On the 3 and 4 April 2025, Open Pharma was delighted to participate in the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) University Press Redux Conference as a bronze sponsor. The 2-day conference, hosted in partnership with Oxford University Press, focused on the theme of transitions in academic publishing and examined the opportunities and challenges offered by AI, the journey towards 100% open access and the changing publishing landscape. In this article, I reflect on my experience at the conference and consider the impact of these key themes on Open Pharma’s mission to drive transparency in the communication of pharma-sponsored research.
Day 1: AI, transparency and trust
During the opening keynote, Chris Leonard (Director of Strategy & Innovation at Cactus Communications) explored the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic publishing and proposed guidelines for university presses when using AI. His suggestions included low- and moderate-risk activities that could be facilitated by AI. There was also an opportunity to discuss recommendations for addressing the shortcomings of AI, which include hallucinations, context collapse and critical thinking erosion.
The first plenary session of the conference explored the opportunities and challenges for university presses in the journey towards achieving open access. Speakers Rhodri Jackson (Director, Open Access Publishing and Strategy at Oxford University Press), Ruth Harrison (Head of Scholarly Communications Management at Imperial College London) and Kate Petherbridge (Press Manager at White Rose University Press) considered the challenges posed by inconsistent definitions of open access, the potential of read-and-publish agreements as an alternative to article processing charges, and the role of university presses in this evolving open access publishing landscape.
As AI is embraced by legitimate publishers and bad actors alike, renewed commitment to research ethics and integrity is required to foster trust in scholarly publishing, journals, publishers and societies. During the second plenary session, speakers Jennifer Wright (Head of Research Integrity and Publication Ethics at Cambridge University Press & Assessment), Maria Delgado (Professor and Vice Principal at Research and Knowledge Exchange and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama), Ralitsa Madsen (UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Dundee) and Coromoto Power Febres (Research Integrity Manager at Taylor & Francis) emphasized the importance of open science practices and transparency as a mechanism for promoting trust in both publishing practices and published literature. The panellists also shared recommendations for detecting paper mills and invited the audience to consider utilizing Registered Reports to tackle misinformation and promote reliable scholarly research.
The subsequent panel session built on the principles of transparency and trust, examining integrity in peer review processes and the need to evolve how research is communicated and assessed. Panellists Charlie Rapple (Co-founder of Kudos), Deborah Dixon (Publishing Director, Journals at Oxford University Press), Patricia Logullo (Meta-researcher) and Jigisha Patel (Independent Research Integrity Specialist) shared their recommendations for recruiting, educating and rewarding peer reviewers while avoiding predatory publishing practices to ensure a robust future for scholarly research assessment. In parallel, panellists Dinah Birch (Emeritus Professor at the University of Liverpool), Georgina Endfield (Historical Geographer at the University of Liverpool), Karen Houghton (Head of Impact, Humanities Division at the University of Oxford) and Andrew Thompson (Professor of Global and Imperial History at Nuffield College, University of Oxford) considered the role of academic publishers in supporting authors to demonstrate the impact of their research communication, in preparation for the Research Excellence Framework 2029.
The first day of the conference closed with a keynote from Sarah Ogilvie (Senior Research Fellow in Linguistics at the University of Oxford) that centred around the increasing use of digital research methods to generate insights for scholarly communication. This session also included an exciting tour of the history of the Oxford English Dictionary and a deep dive into the evolution of language and visual communication in the digital era.
Day 2: business models, DEI and sustainability
On day 2, the conference opened with a lively discussion during which panellists Tom Clark (CEO of Boydell & Brewer), Sophia Anderton (Chief Executive of BJU International), Liz Ferguson (Senior Vice President of Research Publishing at Wiley) and Miriam Maus (Publishing Director at IOP Publishing) proposed alternative business models and strategies to help small publishers and university presses to adapt and thrive. This session considered the role of transformative agreements to sustainably drive open access publishing and the challenges of implementing what can often be complex publishing models. The panellists also discussed the implications of the expanding range of open access models within an already complex and saturated publishing environment.
Later, panellists Laura Jose (Publisher at Oxford University Press), Rebecca Brennan (Senior Editor at Princeton University Press) and Fiona Counsell (Head of Open Access Operations & Policy at Taylor & Francis) hosted an inspiring session on diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and accessibility initiatives in academic publishing. Through impactful case studies and examples of successful initiatives, the group highlighted the value of diversifying authorship and editorial boards and advocated for inclusive policies as a pathway to progress.
During the first afternoon session, Claire Jackson (Publisher – Cases at CABI), John Gorrod (Head of Supply Chain Operations at Cambridge University Press), Charlie Rapple and Jo Wixon (Director of External Analysis at Wiley) tackled the pertinent topic of how university presses can meaningfully contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The panellists shared their real-world experiences of implementing policies aligned with the SDGs and underscored the challenges that publishers have faced in driving carbon emission reductions and minimizing paper use for printing, and they offered suggestions for developing targeted initiatives to drive engagement with the SDGs.
In this new age of AI, publishing models are rapidly evolving to meet the demands of authors and readers. With new models such as Subscribe to Open, diamond open access, retrospective open access and collective licensing emerging, it is important for university presses and small society publishers to critically assess both the opportunities and the challenges presented by these non-traditional business models. During the final plenary session, Steph Gittins (Director of Institutional Sales, EMEA and APAC at Oxford University Press), Amy Ellis (Head of Rights and Licensing at Publishers’ Licensing Services), Jack Macdonald (Director of Library Sales at Cambridge University Press) and Kim Williams (Digital & Audio Publisher and Co-head of PUP Europe at Princeton University Press) emphasized the importance of variety in open access publishing models to suit the needs of different stakeholders and highlighted the need to evolve the copyright licensing landscape in an era of artificial intelligence and large language models.
Beyond the Redux
The closing session of the conference was a chance to reflect on the proceedings of the past 2 days with Anthony Cond (Chief Executive of Liverpool University Press), Deborah Dixon and Mandy Hill (Managing Director of Academic Publishing at Cambridge University Press) and to discuss how best to transition together in a rapidly evolving publishing landscape. The themes of collaboration, embracing open science, enhancing DEI and aligning publication practices to the SDGs are not only relevant for university press and small society publishers. Rather, they represent strategies that all publishing professionals can adopt to foster transparency and trust while enhancing the impact of research communication.
For Open Pharma, these themes are integral to our mission of making pharma-funded research open, transparent and accessible to all. We encourage our Members, Supporters and followers to advocate for these principles within their own organizations and actively engage in ongoing collaboration across the publishing ecosystem.
The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Open Pharma or its Members and Supporters.
Joanna Donnelly is a Communications Consultant at Oxford PharmaGenesis, where she is also a Co-lead of the Open Pharma open access working group and AI discussion forum.
