As part of our blog post series looking at how Cambridge University Press works with Cambridge University we talk to the Chair and Syndicate member of the Academic Publishing Committee, Professor Kenneth Armstrong.

What is your role as Chair and syndicate member of the Academic Publishing Committee of Cambridge University Press?

I took over the Chair in January 2020 having previously served as a member of the APC, with a particular interest in Academic Law publishing.

As Chair my overriding obligation is to make sure that our regular Friday meetings of the Committee – bringing together academics, editors and Press officers – have oversight of all the proposals for new publishing contracts in all the areas in which the Academic Division of the Press is active.

That oversight involves developing conversations with editors and officers of the Press at different levels, from why a new book is needed on a particular topic, through to the launch of a new journal or book series and ultimately to strategic questions about the challenges and opportunities facing the Press.

It is endlessly fascinating.

What Academic Publications do you review?

Academic publishing covers a very diverse range of products and what is interesting is how much innovation there is both in terms of traditional publishing – textbooks that are deeply embedded in online teaching environments – as well as new forms of publishing – the Elements series that give sustained analyses of topics that are more than short form journal articles but shorter than monographs.

“…publishing is changing and Covid-19 has accelerated the move not just to digital publishing but also to digital learning.“

Monographs and journals will always be an important part of our regular agendas, reflecting the ways in which the academic community continues to look to a university press with a global presence and reach as their preferred means of disseminating world-class research on anything from populism to pandemics.

But publishing is changing and Covid-19 has accelerated the move not just to digital publishing but also to digital learning. Increasingly we see proposals coming forward that integrate publishing with Technology Enabled Learning. And so in the future we will be thinking about the wider publishing environment to resource and support teaching and assessment both off- and on-line.

With the onset of Plan S and the rapidly changing publishing landscape, what strategic challenges does the APC face?

The challenge couldn’t be clearer.

There is an appetite and expectation that the benefits of academic research should be as widely and freely available as possible. Yet the dissemination of research through academic publishing is not cost-free. And that isn’t just about what it costs to produce a book or journal. Its about the investment in the professionalism and expertise of outstanding subject specialists whose editorial judgment – supported by the gold standard of academic peer review – is at the heart of Academic Publishing within a university press.

The introduction of Read and Publish agreements is an important tool that moves beyond the traditional subscription model that has underpinned much of journal publishing and offers both authors and readers an alternative model for Open Access. Downstream, journal launches are increasingly focused on Open Access models while upstream, Cambridge Open Engage offers a new platform for pre-publication dissemination and open peer review of research in its more developmental phase.

For the APC, the task is probably quite simple. Regardless of the model or the medium, our function is to ensure that we safeguard the highest standards of research methods and ethics and ensure that a diverse range of voices and opinions are reflected in the production, review and dissemination of everything that the Academic Division of the Press publishes.

You can find out more about how we work the university from our blog post series here.