Head of publishing partnerships, Robyn Mugridge, reflects on Frontiers’ collaborations with societies and their contribution to accelerating open access.

Credit: Frontiers

At Frontiers we value partnerships with learned societies as a driving force, both in the academic publishing landscape and in the advancement of the open access movement. In collaboration with our society partners, we are proud to be accelerating impactful change in academic publishing.   

Leading their loyal membership base by example, our society partners are innovators with long-standing traditions and values. The Swiss School of Public Health is a case in point. Their pioneering Young Researcher Editorial (YRE) program was created for PhD students and their YRE Board sources and reviews opinion pieces, allowing members to accrue practical experience while also developing a working understanding of the academic publishing process. This commitment to community building, knowledge sharing, and the fostering of research excellence, makes societies crucial to the advancement of open access in all its forms. 

As trusted entities in the academic community, societies have the power to stimulate change and are positioned to fundamentally shape the narrative around open access. The Institute for Biomedical Science (IBMS), another of Frontiers’ society partners, chose to transition their journal, the British Journal of Biomedical Science, from a hybrid model to gold open access. The IBMS leads by example within the biomedical sciences field, and, by embracing open access, they have sent a signal to their community that open science is the future for their field.  

Society endorsement and promotion of open access initiatives can inspire researchers to embrace the principles of transparency, accessibility, and global knowledge sharing. Furthermore working in partnership with Frontiers can enable societies to amplify their influence, enhancing collaboration, and fostering the dissemination of knowledge to drive advancements in academia and beyond.  

Frontiers supports societies by leveraging its global reach and advanced publishing infrastructure to reach research communities across the world. Many partners choose to work with Frontiers because of the platform and resources it can offer its partners. The Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences recently brought the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences to Frontiers, in a move driven, in part, by the opportunity to connect with Frontiers’ institutional partnerships program and its support for APC funding on a global scale. This is a great example of how a publishing partnership can help a society to navigate the evolving publishing landscape more effectively, while maintaining their core mission of serving their members and advancing knowledge in their field. 

Publishing partnerships between societies and commercial publishers have emerged as a dynamic force driving positive and impactful change in academic publishing, including the acceleration of progress towards open access. Through a partnership with Frontiers, societies can extend their reach and impact, while benefiting from the expertise and resources that Frontiers offers. These collaborations support societies in the fulfilment of their mission, contribute to the advancement of open access, and create a vibrant and inclusive research ecosystem for the benefit of both the scholarly community and society as a whole. Together, societies and commercial publishers are driving the future of academic publishing, promoting open access principles, and accelerating the progress of scientific discovery. 

Join us on our journey to open access. To find out how we work with societies, visit our website: https://publishingpartnerships.frontiersin.org/ 

Or contact us directly by email: Publishing.partnerships@frontiersin.org