The Call for Papers for the 2021 Researcher to Reader Conference was scheduled to close on 31 August, but we have received several requests for more time, so we are extending the deadline to Monday 7 September.
CFP URL: https://r2rconf.com/r2r-call-for-papers/
We have ambitious plans for a hybrid event, which will offer an engaging and highly interactive experience for both online and physical participants. Speakers, moderators and delegates will all be able to choose whether to participate remotely or at our venue in London on 23-24 February 2021.
You will find information on the planned themes and session formats for the Conference, and can download our Proposal Form, at the Call for Papers page on the Conference website. Please put forward your proposals as soon as possible, and no later than Monday 7 September.
Conference Background
The Researcher to Reader Conference is a key forum for discussion of international scholarly communications – exploring how academic knowledge is conveyed from the researcher to the reader.
The Conference takes place annually in London each February and is attended by around 150-200 participants from all parts of the scholarly communications community, including funders, researchers, research managers, editors, publishers, distributors, technologists and librarians.
Topics and Themes
The Conference covers the full life-cycle of scholarly communications, from the researcher who creates content to the reader who consumes content. We particularly value topics that are of broad interest across the diverse range of people and organisations that participate in scholarly communication, rather than subjects that focus on a particular silo. Our delegates are primarily interested in the interactions between the various parts of the scholarly communications supply chain, and how different people and organisations can work together more effectively. The Conference also values topics that are practical, informative or supported by evidence – we are interested in facilitating what could be done, rather than merely debating what should be done.
We are very open to a wide range of subjects that could be explored within this framework, and purposefully avoid being too prescriptive or theme-constrained, but some topics that our Advisory Board feels could be particularly interesting in the current climate are listed below. Clearly the COVID-19 pandemic is much in our thoughts at the moment, and while we don’t want the event to be dominated by this, there are some interesting implications for scholarly communications from this.
- Preprints and Peer Review – Is it enough to have scholarship communicated, or does it also need to be credibly communicated, having been judged, approved and rated? What has the rush to disseminate in the COVID-19 pandemic taught us about unreviewed information?
- Research Incentives, Behaviours, Integrity & Trust – How can scholarly communication be assisted or impeded by ‘the tenure track’ and other incentives? Does research culture need to change? How can early-career researchers resist destructive traditions and incentives?
- Research Data – What are the issues around collecting & recording data, authenticating & reproducing results, making information available while maintaining privacy, and preserving & archiving data, especially in an increasingly open and revenue-less world.
- Funding Sources, Methods & Mandates – What is the future of research funding if governments and institutions may be facing a COVID-induced economic meltdown? Why do funders seem to be indifferent to the real world of researcher incentives, challenges and independence, when they set their rules?
- Small & Society Publishers – Have they been sacrificed in the attacks on large and overly-profitable publishers, and the twin political appeals of open-ness and free-ness? What is the future for small organisations with ethical ideals which are facing the disappearance of subscription income and consolidation amongst technology suppliers?
- Public Communication of Science – Is it desirable and possible to improve public communication of scientific research? Has the COVID-19 pandemic taught us, once again, that Publishers, Pre-printers, Press, Politicians and Public are all incapable of understanding and communicating scientific information responsibly? Are researchers and tenure committees also being beguiled or misled by unprofessional public reporting, hype or altmetrics?
Session Formats
The Conference has a variety of session formats, intended to give each topic an appropriate expression. Our programme is likely to include a mixture of: Keynotes, Presentations, Panels, Debates, Workshops, Poster Sessions and Lightning Talks.
See CFP for more information
