With the new year just around the corner, I wanted to take this opportunity to look back at our key highlights from 2023.

In the face of disruptions to their publishing endeavours, Ukrainian colleagues persevere, expressing a recurring desire to ‘build more bridges with the West’. In response to this request, the ALPSP Board extended the complimentary membership to Ukrainian-based scholarly publishers for another year, providing access to ALPSP’s valuable professional development and capacity-building resources.

The ALPSP Mentorship Scheme initiated just two years ago as a pilot, now flourishes with over 200 participants, showcasing its remarkable growth.  

In April, ALPSP was excited to launch the Annual Policy Roundtable at the Stationers’ Hall, London in partnership with the Publishers Association and STM. This event brought together major trade associations, alongside rights-holder organizations, addressing industry-relevant topics such as AI, data mining, and response to public policy.

The response to our newly introduced ALPSP Special Interest Groups (SIGs) has been overwhelming. These are designed to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange in scholarly publishing. The groups aim to boost engagement among academic communities, addressing pertinent issues, to facilitate networking, share experiences, propose solutions, and disseminate findings within the scholarly publishing sphere.

ALPSP has underscored its commitment to the industry’s future by approving a new strategy focused on Membership Reach, Member Retention, and Increased Financial Sustainability. This involves expanding international and member-type diversity, exploring innovative membership routes, increasing communication, and broadening the scope of members' services. These initiatives collectively reflect ALPSP’s dedication to supporting scholarly publishers and fostering collaborative growth.

I would like to thank all our valued members, as well as our directors, committee members, volunteers and the team for all their continued support in driving ALPSP forward and shaping the future of scholarly publishing.

Warm wishes for joyful celebrations and a peaceful new year. 

Wayne Sime
Chief Executive, ALPSP

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Please note: Our team will be taking a break from 22 December until 2 January. We look forward to seeing you in 2024!