publishing win such a prestigious award.

Voting is open until 29 April 2010; you can register (which is very quick and easy) and vote here.

Incidentally, we're delighted that members of the Scholarly Kitchen team will be speaking at a plenary session of the 2010 ALPSP International Conference - registration now open!