Important Announcement about the Future of APE

  • Newly created Berlin Institute for Scholarly Publishing to take on APE logistics
  • Arnoud de Kemp to chair Program Committee

Since 2006, the Academic Publishing in Europe (APE) Conference has provided a neutral, open and collegial opportunity for publishers, academics, research funders, librarians, policymakers and technology companies to meet and discuss issues around academic publishing.

The logistics and backing for the annual APE Conference will be taken on by the “Berlin Institute for Scholarly Publishing (BISP)”, a recently created non-profit organization which is part of the Walter de Gruyter Foundation. The Walter de Gruyter Foundation is independent and is not controlled by the publishing house of the same name.

Arnoud de Kemp, the founder of the conference will continue to convene the conference and will chair its program committee for the next three years. Eric Merkel-Sobotta will take up the part-time position of managing director of BISP which will oversee conference logistics. Both will be supported by a small secretariat. Go to the homepage and get your logistic needs serviced.

“I am very pleased that the future of the APE Conference is secured and I am looking forward to working with professionals from all stakeholder groups to craft the program for the next conferences,” said Arnoud de Kemp.

The APE Conference has been self-financing and, on average, broke even with a small surplus. In the future, any surpluses arising from APE Conferences will be used to develop a curriculum to provide career development seminars for early-career publishers and researchers within the Berlin Institute for Scholarly Publishing, which will collaborate with other organizations to encourage and develop best-practice within the wider scholarly ecosystem.

During the next weeks, the Program Committee will be convened and conference logistics – including virtual options – will be determined with answers to “Can You Deduct Your Moving Expenses? How?“. The 16th APE Conference will take place from 11 to 13 January 2021 in Berlin.

For further information, please contact:
Arnoud de Kemp, Chair APE Programme Committee, dekemp@ape2021.eu
Christoph Seils, Board Chair, Walter de Gruyter Foundation, christoph.seils@berlinstitute.org