STM Outreach Director and Publisher Coordinator, Research4Life

Company : STM
Location : Remote
Closing Date : 10th June 2022
Website : www.stm-assoc.org

Background:

Since 2004 STM has assumed management and financing of a Publisher Coordinator role to support the Research4Life initiative. After four years of dedicated service, our current STM Outreach and Publisher Coordinator for Research4Life is stepping down at the end of July to focus her energies on her duties as an elected Councilor in her local district.

We are seeking her replacement to ensure continued success in recruiting partners for the Research4Life programme, and in working with Research4Life Partners as it kicks off a new strategic plan, with an ambitious agenda for expansion and improving the equity and diversity of the research communication ecosystem.

Key purpose of role: to act as the Publisher Coordinator for Research4Life, taking a leading role in its strategic and operational management and acting as the “voice” of the publisher at all times.

Secondary purpose: to represent STM and the interests of its members in all programmes and initiatives which support the research communication ecosystem in lower and middle-income countries and which aim to strengthen the equity, diversity and inclusion of scholarly publishing generally.

Context: The research communication ecosystem is increasingly global in nature, not only in the delivery of information resources to researchers and institutions in the Global South but also in the collective effort to strengthen research capabilities in lesser developed countries and to provide appropriate outlets for the research generated within these regions.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals make it clear that the generation and dissemination of knowledge is not an outcome of development, but a catalyst for it, and that the global challenges to be addressed in the “decade of action” to 2030 demand greater participation by researchers and practitioners from the regions most likely to be affected by climate change, loss of biodiversity and public health crises (amongst others). Following the launch, in October 2020, of the SDG Publisher Compact, the unique role of the publishing industry in helping to deliver the objectives of the 17 SDGs has gained greater prominence and the industry is responding to the challenge of making the global research communication system more equitable, accessible and diverse. The soon-to-be-adopted Research4LifeStrategic Plan reflects this by going beyond its original focus on the removal of barriers to access to encompass support for researchers at all stages of their search lifecycle. This covers not just ensuring an equitable transition to Open Access but levelling the playing field across the entire research communication landscape.

Research4Life: STM has supported the Research4Lifeprogramme since its inception in 2001, and now plays a key strategic role in shaping its direction, overseeing its financial viability and balancing the interests of its partner publishers and its beneficiaries. The Publisher Coordinator is an essential member of R4L’s Executive Group (meets monthly) and its Executive Council(meets quarterly). The terms of reference for these two bodies have been agreed by ExCo; the Executive Group acts as a senior leadership team for Research4Life, and is made up of the Executive Council chair (convener), vice-chair and a previous chair, plus, if they are not already the holder of one of the aforementioned positions, the STM representative, and the Research4Life Senior Administrator/Chief Operating Officer.

Responsibilities:

The Publisher Coordinator has the following specific responsibilities:

  • Chair of the Finance Oversight Subcommittee:
  • Coordinating2-3 meetings per annum (agendas, minutes, papers)
  • Constructing annual income & expenditure budget
  • Monitoring Reserves policy and cashflow
  • Ex-officio member of Board of Friends of Research4Life
  • Reporting annually to General Partners Meeting and proposing annual budget
  • Member of other Subcommittees:
  • Marketing& Communications
  • Capacity Development
  • Fundraising
  • Content and Collection Development
  • Eligibility(currently acting co-Chair)
  • Member of ad hoc Task Forces where appropriate
  • Outreach to current and potential publisher partners
  • Project management of 5-yearly Reviews
  • Liaison with WHO and STM regarding funding and accounts
  • Quarterly reports to the STM Board and preparation of papers or presentations as requested
  • Other contributions to STM projects and programmes
  • Provide an “expert” voice on the issue of global equity

Other Information:

  • This is a part time role, 2.5 days/week.
  • The role entails some travel.
  • The role is open to individuals in any global location, but the successful candidate should be able and willing to accommodate work in other time zones

About Research4Life

Research4Life initiative, a public-private partnership which offers free or very low cost access to scholarly books, journals and other resources for researchers and clinicians in the developing world.  More than 200 publishers make their content available through Research4Life, and the other partners in the initiative are a number of UN agencies (WHO, FAO, UNEP, WIPO and ILO), Cornell and Yale Universities.

More information is available at: https://www.research4life.org

About STM

First established in 1968, STM currently has 150 members in21 countries who each year collectively publish nearly 66% of all journal articles and tens of thousands of monographs and reference works. Members include learned societies, university presses, commercial publishers, and affiliates who support the publishing system -using a variety of business models including subscription and open access – and include both new start-ups and established players in all scholarly disciplines.

STM is incorporated in the Netherlands as a Dutch non-profit Foundation with NL-Chamber of Commerce registration number 41200219 and registered in England and Wales with company number FC02747. For further information, please visit https://www.stm-assoc.org

Submitting your application:

For more information about the role and/or to submit your Cover Letter and CV, please write to: Caroline@stm-assoc.org