Thank you, Sara. I got to listen to your ACS Publications webinar yesterday and really appreciated the way you so thoughtfully and comprehensively laid out challenges before
publishers.
Best,
Meagan Phelan,
Communications Director, Science Family of Journals
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1200 New York Avenue, NW | Washington, DC 20005
Cell Phone: 404-791-2229
From: OpenCafe-l <[log in to unmask]>
On Behalf Of Sara Rouhi
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 12:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OPENCAFE-L] Follow ups as promised: Links/notes on knowledge sovereignty webinar and musings on S2O
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Greetings, list friends and colleagues,
As promised to Rick and the group, I owe some follow up from the last month.
First! Summaries/links to OA webinar on knowledge sovereignty:
We actually did two webinars during OA week, one on tech/politics in an OA world and the knowledge sovereignty discussion. This list specifically asked for notes/highlights from the latter. The recordings are
here (for technology and politics) and
here (for knowledge sovereignty). And the webinar summaries for both webinars are
here and
here respectively.
Second - AIP Fusion update:
I’ll post separately once I have the link to the Dec 3 webinar registration available.
Third - Subscribe 2 Open: I spoke about the macro issues this week at the ACS Publications webinar (on-demand recording is
here). My closing comments at the webinar focused
on the growing threats/pressures facing smaller and non-profit publishers — all of which massively drive up cost, which models have to accommodate. So yes, a revenue growth strategy has to exist for all publishers to survive these new market pressures. The
core challenges I spoke about were:
-
Fractured global publishing model and business model priorities aka the expense of maintaining infrastructure/support for many models
-
Research fraud as a criminal enterprise
-
AI as a boon/curse on mis/dis-information tool when trust in institutions/science is at an all time low
-
Geopolitical uncertainty - shifting STI priorities at the national/trans-national level globally
WRT to S2O as a model specifically, speaking for myself, I salute and have always supported S2O as a model and the Community of Practice as
an instance of cross-ecosystem collaboration, vital to surviving this period of uncertainty.
Orgs/platforms like BioOne, Project MUSE, and so many others are engaging responsibly to support their communities. If they walk away, pivot, or iterate on S2O, I’ll salute that work too
if it’s transparently explained/shared for the betterment of the community. I urge folks on this list to take announcements of model changes/pivots as examples of iterative pragmatism, not indictments of any specific model.
I think we can all agree that given the uncertainty engulfing all of us right now, experimentation and agility are more important than ever. Kudos to those who are
engaging transparently in this way.
Fusion update to come pending webinar link,
Sara
Sara Rouhi
Director of Open Science and Publishing Innovation
AIP Publishing
Remote, based in Washington DC (GMT - 5hr)
srouhi@aip.org│publishing.aip.org
ORCiD: 0000-0003-1803-6186
AIPP respects flexible work schedules — no need to reply outside of your workday.
Do not go gentle into that good night, … Rage, rage against the dying of the light. ~Dylan Thomas
From:
OpenCafe-l <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Sara Rouhi <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [OPENCAFE-L] AIP Publishing discontinues its S2O program
Hi all - I have a lot of thoughts here but am cramming to prep slides for this
ACS Publications webinar next week. Then I realized — why not make my presentation a direct response to this debate?
So, if everyone is ok with it, I’m going to screenshot a subset of the discussion and use it as a jumping off point.
Register and join
if you want to spar in real time. I’ll then try to synthesize a coherent summary to share here.
TLDR: Many things are driving cost for small and medium sized publishers. Our stakeholders are in constant disagreement. Libraries and authors often want very different things, often with little awareness/interest
in equities driving other stakeholders in the ecosystem. Result? Do the best you can. Partner and collaborate
across the ecosystem transparently. Engage with good faith feedback. Iterate.
We’ve done that with our new model. I’d like to see other open infrastructure and open science advocates provide the level of transparency that we have re: their costs/margins. It’s not easy. I get it, trust me.
Statements like "The hunt for growth and profit making for journals is a scourge on the whole academic endeavour” are reductive and unhelpful, in my view. The snarky response would be, “Great. Call us when you’ve
changed the global research incentive structure." That, too, is reductive and unhelpful.
Food for thought, but more on Tuesday,
Sara
PS - I know I promised a synthesis of our knowledge sovereignty webinar and more on AIP Fusion — all coming next week, when I come up for air. Haven’t forgotten!
Sara Rouhi
Director of Open Science and Publishing Innovation
AIP Publishing
Remote, based in Washington DC (GMT - 5hr)
srouhi@aip.org│publishing.aip.org
ORCiD: 0000-0003-1803-6186
AIPP respects flexible work schedules — no need to reply outside of your workday.
Do not go gentle into that good night, … Rage, rage against the dying of the light. ~Dylan Thomas
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