Publishers continue commitment to combating COVID-19 by extending immediate access to resources
Publishers today announced an extended commitment to support the continued global response to the rapid worldwide spread of COVID-19. Read more here.

Claudia Russo joins STM as Regional Manager, Public Affairs Europe
Claudia Russo has been appointed as our new Regional Manager, Public Affairs Europe. Claudia will support STM members through the gathering of intelligence and the development of engagement strategies that highlight the invaluable role that publishers play in advancing research worldwide. Read the announcement.

Covid-2019: Publisher support for researchers, clinicians and all interest parties
As the situation with Covid-19 continues to develop rapidly, STM’s members have been responding to the global health epidemic by making relevant research quickly and freely available. Visit our Covid-2019 resource page to find links to publishers support centres and freely available articles.

STM joins the European Group of FAIR Data Champions
Following the introduction of its 2020 Research Data Year, STM has been accepted as an official EU Research Data Champion and member of the FAIRsFAIR project by the EU which aims to foster fair data practices in Europe. As a EU data champion, STM will be playing an active role - participating in European and international activities on FAIR data uptake and compliance, helping to demonstrate best FAIR policy and practice, and helping to support the co-development and implementation of standards for data management. You can read more about FAIRsFAIR via their website and you can read more about the STM 2020 Research Data Year here

Share - Link - Cite: Introducing the STM 2020 Research Data Year
To accelerate the implementation of research data solutions, the 'STM 2020 Research Data Year’ has been launched. The project consists of a dedicated action plan to increase the number of journals with data policies, expand the number of journals depositing data links and grow the volume of citations to datasets. Read the full announcement here and visit our dedicated 2020RDY website.

STM writes to the US Office of Science and Technology Policy
STM has sent a letter to the OSTP highlighting the adverse impacts of proposed changes to Federally funded research requirements. We believe that continued, constructive dialogue is the answer to creating a more open scholarly communication environment. Read the letter here.

A message from Ian Moss
STM's new CEO Ian Moss looks at how the evolution of STM will help the association meet the major challenges of the next decade as a trusted partner in the advancement of research. Read Ian's message here.

STM comment on Plan S implementation addendum
STM has issued a response to the recently released cOAlition S Guidance on Implementation - Addendum. Read the statement here

Publishers announce the launch of ‘GetFTR’
The GetFTR project looks to streamline access to research on discovery tools and scholarly platforms to enable researchers to get faster access to published research. Read more on the project website: getfulltextresearch.com and via Scholarly Kitchen

APE 2020 Conference: Driving the change – Together
STM Members are eligible for a 25% discount when registering for the 2020 APE conference taking place in Berlin on 13-15 January next year. Visit the APE website for the conference programme and registration information.

Survey on OA price and service transparency
The views of researchers, librarians, publishers, and funders about ways to increase the transparency of communications about the price of Open Access publishing services are sought in a new industry survey. The results of this survey will help to inform a collaborative project with publishers, funders, and universities to develop a framework for communications. The project is sponsored by the Wellcome Trust in partnership with UKRI on behalf of cOAlition S. You can visit the survey here

STM Board appoints Ian Moss as new CEO
STM has announced the appointment of Ian Moss as the organisation’s new Chief Executive Officer. Moss who currently serves as Director of Public Affairs for the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) will take up the position in December 2019 . Read the full announcement here

STM welcomes revised Plan S implementation guidance
STM has issued a statement on the revised implementation guidance for Plan S, supporting the shared goals of expanding access to peer-reviewed scientific works You can read the statement here

Updated: STM - NISO RA21 webinar, Tuesday 30 April 2019
Webinar recording now available to view.
The speakers will present and demonstrate the RA21 solution and associated best practice recommendations, explaining what publishers, platform providers and other service providers need to know about implementation.
Speakers: Chris Shillum (Elsevier), RA21 co-chair; Ralph Youngen (ACS), RA21 co-chair and Todd Carpenter, Executive Director, NISO.
No registration is needed to join the webinar. 
Further information

European Research Associations Join Together to Promote Academic Freedom
STM and its members welcome and support the recent joint statement on academic freedom from Science Europe, European University Association and All Academies Europe. STM agrees that academic freedom, which includes the freedom of researchers to freely select the outlets for their research, is paramount for all actors in the information chain. STM and its members remain ready and eager to work with all parties to best support this aim

Industry survey on the transition to OA for learned society publishers 
The Wellcome Trust, UKRI, and the Association of Learned, Professional & Scholarly Publishers (ALPSP) have commissioned Information Power Limited to explore a range of potential strategies and business models to support learned society publishers successfully transition to open access (OA) and align with Plan S. A broad spectrum of feedback is sought to help further develop the paper and continue to advance engagement.
Read the discussion paper
Complete the survey

STM comments on Plan S implementation guidance
STM has submitted comments to cOAlition S on the Plan S implementation guidance. Read STM's submission.

