Here are our team's takeaways from recent conferences.
ALPSP: Practical Implementation for Publishers
The ALPSP Annual Conference in Manchester offered publishers a venue for candid discussion about turning strategy into action. As David Nygren (Chief Business Development Officer) observed, "ALPSP is the ideal venue for getting an unfiltered understanding of society publishers' needs and challenges, as well as their vision for the future."The conference program addressed the full spectrum of publishing operations, from portfolio development and journal optimization to AI applications and research integrity tools. Sessions explored how publishers can refine their offerings while maintaining mission alignment, examining everything from transfer options that serve author needs to impact metrics that advance organizational objectives beyond traditional measures.
Innovation took center stage through the Impact and Innovation Awards, which showcased projects addressing accessibility, AI-powered solutions, and next-generation peer review models. The conference also highlighted ongoing work around peer review recognition, including IOP Publishing's approach to acknowledging co-reviewers within ScholarOne—a development that speaks to the industry's growing attention to making invisible scholarly labor more visible and valued.
(Another highlight for attending Silverchairians was being on the winning team for the annual Quiz Night!)
SSP New Directions: Breaking Free from Insularity
Reflecting on the SSP New Directions seminar in DC, Scott Bouchard (Director, Business Development) noted themes around the need to break free from the industry's "ivory tower" perception as public trust in science is directly influencing policy, funding, and research's future viability.AI's role in peer review emerged as more complex than anticipated. Rather than simplifying workflows, AI integration has added new layers of complexity that underscore the irreplaceable role of human judgment. The conversation shifted away from developing rigid AI guidelines and toward emphasizing accountability and stronger enforcement of existing ethical practices. For publishers, the technology itself matters less than the integrity frameworks surrounding its use.
Bouchard concluded: "Scholarly publishing's path forward requires redefining value through integrity, adaptability, and renewed connection with broader publics. When science communication fails to reach beyond academic circles, it's not just a marketing problem—it's a threat to the research enterprise itself."
STM Frankfurt: Publishers as Diplomatic Infrastructure
The STM Frankfurt Conference opened with a provocative framing: publishers function as quiet diplomatic actors in the global research ecosystem. As Sam Green (Director, Product Marketing) noted in her observations, this metaphor resonated throughout the day's discussions. In an era of hardening geopolitics and scientific nationalism, scholarly publishing infrastructure enables international collaboration even when political relationships strain.The stakes extend beyond logistics. Speakers warned that normalcy bias among scientists and preemptive self-silencing pose serious threats to open collaboration, while others described the broader shift from scientific globalization to transactional nationalism. Yet modern science remains fundamentally an international team sport—one that requires trust as its foundation.
Strategic science communication emerged as central to this trust-building work. Panelists emphasized that effective communication must be goal-oriented, audience-centered, and evidence-based. A paradox surfaced: the things often unpopular in publishing—negative results, reproducibility studies—are precisely what builds public trust. Open access alone cannot solve this challenge when content remains inaccessible in terms of comprehension.
The conference identified assessment processes and peer review as critical invisible infrastructure. Making this work visible could strengthen trust, but transparency must become operational rather than aspirational. Systems that enable trusted messengers, support societies in advocacy work, and architect both offensive and defensive scholarly communication practices become essential.
Green captured the conference's central insight: "Organizations move at the speed of trust." Building trust between organizations precedes building trust in science itself. Publishers must position themselves as architects of trust infrastructure across the research lifecycle. When platforms enable transparency from submission through publication, surface the invisible work of peer review, and provide tools that help institutions communicate value to their communities, they're enabling science diplomacy at scale.
Frankfurt Book Fair: Market Dynamics and Integration Progress
The Frankfurt Book Fair offered an excellent chance to connect with colleagues and partners across the globe, as usual. We heard repeatedly about the positive effects of Silverchair's ScholarOne acquisition and the changes that clients and users are already experiencing.Unsurprisingly, research integrity tools dominated implementation priorities, reflecting the industry's intensifying focus on submission quality and fraud detection. The volume of problematic submissions continues to drive demand for robust screening capabilities that can operate at scale while maintaining editorial standards.
AI discussions at Frankfurt took on a notably different character than in previous years. While AI licensing and content monetization remained top of mind, actual implementation and workflow integration appeared less advanced than the volume of conversation might suggest. External factors also shaped conversations, particularly uncertainty around US funding and policy, with several organizations anticipating budget pressures and workforce adjustments. Accessibility and search optimization concerns surfaced repeatedly, indicating these remain active areas requiring clear communication and ongoing platform development.
Emilie Delquié (Chief Product & Customer Success Officer) spoke on a panel with Scholarly Kitchen chefs about everything from international collaboration to legal battles around AI ingestion. Delquié shared Silverchair's experience working with our clients on the drastic changes to site traffic caused by AI bots, and ways to mitigate negative effects.
Conversations at the Fair reinforced that culture and responsiveness matter as much as technology capabilities in platform partnerships, and our teams were delighted to hear from clients new and long-standing about how that level of service affects their organizations.
Common Threads
Across all these gatherings, several themes emerged consistently. Research integrity has moved from peripheral concern to central operational priority. AI integration continues to generate as many questions as answers. Trust—between publishers and platforms, between science and society, between organizations navigating geopolitical complexity—emerges as the foundational challenge underlying seemingly disparate technical and strategic discussions.Throughout, the scholarly publishing community demonstrates both the urgency required by this moment and the thoughtfulness necessary for sustainable change.
Read our recaps of the Peer Review Congress and Platform Strategies, or find us at an upcoming event.