Precarious Positions: Forging Solidarity in Scholarly Publishing

What is the future of scholarly publishing and how/why should we invest in it?

January 21, 2022 9-11 am EST

Many of the core tenets of scholarly publishing (e.g., unpaid labor of editors and peer reviewers) presume a world that simply does not exist (for most of us) anymore. The academic labor market is constricted. Institutions are not incentivizing the work of editorial labor. Our own scholarly societies are strapped thin. All of this begs the question: What is the future of scholarly publishing and how/ why should we invest in it?

This workshop will feature short presentations by current and former AAA journal editors, interns, and managing staff on their experiences working with a for-profit publishing partner and national scholarly organization, highlighting experiments they have tried and challenges they have faced in doing this work. We will focus on creative, concrete strategies and ways we can forge solidarities across the scholarly publishing community.

Other questions we will address include: What are the unintended costs of going open access and how do we make this shift in ways that are sustainable and accessible? What should professional service look like now, and how can we reimagine the structures around it? How can scholarly society journal editors, readers, and authors work together with unionized, non-unionized, and gig/contract workers to transform the system to make it more equitable, accessible, and sustainable for all? What future do we want and how can we make it happen?