New Members
STM welcomes these new members in 2020: Johnson Matthey Technology Review, Horticultural Research, Morressier, Virtus Interpress and Cairn.info

STM Webinar on a Shared Infrastructure for Transparent and Transportable Peer Review (Blockchain)
On 21 January, STM ran a webinar on a new project for a Shared Infrastructure for Transparent and Transportable Peer Review.This is an initiative by Digital Science, SpringerNature, Cambridge University Press and Taylor&Francis, supported by ORCID and Katalysis.Links to the recordings of the webinar and the slide set are available here.

Survey reveals need for good guidance about trustworthy places to publish
A survey carried out by the Think. Check. Submit. initiative has revealed a strong demand from both researchers and librarians for guidance about where to publish and an appreciation of the services that the initiative offers. However, it also revealed a need for further educational resources and wider reach for the initiative. Read more here.

STM response to New Scientist
Whilst the New Scientist’s article ‘Time to break academic publishing’s strangehold on research’ legitimately notes that “…good journalism does not come free”, it fails to observe that open access itself is not free. Publishers add value and this value must be paid one way or another. Indeed, all models of publishing have a value chain - costs are incurred to ensure the overall viability and integrity of the scholarly record. Similarly, within the Gold open access model whilst readers browse at no charge, the author, their funder or their institution pays for an article publishing charge.

Most publishers now offer open access options and publish open access journals, but they also fully support the broader open science agenda. A wide provision of services which enhance open access, open data, research metrics, augmented collaboration, inclusivity and transparency already exist and continue to be developed and invested in. As policymakers and research managers would agree, publishers are constructively engaged with all stakeholders in making the transition to open access a reality.

COUNT ALL YOUR DOWNLOADS; Distributed Usage Logging webinar
STM recently ran a webinar on the Distributed Usage Logging project (DUL) you can view a recording of it on our Webinars & Presentations page.

Paywall: The Movie
Paywall: The Movie raises a range of interesting points about scholarly publishing.  It states that access to research in poorer nations was an issue to be resolved so we would like to draw attention to an important initiative.  Over the last 14 years the STM Association has supported the Research4Life collective, a partnership of five UN Agencies, Yale and Cornell University Libraries and the STM publishing community.  The Research4Life initiative makes content from nearly 20,000 journals, 69,000 books and 120 other information resources available to 118 of the world’s poorest nations. Research4Life is acutely conscious of the need for local support in the use of these resources which it delivers through its training programmes, and is also aware of the need to not overwhelm local publishing initiatives within the countries served. There are numerous testimonials to be found on the Research4Life web-site illustrating the huge value that this philanthropic initiative has garnered.

STM Statement on DSM Vote in European Parliament STM has issued a statement following today’s vote on the DSM package in the European Parliament.

New RA21 webinar available
A new webinar is available that provides an overview on the RA21 (Resource Access for the 21st Century) project. Ideal for those that are new to RA21 as well as 'old hands' - this 50 minute video provides both an update and detailed look at the current state of play of the user experience. You can view the webinar here.

Content for Education Campaign launched
Industry bodies representing writers, literary translators, visual artists, journalists and publishers together with collective management organisations have come together to call on European policymakers to future proof educational practices by not allowing for the unremunerated and unlimited copying of published content. Read about the campaign here.

STM urges funders to retain hybrid open access as an option in the future
Hybrid open access options were introduced almost from the very start of the open access movement and play an important role in the transition. STM publishers urges funders and other institutions to continue to support authors’ academic freedom to select the journal of their choice by continuing to allow payments for hybrid OA articles. The position paper can be found here.

STM position paper on Text and Data Mining
STM published a position paper on Text and Data Mining: Building a healthy and sustainable knowledge ecosystem for Europe. The document can be found here.

A Shared Journey
As part of STM's How Can I Share It? initiative, an infographic on the publication process and article sharing has been developed. The infographic shows how the production of a paper is a journey that involves a variety of individuals and organisations, from researchers and reviewers to editors and publishers. It also highlights the sharing options which are available to researchers at various stages of the process: www.howcanishareit.com/shared-journey.

AAP overview on Sci-Hub and scholarly publishing
AAP have produced a short summary outlining the activities of Sci-Hub and their effect on the scholarly publishing community. You can read the summary here

Scholarly publishing process infographic available
A new infographic highlighting the value which publishers bring to the publishing process is now available via AAP

How Can I Share it? Discover how sharing can be simple and seamless
www.howcanishareit.com has launched in beta version to provide practical information to help share subscription articles quickly and easily.

Revised voluntary principles for article sharing on scholarly collaboration networks released
Following the completion of STM's community-wide consultation, a revised version of the principles has been released. The SCN webpage includes the new principles, an explanation of the changes made and details of the project working groups' next steps. Visit the SCN page here.