Asian Science Editors’ Conference and Workshop 2014

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Sci Ed. 2014;1(2):124-125
Publication date (electronic) : 2014 August 18
doi : https://doi.org/10.6087/kcse.2014.1.124
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, Korea
Correspondence to Myung-Soon Kim E-mail: kms@etri.re.kr
Received 2014 July 24; Accepted 2014 July 30.

The Korean Council of Science Editors (KCSE) co-hosted the Asian Science Editors’ Conference and Workshop 2014 with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) from July 2 to 4 at the Korea Science and Technology Center in Seoul, Korea. A total of 141 people attended the event, including 20 journal editors who represent other Asian countries: China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and India. Members of KCSE and other science editors attended the meeting. The attendees shared their experiences and insights related to the common task of turning Asian scientific journals into world-class journals. The event especially provided an opportunity for them to reflect on the changing trends of the journal publication environment, which is rapidly changing along with advancements in information technology. Moreover, the attendees shared and reviewed relevant knowledge by introducing technologies and expertise that scientific journals must obtain to become advanced and globalized, as well as successful cases of developing outstanding journals.

The first day began with congratulatory messages delivered by the presidents of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST), KISTI, and Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia. The conference on the first day included an introduction of the status of scientific journals in each participating country, namely, Mongolia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, China, Japan, and Korea. In the afternoon session, the Asia-Pacific Association of Medical Editors and KCSE were introduced, along with the Journal Article Tag Suite extensible markup language-based free full text database entitled ScienceCentral ambitiously led by the KOFST. This session enabled the attendees to encounter the publication status of scientific journals as well as detailed introductions on several associations for editors in Asia. The final session in the afternoon was the general assembly, one of the key purposes of this workshop, where the Council of Asian Science Editors (CASE) was officially inaugurated. Its 137 founding members participated from 21 countries, including Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, and India, as well as other regions such as the United States, Russia, Australia, Italy, and Greece. During the inaugural assembly, KCSE president Jong Kyu Ha was appointed as the president, whereas KCSE Vice President Hyeongsun Kim was appointed as the first secretary-general. The main goal of the CASE is to improve the level of Asian scientific journals, which are relatively underestimated than those in North America or Europe, to the world-class level in the near future. Its mission is to create a new standard of journals that reflect the diverse cultural and academic traditions of each Asian country. Thus, the KCSE, which has played a leading role in the foundation of the CASE, is expected to contribute significantly to achieving the above goals based on its experiences in Korea.

Rachael Lammey, a representative of CrossRef, began the workshop on the second day by introducing the latest technological advancement of CrossRef with up-to-date statistics of digital object identifier (DOI) registration and additional service programs: CrossCheck, CrossMark, FundRef, ORCID, DataCite, and data mining. CrossRef is an agency that leads the distribution innovation of academic information by systemizing DOI registration of scientific journals worldwide using cutting-edge information technology. In the afternoon session, the attendees engaged in in-depth discussions on the specific issues related to scientific journals: a successful case of a medical journal from Korea, Archives of Plastic Surgery; key issues in research ethics that arise in the review of articles; a case related to journal publication by a larger publisher, and a case on article review using CrossCheck.

In the final whole day, a lecture was delivered by Pippa Smart, an expert and international consultant in journal publications. This conference marked her second lecture in Korea following the first one in 2013, and it provided a valuable guide for all attendees in the frontlines of managing scientific journals, such as chief, executive, and managing editors. The contents of the lecture included the followings: recent global environmental changes in scientific journal publication; publication cooperation models, contracts, advantages, and disadvantages of cooperation; analysis of strengths and weaknesses of journals; and establishment of journal development plans and success strategies. The core contents of each subject were delivered concisely yet clearly, followed by a question-and-answer session. In particular, her introductions on recent changes of publication business environment, such as the emergence of cutting-edge journals that applied recent advancements in information technology and innovative service models, the breakthrough of open access policies, and the expandability of online journal platform services, highlighted the substantial threats that individual academic and scientific journals face, thereby compelling the attendees to ponder over ways to cope with these issues wisely.

In conclusion, the Asian Science Editors’ Conference and Workshop 2014 had been a significant initiative in that the KCSE, since its foundation in September 2011, has built a foothold to join forces with Asian editors across borders and share practices for coping with current issues. The event also proved that education and interaction, in the long run, will be a foundation for the improvement of expertise for science editors as well as growth of individual journals.

Notes

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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