News
MIT launches monograph framework
Vicky Williams
Emerald Publishing tackles decline in female research output
To mark International Women’s Day, Emerald Publishing launched a support network through its Engage platform to help women in research overcome the challenges in conducting research. Covid has put unprecedented pressure
on everyone in academia, but one group that has been disproportionally affected are female early-career researchers. Emerald Publishing says it has seen a 35
per cent decline in research from female researchers in early-stage roles during the pandemic, and a recent survey by the publisher found that one in four female researchers say a lack of a support network is the main pressure of academic life today. To change this, the company has launched a support network to connect researchers and provide them with a safe space to talk to others, make connections, share ideas and ‘buddy up’ with more established researchers who have stepped up to share their experiences, advice and provide practical tools. The platform has already seen massive demand from more than 1,200 female researchers expressing an interest ahead of the launch, in helping to provide support as a mentor or looking for support themselves. Vicky Williams, CEO of Emerald Publishing, said: ‘There has been increased pressure on everyone in academia during the pandemic, but we have seen that women in particular have felt the effects of juggling increased caring responsibilities and work responsibilities and are seeking a strong support network. We hope that, through this network, we can connect researchers and support them so that women are not left behind in a post-Covid
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world and their voices continue to be heard through the power of research. ‘Publishing is an integral part of
academia and the launch of this support network is just another step that we are taking to help level the playing field. We are particularly committed to amplifying under-represented voices in academia and therefore actively welcome intersectional involvement and participation in Engage.’ Several established academic
professionals have joined Engage as mentors and will be sharing their real-life experiences along with practical tools, guidance and support from Emerald Works, free access for a limited time to relevant Emerald Research as well as resources from partners. Professor Katy Shaw, professor of
contemporary writings, Northumbria University, has joined the initiative as a mentor. She commented: ‘International Women’s Day is an annual reminder that in a world dominated by post-pandemic recovery, EDI cannot be kicked to the curb in discussions about how to get back on our feet after Covid. The only sustainable way forward – and the only real way of building resilience against future crises – is by getting up off our knees together.’ Emerald Publishing’s own journey to
equality has gathered pace since the appointment of Vicky Williams as its first ever female CEO in 2018. In the last four years alone, Emerald has published 3,000 articles related to gender issues, supported the Workplace Equity Project, joined the C4DISC as a member and expanded its STRIDE programme, an internal peer-led initiative which empowers colleagues to create a culture of diversity and inclusion.
The MIT Press has announced the launch of Direct to Open (D2O), described as a first-of- its-kind sustainable framework for open-access monographs. D2O moves professional and scholarly books from a solely market-based, purchase model where individuals and libraries buy single ebooks, to a collaborative, library- supported open access model. The framework gives institutions the opportunity to harness collective action to support access to knowledge. Beginning in 2022, all new MIT Press scholarly monographs and edited collections will be openly available on the MIT Press Direct eBook platform. Instead of purchasing a title once for a single collection, libraries now have the opportunity to fund them one time for the world through participant fees. Amy Brand, director and publisher of the MIT Press, sees the model as a way to increase the impact and accessibility of high-quality scholarship: ‘Direct to Open brings libraries and the Press together collaboratively, stepping outside market models, to open up our high quality professional and scholarly works. Comprehensive access to OA scholarship will increase the impact of research and contribute to the knowledge- sharing mission of the academy.’ Chris Bourg, director of
Libraries at MIT’, added: ‘The MIT Press has been a leader in open access publishing for more than two decades, and Direct to Open builds on and extends that legacy with an innovative funding model for book publishing using an equitable and collaborative approach. The MIT Libraries is pleased to support this approach, which aims to make scholarly monographs open and available to all.’
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