The 2016 conference of the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE) was held on August 10 and 11 at the Carlton Palace Hotel in Deira, Dubai, and attended by 180 participants including ACSE members, journal editors, researchers, and publishing professionals.
Day 1: In a passionate keynote address, Prof. Gazi Mahabubul Alam, Vice President of the ACSE, urged the publishing community in Asia to openly discuss its problems. Following this,Philip Purnell, Director of Research & Publishing Services, at KnowledgeE (a provider of knowledge and consultancy services to publishing professionals in the Middle East), conducted a short course on bibliometrics.Next,Pippa Smart, an experienced independent publishing consultant,urged journal editors to improve their journal quality by publishing good/high-quality content, improving visibility, and increasing impact.
Day 2:Lars Bjørnshauge, Managing Director and Founder of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ),spoke about how open access results ingreater discoverability of research and extensive re-use rights. UNESCO Laureate Prof. Zabta Khan Shinwari led a sessionon researchand publication ethics issues in Asia and the Middle East and highlighted the need to reform research and scientific communication systems in these regions. Philip Purnell, Rachael Lammey (Product Manager at CrossRef), and Matthew Buys (Regional Director, Africa, Middle East, and Canada, at ORCID)led sessions on KnowledgeE, CrossRef, and ORCID, respectively. Philip introduced KnowledgeE as the upcoming open access publishing platform in the Middle East; Rachael explained how CrossRef supports publishers; and Matthew discussed ORCID’s persistent digital identifiers.In the session that followed, Clarinda Cerejo, Editor-in-Chief of Editage Insights, a web-based knowledge and learning platform which helps bridge the gap between researchers and journals,spoke about the resources available on the platform: manuscript preparation and submission tips, a Q&A forum for researchers, resources for ethical publication, and interviews with industry experts. Pippa Smart led the concluding session on peer review trends and spokeabout post-publication peer review and reviewer recognition. The meeting was officially concluded by a certificate distribution ceremony.
The 2016 ACSE meeting was truly productive as the attendees were highly participative and interactive during and between all sessions. The two-day event stimulated discussion and healthy debates on topics relevant to academic publishing in Asia.
