SOAP Symposium - Programme update and registration reminder

[Panayiota Polydoratou <polydoratou@mpdl.mpg.de>]

The SOAP project (Study of Open Access Publishing 
http://soap-fp7.eu) will present its final results in Berlin on 
January 13th. These include a 50000 answers survey of drivers and 
barriers for publishing in open access journals [preliminary 
results at http://www.slideshare.net/ProjectSoap/soapfall2010] 
and an in-depth study of the current landscape of open access 
journals [preliminary results at http://arxiv.org/abs/1010.0506]. 
The data of the survey will be released at a hands-on workshop 
targeted to publishers, researchers, librarians who want to 
understand more about the demand for open access journals across 
disciplines and around the world.

The symposium will take place on January 13th, 2011 in Berlin, at 
the Harnack House Ihnestrasse 16-20, 14195 Berlin. (The APE2011 
conference also takes place in Berlin on January 11th and 
12th:http://ape2011.eu)

Attendance is free but registration is mandatory at 
http://indico.cern.ch/event/soap-symposium. Registration closes 
on December 13th.

Some of the confirmed speakers who will be describing and 
commenting the SOAP project findings, are:

Salvatore Mele, CERN
Ralf Schimmer, Max Plank Digital Library
Deborah Kahn, BioMed Central
David Ross, SAGE
Wim van der Stelt, Springer
Celina Ramjoue, European Commission
Robert Kiley, Welcome Trust
Jorgen Eriksson, Lund University
Heinz Pampel, Helmholtz Association
Caroline Sutton, OASPA
Mark Patterson, PLoS
Peter Strickland, International Union of Crystallography
Stuart Shieber, Harvard University

The symposium will also see a lively discussion on opportunities 
and facts in open access publishing today. Additional details are 
provided in the full announcement here below.


The SOAP Symposium.

Study of Open Access Publishing. What publishers offer, what 
researchers want.

Facts for publishers, funding agencies and libraries.

The SOAP project (Study of Open Access Publishing 
http://soap-fp7.eu), describes and analyses the open access 
publishing landscape as well as exploring the risks and 
opportunities of the transition to open access publishing for 
libraries, publishers and funding agencies. The project partners 
would like to invite you to the SOAP Symposium on January 13th, 
2011 in Berlin, at the Harnack House (the day after the APE2011 
conference)

Attendance is free but registration is mandatory at 
http://indico.cern.ch/event/soap-symposium

This event will present the final results of SOAP. Definitive 
facts about open access publishing with in-depth analysis will 
foster a lively debate between key stakeholders who will 
elaborate on these groundbreaking findings.

The audience for this event are publishers (open access and not) 
(re-)considering their business models, libraries considering 
financial steps for the support of open access, funding agencies 
and policy makers evaluating options for open access publishing. 
And of course anyone with a keen interest in this transformative 
disruption in scholarly communication.

Over its two-years duration, the project has performed the most 
detailed study so far of the current supply and success of gold 
open access journals, publishers and models, spotlighting the 
amazing difference between large and small publishing houses and 
learned societies, licensing practices and business models. (A 
summary of results is available at 
http://arxiv.org/abs/1010.0506).

The project performed a comprehensive survey of opinions and 
attitudes on open access of 50000 researchers across all 
disciplines and around the world. This largest survey to date 
shows that "one size does not fit all", and there is a myriad 
factors that libraries, publishers and funding agencies have to 
consider to trace a path through these shifting sands 
(Preliminary results were presented at COASP 2010: 
http://www.slideshare.net/ProjectSoap/first-results-of-the-soap-projects).

By the time of the workshop, the demand for open access 
publishing and the supply will have been further analysed with 
further input from leaders in the field, presenting a picture of 
open access, and well established facts, on which to base 
decisions shaping the scholarly communication of the future.

The event will also celebrate the release in the public domain of 
the data collected by the SOAP survey, with a hands-on workshop 
for those interested in mining this valuable resource for further 
re-use.

Note: The project is funded by the European Commission and 
comprises publishers (BioMed Central, SAGE Publication Ltd., 
Springer Science and Business Media), research institutions (CERN 
- European Organization for Nuclear Research, Max Planck Society) 
and funding agencies (STFC - Science&   Technology Facilities 
Council UK).