United Kingdom

In recent years, numerous editors and editorial boards of leading journals have stepped down in protest against publisher practices that they believe are harmful to research and academia. Subsequently, several have established successful new journals in collaboration with nonprofit organizations, often overcoming competition from the very publications they left behind.

Join us for a lively discussion of how libraries, library publishers, and nonprofit presses can effectively support researchers aiming to create high-quality, diverse, equitable, inclusive, and open alternatives to expensive, high-profit journals. We will hear from two scientists who established such alternative journals, including someone who was part of a high-profile editorial resignation, and learn more about the kinds of support they and their colleagues seek from libraries and academic publishers. We will also explore some of the benefits and challenges of moving an editorial operation from a large, commercial publisher to a smaller nonprofit and share strategies for campus partners interested in supporting research communities that are starting new journals or growing existing ones.

UKSG Annual Conference 2025

Academy-owned: Supporting scholars who are taking a stand for nonprofit, equitable, inclusive,
and open alternatives to high-profit journals

The UKSG Annual Conference and Exhibition 2021 will be held online for the first time. The event is a major event in the scholarly communications calendar which attracts a large number of delegates each year from around the world - librarians, publishers, content providers, consultants and intermediaries. The conference combines high-quality plenary presentations, lightning talks and breakout sessions with virtual social events and a major online trade exhibition.



UKSG Annual Conference 2021

 UKSG Annual Conference is a major event in the scholarly communications calendar which attracts a large number of delegates each year from around the world - librarians, publishers, content providers, consultants and intermediaries. 

technical paper

The UKSG Annual Conference is a major event in the scholarly communications calendar which attracts delegates each year from around the world - librarians, publishers, content providers, consultants and intermediaries.

As AI has developed rapidly, vendors have begun to present libraries with new licence language defining rights and restrictions. Faced with new clauses that sought to prohibit use of licensed content in AI systems, a group of licensing specialists across the world came together in early 2024 to work collectively to ensure library user rights are maintained.

This session will discuss why blanket bans on AI in licences are wrong and how the ICOLC AI Taskforce supports libraries in resisting them, enabling the full legal use of AI technologies to transform teaching and research and ensure equitable access to information.

The right to use AI : protecting and advancing learning and research. Jisc Licensing and the ICOLC AI Task Force

This lightning talk shares successes, challenges and lessons learned on the development of a cross-disciplinary open research (OR) community of practice at the University of York, told from the perspective of our Graduate Engagement Leads. This role was created in 2023 for three postgraduate researchers in support of the University’s strategic commitments towards OR.

Achievements from the past year included the completion of a university-wide survey, the introduction of new communication channels and continuation of our OR Awards scheme. Ongoing activities include the introduction of a regular community discussion series and review of the OR Skills Framework based on community feedback and engagement.

Enhancing Open Research Culture at the University of York: Lessons Learned from our Community of Practice

Despite the global prevalence of research librarians, there is a notable absence of formal educational programs specifically designed for this profession in many countries. This deficiency poses significant challenges to the formation of our professional identity: The absence of shared theories, methods, and ethical standards hinders the development of a unified professional identity.

We will present some ongoing initiatives focusing on training and resource provision for early career research librarians and demonstrate how Lucy’s latest work, The Solo Librarian: A Practical Handbook, provides insights and practical guidance for librarians working alone or in small teams.

Building the Future: Addressing the Educational Gaps and supporting the development of a Professional Identity for Research Librarians

We can all get on board with Open Access in principle: Few would oppose all people having access to knowledge that improves lives. But the road to achieving it is bumpy. As a publisher with a genuine aim to move to OA, we’ve tried it all – flipping, Transformative Agreements, Transformative Journals, Subscribe to Open, Gold OA, and Diamond OA. This session charts the OA journey of one of the industry’s smaller, and independent, publishers, focusing on practical aspects. Can broader lessons be drawn from our experiences?

These Flipping Publishers!..... Find our way to OA

The space of a library has undeniably changed and adapted to the trends of academia. This session will highlight how the physical and virtual space of a library can shift to foster an environment of Open Research, of mutual aid between academics, and welcome non-traditional knowledge sharing

Open Research Spaces: How a library can foster an open environment

Our 2021 and 2024 competitions highlight the diversity of contributions, from librarians and technicians to research software engineers and administrators — vital roles often overlooked in traditional assessments. In 2023, the Festival of Hidden REF gathered professionals and policymakers to discuss creating a more effective and equitable research environment.

The Hidden REF campaign recognises all research outputs and roles that make research possible.

I will share our initiatives, outcomes, and strategies for gaining recognition for these roles, inviting the UKSG community to collaborate and discuss strategie

The hidden REF, celebrating all research outputs

Lancaster University is a typical, mid-sized UK institution. With a small research support team, the library needs innovative technology and partners to meet the ever-increasing challenges of the rapidly evolving Open Research World. This presentation focuses on solutions to the cumbersome depositing of publications in institutional repositories (IR).
World-wide almost every university has an IR, and nearly everyone faces the challenges of lacking data quality and coverage, with faculty frustrated over the clunkiness and overwhelming manual workload of data entry. Furthermore, research outputs increasingly require a plethora of checks necessitating FAIR and evermore extensive meta-data. Is this article eligible for APC funding or covered by an agreement, and compliant with our and the funders OA policies?

Lessons Learned in the UK from Navigating the FAIR Open Research World: A Collaborative Approach to Transforming Library Workflows

Jisc’s Open Policy Finder, formerly Sherpa Services, has undergone significant changes over the past year as part of our commitment to building a future-ready, streamlined, and efficient product to support open access workflows. These changes represent not just a fresh identity but also the foundation of a platform designed to adapt and scale for future use cases, ensuring continued relevance and impact in a rapidly evolving environment.

This lightning talk will showcase the key enhancements we’ve implemented, including the launch of our unified website and the rebranding of the service in November 2024. We will share our roadmap for further development, focusing on creating solutions that anticipate and respond to the changing demands of our users.

Jisc’s open policy finder – re-developing Sherpa and looking to the future

This session explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the research and knowledge ecosystem, drawing on the ARL/CNI 2035 Scenarios report. Dr. Leo S. Lo, Dean of University Libraries at the University of New Mexico, will present four divergent scenarios developed through extensive stakeholder engagement, highlighting critical uncertainties and strategic focal points for libraries and research institutions. These scenarios range from democratized and socially integrated AI to autonomous AI systems, offering insights into potential challenges and opportunities.

Navigating AI Futures: overview

Education and AI: between principles for the present and speculative futures.

In relation to AI, Universities can be seen to be shaped through contradictions:

• driving developments in AI through research, while being destabilised by them in education;

• providing stability and stewardship in relation to technocultural knowledge production, while undergoing significant disruption, instability and transformation;

• adapting and reacting in the present while anticipating speculative futures.

An engagement with the speculative futures of the ARL/CNI 2035 Scenarios report, and the role of speculation, can help to enrich strategic thinking about these contradictions and others playing out in Higher Education.

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