The 2020 Scholarly Communication Symposium is seeking presentation proposals for this year’s conference, which will be held on May 10-11, 2020 in Greensboro, NC.  The theme of this year’s conference is “Strategies for Transitioning Journals to Sustainability”, and will focus on how libraries and other academic institutions can plan and implement interventions, alternative publishing models, and other responses to the ongoing serials crisis.  

The past year has been notable because of the boycott of Elsevier by the University of California system, as well as the unbundling of so-called big deal subscription packages at many major flagship universities.  A key category of questions this symposium will engage with could be summarized as, “If not Elsevier, then what?”  Alternatives to monopoly publishers include transitions to high-quality peer-reviewed open access (OA) journals, OA mandates by funding agencies, and governmental responses to monopolistic control of scholarly communication.

Major presenters who have already committed to speak at this year’s symposium include our keynote Heather Joseph (SPARC Executive Director), librarians from California and other states who have either boycotted or unbundled Elsevier subscription packages, faculty editors from around the world who have taken their journals independent of Elsevier, funding agency officials who have instituted OA mandates, and legal experts who will speak to government oversight of scholarly communication.

We invite proposals for short presentations regarding any topic related to our theme of  strategies for transitioning journals to sustainability, particularly presentations related to the following topics:

* Transitioning journals to nonprofit publishers
* Un-bundling or boycotting “Big Deal” journal packages
* Documenting sustainable OA publishing funding strategies for transitioned journals
* Implementing Federal Mandates and Regulatory Oversight of Scientific Publishing

If you would like to submit a proposal, use this CFP submission form to do so. Enter your email address and continue to the next page to begin your proposal submission.  Contact information will be kept private.  You can request a copy of your submission via email.