Dawn Roche, Journal of Ocean Technology, is our new CALJ/ACRS representative on the C4DISC Steering Committee.

C4DISC is a community comprised of consortial groups such as societies and associations whose membership is composed of individuals, companies, or organizations, and whose mission and membership are related to scholarly communications. The Coalition was formed to discuss and address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within our industry.

The Steering Committee handles policy and financial decisions and manages working groups.

C4DISC RELEASES ANTIRACISM TOOLKIT FOR ORGANIZATIONS

"A new diversity, equity, and inclusion resource for scholarly publishing professionals, the Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations was published today by Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) and Toolkits for Equity in Scholarly Publishing project volunteers. A cross-organizational effort, the toolkit is the second in a series of three focused on antiracism; additional toolkits focus on antiracism resources for allies (launched August 2020) and for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (forthcoming).

The Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations focuses on helping organizations transform their workplace culture through the lens of antiracism and equity. This toolkit is for organizations to understand institutionalized racism, to better support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) staff, to model antiracist leadership, build structure around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) work, and create policies and procedures that address inequities, disparities, and racist systems.

Project co-leader, Damita Snow adds, 'There are many organizations working on DEI and we wish for the toolkit to be a resource for them no matter where they are in the process. We do not answer every question out there, but we hope to assist in some way. We certainly considered our audience in the writing of the toolkit. We had an incredible group of more than 40 diverse volunteers who did so much to complete the document and who determined the topics to be addressed as well as completing the research to present accurate information and reading what others wrote to ensure that we had a unified voice. I am beyond pleased at how the final document turned out.'"

LINK TO TOOLKIT

* Source: C4Disc Announcement, August 25, 2021

The Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Learned Journals (CALJ) is an ambassador for CALJ, supporting and promoting the vision of the organization. This individual supports the Board of Directors as a resource of knowledge and continuity for the organization, and provides overall administrative support for the Board of Directors and the association membership. In consultation with the Board, the Executive Director supports the onboarding of new Board members; supports CALJ committees in organizing CALJ meetings and events; communicates with the membership and broader community; drafts reports, letters, communiques, and funding applications; maintains and updates the CALJ website; promotes CALJ and CALJ membership through various promotional activities; develops an annual budget; and manages CALJ activities to meet budget expectations. There are currently no direct reports for this position.

Duties and Responsibilities

About CALJ

From the first meeting in 1990 that led to the formation of CALJ, the vocation of the association has focused on the well-being of learned journals:

To represent, develop and support the academic community of Canadian learned journals in disseminating original research and scholarly information, and to promote intellectual culture in Canada and internationally.

CALJ operates as a not-for-profit association and is member-driven, identifying priorities and establishing projects and activities as the CALJ journals and other CALJ members direct. Through interaction with government agencies, the research community and other partners, CALJ works to strengthen both individual journals and the journal community as a whole.

The three key functions of CALJ are to provide services to CALJ member journals, to develop industry initiatives for CALJ member journals, and to enhance the collective strengths of CALJ members and the journal community.

Interested in Applying?

Please send your resume by September 10, 2021 by email to Antonia Pop, CALJ President, at apop@utpress.utoronto.ca

The Professional Development committee will be organizing webinars for the fall and spring, one each in October, November, February and March. We invite your feedback and input as we select topics for these sessions. We envision these webinars as more in-depth presentations with practical tips and tricks, and more time for questions and discussion. Each session would run 1.5 to 2 hours.

Please submit your response by September 5, 2021!

https://forms.gle/U4VG11xd39AP4TWGA

Our July Industry News newsletter is now available. Read it HERE.

President
Antonia Pop
Vice President, Journals, University of Toronto Press

President Elect
Lauren Bosc
Research Coordinator
Centre for Research in Young People's Texts and Cultures & Managing Editor of Jeunesse

Secretary-Treasurer
Eugenia Zuroski
Editor
Eighteenth-Century Fiction

Members at Large

Leanne Coughlin
Managing Editor, BC Studies: The British Columbia Quarterly

Dawn Roche
Journal of Ocean Technology

Abrahim H. Khan
Toronto Journal of Theology

Michael Donaldson
Canadian Science Publishing / Éditions Sciences Canada

The 2021 Aid to Scholarly Journals application form is now available. The application deadline is September 10, 2021 (8 p.m. eastern). Please see the SSHRC website for more information.

A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thanks again to everyone for joining us at our Annual General Meeting on June 10, 2021. We were delighted to have so many of you attend and take part. For those of you who were unable to attend, here are some highlights:

• Ken Clavette announced his retirement as Executive Director, and shared some highlights from his 8 years working with CALJ. We’ll miss you Ken, and congrats again on your retirement!
• The 2020-21 financial summaries were presented and approved.
• Chairs from the Professional Development and Communications Committees provided overviews from the work of their committees, including the successful webinar series and online conference, and the development of CALJ newsletters.
• An update was provided on CALJ’s work with the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC), and a motion was passed to approve ongoing membership in C4DISC.
• A motion was passed to add CALJ’s name to the Charter on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization in the Social Sciences and Humanities with the Federation.
• We announced the winner of the SRC/CALJ Journal Innovation Award: Encounters in Theory and History of Education; congrats!
• New board members were elected, including:
• • President Elect – Lauren Bosc
  • Treasurer – Eugenia Zuroski
  • Members at Large – Michael Donaldson, Abrahim Khan, and Dawn Roche

If you have any questions about the AGM or the points above, please reach out to Executive Director Ken Clavette (administrator@calj-acrs.ca) or President Antonia Pop (apop@utpress.utoronto.ca)!

