News/event


Success as APE event goes virtual


Organisers of the Academic Publishing in Europe (APE) event in Berlin report that the conference was a great success in its first year in a virtual format. Newly under the new auspices of the Berlin Institute for Scholarly Publishing, the organising team reported that there were various technical glitches on the first day – almost inevitable when introducing a new format – but that the traditionally strong programme and a plethora of expert speakers more than made up for any teething problems. Many of the sessions were filmed at APE’s traditional home, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. At the time of going to press most of the sessions have been optimised for audio and video and are now available to view for delegates – they will be available in high- quality format until the end of the year on the Morressier platform. Anyone who missed registering


for the conference but who might be interested in this year’s topics can purchase an archive ticket: https://ti.to/ape2021.eu/ape2021 The Berlin Institute for Scholarly Publishing will use surplus funds from this and future APE Conferences towards developing a series of training courses and seminars for early-career publishers and early-career professionals who work for research funders. The APE organising team


would like to thank sponsors, co-sponsors and media partners – and the event’s new patron, the Berlin University Alliance, for its support. Visit www.researchinformation.info for further reports and interviews from the event


STM reasserts the importance of research data


The international publishers’ organisation STM has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting and supporting the wider sharing of research data with the establishment of a permanent research data programme. At the 16th Academic Publishing in


Europe Conference (APE) held in January, STM’s director of research integrity Joris van Rossum explained how the programme will emphasise how research data is crucial to advancing Open Science and research, while highlighting how the improved sharing of data promotes transparency, reproducibility and leads to additional opportunities for scientific discovery and collaboration. STM highlighted how publishers


connect researchers, their research and the wider world and how they innovate to add value into an increasingly digital and interconnected environment. In doing so, they have created vital data infrastructure and founded programmes that assist researchers to share, cite and link their data with all forms of research output. The continued development of these initiatives will play a vital role in making science more transparent and improving the reproducibility of research, as well as having the potential to be a driving force for scientific discovery, he said. The establishment of STM’s new


Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities


22 Research Information February/March 2021


research data programme follows Research Data Year in 2020, with STM


working alongside publishers and partners to boost the effective sharing of research data. Over the course of the 12-month project, the number of journals with data policies (of participating publishers) grew by 7 per cent, while the number of articles that contained data availability statements (DASs) rose by 5 per cent. STM says it is aiming to continue to build on these foundations, by exploring how research data sharing can positively impact the wider scholarly ecosystem – from funders and research institutes to data repositories, data services and wider international collaborations (such as the European Open Science Cloud). STM’s new research data function will also seek to advance progress on AI and how data can be ‘AI-ready’, as well as widening support for open science and FAIR data principles.


Speaking of the establishment of the


research data division Ian Moss, STM’s CEO, said: ‘Publishers have held a long- standing commitment to sharing data, and STM is continually expanding our efforts to ensure that the wider sharing of research data, the adoption of leading-edge tools and increasing transparency continues. ‘I am delighted that Joris will be heading up our new research data programme and leading the further development of community standards and principles around which the wider sharing of research data can be best achieved.’


@researchinfo | www.researchinformation.info


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