PeerJ, the award-winning Open Access publisher, has announced an agreement with the International Association for Biological Oceanography (IABO) to launch the first PeerJ Hub, a community-led scholarly publishing channel for IABO’s members.
PeerJ Hubs are a new vision for society and association publishing. Built on top of PeerJ’s existing infrastructure and journal portfolio, Hubs provide a submission portal for partner societies and research associations, with editorial guidance and oversight provided by their members. Peer review is managed by PeerJ, and articles are published in PeerJ’s existing portfolio, meaning IABO members can immediately access high-quality, indexed journals with established reputations and metrics. The Hub will showcase research articles from IABO’s members, and integrate an array of tools and programs to support and grow a vibrant and equitable research community. Hub partners can choose from a range of editorial and benefit models, including a revenue share, discounted APCs for their members, or a unique cooperative model based on PeerJ’s Tokens program.
“PeerJ strongly believes that scholarly societies and associations, and the communities they support and develop, are vital to a thriving academic and research ecosystem. We are excited to partner with IABO and to launch the first PeerJ Hub to serve the publishing needs of a modern, global research community,” said Nathaniel Gore, Director of Communities at PeerJ.
Founded in 1966 at the 2nd International Congress of Oceanography, IABO seeks to promote the advancement of knowledge of the biology of the sea by providing opportunities for communication between marine biologists. An association of over 1000 marine biologists, IABO is a diverse, international and interdisciplinary organization. IABO organizes the triennial World Conference on Marine Biodiversity.
“Through this partnership we hope to boost the scientific impact of the IABO community by lowering the costs of publishing in open access journals, enhancing the visibility of research conducted by our members, and facilitating networking experiences within our association. This is an initial step toward this goal,” said Enrique Montes, President of IABO.
“The transition to Open Access for society publications often results in eye-wateringly high APCs that make OA inaccessible to much of their global membership” said Jason Hoyt, PeerJ’s CEO and co-founder. “Since our launch a decade ago, PeerJ has strived to offer better value for money and make ‘open’ more accessible. PeerJ Hubs provides an opportunity for membership organizations of any size, with or without an existing publishing program, to grow and positively impact their community.”
PeerJ recently announced an innovative new program to reward peer reviewers and academic editors: PeerJ Tokens. The integration of PeerJ Tokens and PeerJ Hubs provides societies and associations with a unique cooperative model. Contributions to peer review from a partner’s members – as an editor, reviewer or author – generate Tokens which can be pooled and used by members to drive down their publishing costs, meaning the cooperative efforts of the society can support those members who most need it.
The IABO Hub will launch later this year. PeerJ welcomes discussions with other scholarly societies and associations who are interested in launching their own Hub. Contact Nathaniel Gore to start a discussion.