READ THE FULL NEWSLETTER

We are thrilled to welcome JMIR Publications to our membership. JMIR Publications is an open access publisher that helps scientists disseminate ideas and research. They "envision a world where people are empowered by health research and technology to make effective, informed decisions, take control of their health and well-being, and live happier and healthier lives."

VISIT THE JMIR PUBLICATIONS WEBSITE

One of our newest initiatives is our monthly "Industry News" newsletter. This newsletter features articles, videos, guides, and other material relevant to our membership and the broader Canadian scholarly publishing community. If you aren't already subscribed to our newsletters, head to our homepage to signup. And if you have something you would like included in our next newsletter, please email it to communications@calj-acrs.ca.

READ THE JUNE "INDUSTRY NEWS" NEWSLETTER!

SCHOLARLY & RESEARCH COMMUNICATION–CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF LEARNED JOURNALS JOURNAL INNOVATION AWARD

Scholarly & Research Communication and the Canadian Association of Learned Journals are proud to announce the winner of the 2021 SRC–CALJ Journal Innovation Award.

THE AWARD

This award recognizes outstanding journal work and highlights the contributions that journals make to scholarly discourse. In a time of great upheaval in scholarly communications and journal publishing, and especially in the face of difficult challenges posed by the pandemic, it is important to shine a light on the continuing work journals do in serving and building research communities. It is also important to recognize initiatives that journals are taking to respond to opportunities that digital technology make possible. The SRC–Journal Innovation Award is intended to encourage Canadian journals to engage in innovation with an eye on enhancing impact.

THE WINNER

The winner of the 2021 SRC–CALJ Journal Innovation Award is Encounters in Theory and History of Education / Encuentros en Teoría e Historia de la Educación / Rencontres en Théorie et Histoire de l'Éducation, an open access, trilingual, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary publication that aims to generate vigorous scholarly dialogue among educational researchers in the theories and histories of education. From its beginnings in 2000 its objective has been to generate a space for democratic access to knowledge and to serve as a forum to present and discuss the theory and history of education in a global space.

In making their decision on the award, the judges were impressed by the active innovations being made by the journal in both design and media. They took particular note of the journal’s new Digital Media and Methods Section, which includes supplementary, downloadable videos that can be stored and referred to later with ease. An example is in their 2020 issue, where the article “Senses of nation, pedagogical reflection in the change of script in the national historical museum” was accompanied by a 7-minute video that tours the temporary exhibition of the National Historical Museum of Chile. The video “Synopsis, senses of the nation” reflects upon the challenges that a national history museum faces in the 21st century.

In addition to providing downloadable videos, Encounters in Theory and History of Education also incorporates interviews and art with each of its issues; the culmination of all these innovations is a visual sensation for the reader. And, finally, the fact that it is trilingual, open access, and global makes this a truly inclusive and diverse journal. The efforts of the editorial team to engage readers by using design and media have clearly paid off. Registered users have almost doubled since 2014 and the rate of article views has increased 43%.

Congratulations to the team at Encounters in Theory and History of Education for developing a pedagogical journal that is accessible, international, inclusive, and multimodal.

OTHER ENTRIES

We received a number of other noteworthy entries that we also wanted to highlight.

One was a bilingual journal engaged in increasing the production of videos and podcasts to supplement the journal’s issues, articles, and conferences.

• One focussed on activities that resulted in dramatic improvements in a number of journal metrics, including submissions (and the number of countries from which submissions came), annual downloads, citation ranking, and institutional accessibility. The commitment and energy of the editor was praiseworthy, indeed, as she worked with researchers and research groups to convene workshops, helped set up mentoring relationships to improve the rigor of research and manuscript quality, and focused on underserved content areas.
• One journal extended its circulation by cooperating with a digital platform, producing bimonthly paper summaries for students, publishing poster and other conference abstracts, and giving special attention to COVID research.
• One journal was involved in opening access and enhancing the online reading experience, metadata for its archives, and facilitating accurate citations.

We extend our thanks to all journals who submitted nominations for the award and we look forward to next year’s submissions.

The judges for the 2021 award were:

• Eugenia Zuroski, Editor, Eighteenth-Century Fiction
• Robert Harington, Associate Executive Director, Publishing, American Mathematical Society
• Rowland Lorimer. Publisher and Editor, Scholarly and Research Communication

Chair: Suzanne Kettley. Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Science Publishing