Get the Jump on Frankfurt: A Concise Preparation for Academic Publishing

In Feature Articles by Porter Anderson

Know before you go: The Frankfurt Conference tracks on Monday and Tuesday will orient you quickly and efficiently to the issues and talking points of Frankfurt Book Fair 2021.

Sven Fund, left, with BISG’s Brian O’Leary at the 2019 Publishers’ Forum from Klopotek in Berlin. Fund has curated the academic publishing track of Frankfurt Conference for its digital sessions on October 11. Image: Klopotek, Adam Janisch

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

See also: The trade publishing track of Frankfurt Conference

Short, Tightly Focused Topical Points
As world publishing players pack for Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 20 to 24)—whether the in-person edition or the digital offerings—a two-track conference offering has been prepared to help everyone rejoin the agenda, if you will, of the international industry’s trends and issues.

  • Designed to accelerate your preparations, the digital Frankfurt Conference framework is quick, efficient, targeted.
  • It falls on Monday and Tuesday (October 11 and 12). For many registrants, just one of the two tracks will be adequate, per her or his business interests.

Each track runs only 2.5 hours, offering quick-focus segments so that you can look in and out to catch exactly the topics you need to hear discussed. Keep it up on one screen as you work, dipping in and out when you see one of the speakers you want to hear from. This is a deliberate departure from events of up to eight hours programmed in some other trade show settings this year.

In this article, we’ll look quickly at the agenda for the academic program set for Monday, October 11.

In a separate article, you’ll find that same quick look at the agenda for the trade publishing program on Tuesday, October 12.

Frankfurt Conference: The Academic Track
Monday, October 11

At the Guest of Honor Flanders & the Netherlands pavilion, Frankfurter Buchmesse 2016. Image: FBM, Alexander Heimann

Sven Fund—general manager for publishing solutions with ResearchGate and general manager of Knowledge Unlatched—has curated the programming for Frankfurter Buchmesse‘s academic publishing day in the digital Frankfurt Conference on October 11 reflect his broad view of how major issues and trends are impacting academic publishing.

The speakers he’s gathered come from across the academic publishing field.

Richard Charkin

Each will put forward brief, clear opinions on a single, focused topic selected by specialists working in many parts of the world industry.

And we’ve included a session of “The Hof” for networking immediately after the program. There you’ll find our indefatigable columnist Richard Charkin waiting to greet you.

Here’s a rundown of the agenda for the sessions.

14:30 – 14:45 Introduction Sven Fund, General Manager Publishing Solutions, ResearchGate
14:45 – 15:00 Has COVID fundamentally transformed the publishing ecosystem? Claudio Aspesi, Independent Consultant
15:00 – 15:15 Reimagining Publishing as a Service

Organized in partnership with the Charleston Conference

 Todd Toler, Vice President, Product Strategy and Partnerships, Wiley
15:15 – 15:30 Will Open Access Save Libraries?

Organized in partnership with the Charleston Conference

 Rick Anderson, University Librarian, Brigham Young University
15:30 – 15:45 The Open Access Choir Is Not Singing from the Same Sheet Danny Kingsley, Associate Librarian (Content & Digital Library Strategy), Flinders University
15:45 – 16:00 Is Publishing Worth Investing In? TBC
16:00 – 16:15 Post-Pandemic Editorial Strategy: What Have We Learned? Penelope Lewis, Chief Publishing Office, AIP Publishing
16:15 – 16:30 Will Publishers’ Fears Kill Innovation? David Worlock, Co-Chair, Outsell Leadership Community
16:30 – 16:45 Are Society Publishers Suited for Open Access? Sara Bosshart, Head of Open Access Journals, Royal Society of Chemistry
16:45 – 17:00 Does Research Evaluation Distort Publishing? Sami Benchekroun, Co-founder and CEO, Morressier
17:00 – 17:15 Conclusion Sven Fund, General Manager Publishing Solutions, ResearchGate
17:30 – 18:30 The Hof: Networking for Academic Conference Attendees

Separate, free-of-charge registration required.

 Richard Charkin, Founder, Mensch Publishing (UK);
Sven Fund, General Manager Publishing Solutions, ResearchGate;
Hosted by Felix Zeltner

More from us on Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021 starts with our special guide, which includes a detailed list of highlights, latest coverage, and links to ticket purchases, COVID guidelines, the exhibitor directory, ground plan, and more.

More from Publishing Perspectives on academic and scholarly publishing is here.

More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.

About the Author

Porter Anderson

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Porter Anderson is a non-resident fellow of Trends Research & Advisory, and he has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.