Theme: Academic Publishing

The Publishing Trap is a board game designed to introduce researchers to scholarly publishing. Looking at the world of scholarly communication, this interactive game aims to offer researchers a better understanding of the implications of copyright on the publication process. Players will be guided through the different stages of a researcher career from PhD submission to Professorship, making decisions on a range of scenarios. The aim of the game is to develop an understanding of how money, copyright and publishing models will impact an academic career.

Learn more about the game here: https://copyrightliteracy.org/resources/the-publishing-trap/

The Publishing Trap was designed by Dr Jane Secker and Chris Morrison (UK Copyright Literacy) and is used under a CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Confused by copyright? You are not alone!

Copyright involves much more than checking how much you are photocopying, but it can be difficult to know where to start.

Join the Office of Scholarly Communication as we answer your copyright queries, looking at:

• Who owns the copyright to my published articles?
• How can I use Creative Commons Licenses to make my work available to all?
• How can I safely reuse other's work?
• What do my publishers and funders require of me?

Publishing journal articles is a key element of a successful research career. As you are starting on this journey, you may have a lot of questions, for example:

• Where and how should I publish my research?
• How do I maximise the number of readers and citations?
• How should I respond to reviewers?

Seeing your name on the spine of a book is a great achievement, which can help to kick start your career in some disciplines. How do you get there?

This session answers some of the key questions along the way, including including:

• Should you turn your thesis into a monograph?
• How do you choose a publisher?
• How do you get your proposal accepted?
• What are the key stages in the publication process?

You've published your research...now what should you do with it? It seems we are expected to share more and more online, which can be both daunting and exciting. In this session we will look carefully at the benefits and barriers to sharing research, giving you an opportunity to consider a strategy that will work for you.

This session explores the whys and hows of sharing research - the options, the benefits and the logistics:

• Your aims and motivations for disseminating research
• Opportunities for sharing offered by social media and traditional media
• Pitfalls when creating an online presence
• Ways to find out who has been sharing, using and citing your published research

If you have recently started peer reviewing, or are ready to get involved, this is an unmissable chance to pick up tips and best practices from PLOS, publishers of the world's largest multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal.

The Office of Scholarly Communication invites you to join PLOS for an essential introduction to Peer Review.

You'll learn...

• the 3 questions you should always ask yourself when you're asked to do a review
• how to get ready to review and be recognized for your work
• how to read a manuscript with peer review in mind
• how to write the feedback you wish you'd received.

Stay on after the workshop to chat to PLOS staff and editors and enjoy light refreshments.

Understanding the peer review process gives you an invaluable insight into a key aspect of the research life cycle. This is an unmissable chance to explore tips and best practices with PLOS, publishers of the world's largest multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal.

The Office of Scholarly Communication invites you to join PLOS for an essential introduction to peer review. This session will allow you to develop an understanding of what peer review is and how it can impact the experience of researchers. Learn how you can use your existing skills to provide support and advice.

The session will also be useful for library staff who are interested in undertaking peer review themselves but are unsure of exactly what is involved.

You'll learn...

• how to support researchers who are conducting peer review
• the 3 questions researchers should always ask when they're asked to do a review
• how to get ready to review and be recognized for the work
• how to read a manuscript with peer review in mind
• how to write ideal feedback.

Stay on after the workshop to chat to PLOS staff and editors and enjoy light refreshments.

Some learned societies are increasingly dependent on publishing revenues, yet as open access becomes the new normal, researchers and librarians alike are questioning expensive subscription and publishing deals.

The Office of Scholarly Communication presents a panel debate for Open Access Week 2018 and Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2018. Join representatives from learned societies in the arts and sciences, including the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Historical Society, in conversation with their members within the University of Cambridge to ask ‘what is a learned society in the 21st century?’ How can the societies sustain their place in the academic landscape and answer the challenges created by open access requirements?

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event: visit our booking page.

The OSC is delighted to bring you a lunchtime screening of the documentary that has taken Open Access issues to the big screen.

