Webinar: Increasing the visibility and impact of your research
Over 300 people from many parts of the world registered for the highly practical webinar we hosted in association with HUBS (Heads of University Biosciences) on 23 February 2023.
Expert speakers from across the scholarly community demonstrated and discussed ways in which researchers can increase the visibility and impact of their research and raise their profile internationally.
The webinar was chaired by Malavika Legge, Program Manager, Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA).
Overview from the Chair, Malavika Legge
It was a delight to bring to life this conversation about getting scholarly work ‘out there’ and noticed, and to weave together the perspectives of experts who are working to reduce friction for researchers in scholarly communications.
Bridging the gaps between researchers, librarians and publishers, the webinar recording provides important insights into key aspects of Open Access as at February 2023 – it’s a fast moving field! Speakers also shared valuable tips and facts around publishing, promoting and/or pre-printing articles.
Throughout the session, the panel openly acknowledged and discussed challenges, answered questions from the research community and early career researchers, and provided thoughts on how researchers can navigate this territory and whom they can turn to as allies.
During the session we also:
- aimed to bust myths around Open Access publishing – for example by demonstrating that publishing Open Access in journals does not have to involve paying article charges and that preprints can be used as an effective way to communicate research openly
- uncovered what a researcher needs to know about the ‘space between’ a preprint and a journal article
- answered questions about funding for publishing Open Access
- looked at how some journals are transitioning their model to open publishing
- learnt how a library can help with impartial and expert advice about Open Access publishing
- talked about researchers voting with their feet to choose publishers and platforms whose values they feel best aligned with
Programme
Following brief presentations by each speaker (see below), there was a panel discussion followed by a Q&A session.
Reaching your audience: How to tell your story and how to choose the right journal
- Katherine Brown, Executive Editor, Development, The Company of Biologists
The importance of preprints: How is the use of preprints evolving? What are the latest initiatives? How do authors benefit from preprinting?
- Theo Bloom, Executive Editor, The BMJ and Co-Founder, medRxiv
Transitioning to Open Access: How does Open Access publishing benefit authors? What can we learn from comparative metrics? How are new initiatives transforming journals as they move towards greater OA content?
- Claire Moulton, Publisher, The Company of Biologists
The institutional perspective: What do institutions consider important regarding journal choice, Open Access, data deposition, and claiming the publication? What resources and expertise might be available for scholarly communications and post publication engagement?
- Steven Vidovic, Head of Open Research & Publication Practice, Library, University of Southampton
The expert panel
Theodora Bloom is Executive Editor of The BMJ. Her responsibilities include publishing, business, platform and operations, as well as ethical and policy matters and dealing with complaints. She is a Co-Founder of the medRxiv preprint server, a collaboration between BMJ, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Yale University, and jointly coordinates open access and open research initiatives at BMJ. Previously Theo has worked at Nature, Elsevier and Public Library of Science (PLOS) and was instrumental in the birth of the commercial open access publisher BioMed Central. She has a PhD in developmental cell biology from the University of Cambridge and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, researching cell-cycle regulation.
Katherine Brown is the Executive Editor of the journal Development, published by The Company of Biologists. In this role, she is responsible for the day-to-day running of the journal and works with the academic Editor-in-Chief and journal editors on policy and strategy. Katherine also manages two of the Company’s community websites, the Node and preLights. Prior to taking up this position in 2011, Katherine was a Scientific Editor at The EMBO Journal, and before that, spent several years in the lab as a PhD student and postdoctoral researcher working on morphogenesis during development.
Malavika Legge is OASPA’s Program Manager, leading a range of initiatives and projects that directly support OASPA’s mission. Much of her experience is in bringing disparate teams together and using data and creativity to find ways of achieving sustainable open access. Malavika previously held leadership roles at the Biochemical Society, serving as Director of Publishing and Executive Director on the Portland Press Board, promoting and supporting an open agenda during this time. Before this she was Publisher, and then Head of Journals, at the Society. An active participant in discussions that led to the founding of the Society Publishers’ Coalition (SocPC), Malavika was elected to the group’s first Council in 2019, and has been Chair of the SocPC since 2020. Malavika started her publishing career at Informa Healthcare where she held a range of editorial, licensing and management roles across nine years. She dreams of a world where scholarly publishing is by default open access.
Claire Moulton is the Publisher at The Company of Biologists, where she is responsible for the company’s journal and digital content strategy. The Company of Biologists was the first publisher to be afforded Transformative Journal status by Plan S, following on from their early adoption of Read & Publish agreements and transparent metrics. Another focus has been building community sites including preLights, an early-career initiative around preprint commenting. Previously, Claire worked for Elsevier, where she was responsible for the Current Opinion and Trends journals. She has a background in molecular and developmental biology.
Steven Vidovic is the Head of Open Research and Publication Practice at the University of Southampton, UK. Steven did his PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences, studying evolution, during which he gained an appreciation of scholarly communication and public engagement. Steven has lectured and briefly worked for a commercial publisher. In his latter role, Steven managed a substantial and diverse portfolio of Biological, and Earth and Environmental Sciences journals. Steven returned to the university sector in 2018 to manage the University of Southampton’s open research interests. Steven feels it is a privilege for to work with an expert team in an institution with a long and influential history in open research. Additionally, Steven is enthusiastic about knowledge exchange, and contributes to numerous international and national advisory/task and finish groups to inform and advance the open research agenda.
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