Paywall: The Business of Scholarship is a documentary which focuses on the need for open access to research and science, questions the rationale behind the $25.2 billion a year that flows into for-profit academic publishers, examines the 35-40% profit margin associated with the top academic publisher Elsevier and looks at how that profit margin is often greater than some of the most profitable tech companies like Apple, Facebook and Google.

Bring your lunch and enjoy some popcorn!

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event: visit our booking page.

If you have recently started receiving peer reviews, or would like to become a reviewer, this is an unmissable chance to pick up tips and best practices for responding to reviews, being noticed as a reviewer, getting your review done, and getting credit for your work

The Office of Scholarly Communication invites you to an essential introduction to Peer Review.

You'll learn...

• how to make the most of the peer review process
• how to increase the chance of being asked to review
• how to get ready to review and be recognized for your work
• how to write the feedback you wish you'd received.

The Office of Scholarly Communication invites you to join Naomi Penfold of ASAPbio for an hour of relaxed, small group discussions on how and why publishing is changing to become more transparent, and what this means for you.

Bring your lunch and join a 'discussion table' to explore questions such as...

• why change academic publishing?
• who and what is transparency good for?
• what should we not change?
• what are preprints and why bother?
• where does peer review fit in?

ASAPbio is a scientist-driven non-profit ensuring the voices of science and the scientist are represented in innovation to improve transparency in life science communication.

This event is open to all, although will be of particular relevance to those in biomedical and life sciences.

Dear esteemed author...

So-called predatory publishers regularly approach researchers via email to solicit manuscripts and conference papers. With the emphasis on publishing as a measure of academic success still strong it can be easy to give in to temptation and flattery but this can do more harm than good to a future career.

This session will look at whether these publishers are a problem, how to spot a potential problem publisher or conference and the best advice to offer researchers if they are approached.

A detailed programme schedule can be found further below. Alternatively you can download a copy.

Practical information regarding the event is also available. Please download a copy.

The publication of books in Open Access format has been under discussion for several years, and has attracted interest especially from researchers in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Questions around the topic abound in light of developments including Plan S, changing funder policy and proposed requirements for the next REF.  

This one-day symposium is aimed primarily at researchers, postgraduate students, librarians and research support staff from the University of Cambridge, but it is also open to the public. It will explore the policies, economics and future directions of Open Monograph publishing. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss innovations in the sector, share their enthusiasms and concerns about current developments, and learn more about the opportunities for and realities of publishing an open access book. 

IMPORTANT BOOKING INFORMATION: This event is free of charge for participants who have a Raven password and booking can be made directly from this webpage. For those who do not have a Raven password there will be a charge of £50 to attend the event. Please visit our esales form to make a booking. Please note that bookings via the esales form will close on 25 September at 11pm and bookings via UTBS (Raven password) on Tuesday 1 October noon (or earlier if we reach full capacity). Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee any dietary requirements (apart from vegetarian) for bookings made after 25 September.

Programme highlights:

Professor Martin Paul Eve (Birkbeck, University of London) will present on the economics and political-economics of open-access monograph publishing.

Professor Margot Finn (President of the Royal Historical Society) will discuss open monographs from the perspectives of the RHS.

Panel session 1: ‘Policy and practice: Moving towards Plan S and REF’. Chair: Dr Steven Hill (Director of Research, Research England). Panel: Prof Martin Paul Eve (Birkbeck, University of London), Prof Margot Finn (President of RHS), Hannah Hope (Open Research Coordinator, Wellcome Trust), Prof Roger Kain (School of Advanced Study, University of London & Chairman of the UUK OA Monographs Group) 

Panel session 2: ‘Innovations in open monograph publishing’. Chair: Patricia Killiard (Deputy Director, Academic Services, Cambridge University Libraries). Panel includes representatives from: Cambridge University Press, UCL Press, Open Book Publishers, Springer Nature and Radical Open Access 

Where and how can you share your articles? Each article goes through different versions, from submitted manuscript, through accepted manuscript, proof, and finally version of record. Often the text is very similar, but subtle differences mean that one version can be legally shared and another cannot. In this course, you will learn how to identify article versions and apply the correct terminology.