Read the full article in The Scholarly Kitchen 

The post In the media | The Scholarly Kitchen: “Call for Feedback: STM Task & Finish Group (TFG) Image-type Taxonomy for Alt Text” appeared first on STM Association.

The guide provides practical tips on:

• Speaking clearly and using simple, inclusive language
  
• Designing slides with accessible fonts, colors, and text styling
  
• Adding alt text for images, charts, and tables
• Using captions and accessibility checkers in PowerPoint

Developed by STM’s Diversity & Inclusion Task & Finish Group, the guide is designed as a ready-to-use, accessible slide deck template. It offers a clear starting point for presenters who want to ensure their talks can be understood and engaged with by all audiences.

“This guide is the result of thoughtful collaboration from our Task & Finish Group colleagues — Jane Smith, Christene Smith, and Teodoro Pulvirenti. We’re delighted to share it with speakers and look forward to supporting more inclusive and accessible presentations across our community.”
Sarah Phibbs, Director of Equity & Inclusion, STM

Why now: The launch is timed to coincide with National Inclusion Week® 2025 (September 15–21), whose theme #NowIsTheTime emphasizes urgency, action, and embedding inclusion into everyday practice.

This guide is the first step in STM’s wider Inclusive Meetings initiative. A narrated walk-through of the resource is coming soon, along with dedicated guidelines for Event Chairs and Session Organizers.

The Presenters Inclusivity Guide will be reviewed annually to reflect evolving best practices in accessibility. 

Download the Presenter Inclusivity Guide here

The post New STM resource: Presenters Inclusivity Guide appeared first on STM Association.

At STM, we believe that advancing research should go hand-in-hand with environmental responsibility. That’s why we’re proud to launch the STM Digital Carbon Calculator — a practical new tool designed to help academic publishers understand and reduce the carbon footprint of their digital journals.

Every digital article hosted, accessed, and cited online carries a measurable carbon cost. While the transition from print to digital has vastly improved global access to research, it has also introduced a new kind of environmental impact — one that often goes unseen. Our industry, like all others, must confront its role in the climate crisis.

The STM Digital Carbon Calculator is a first step. Built on the trusted DIMPACT methodology, it enables publishers to:

• Measure the carbon emissions associated with their digital content

• Monitor changes and improvements over time

• Identify opportunities to reduce their digital footprint

• Collaborate with others on emerging sustainability standards

This tool is free, easy to use, and intended as a voluntary resource to support sustainability journeys — not formal reporting or compliance. It’s about transparency, shared learning, and meaningful action.

Request access to the Digital Carbon Calculator

The post Introducing the STM Digital Carbon Calculator appeared first on STM Association.

The framework of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has, over the past decade, generated a tremendous amount of global cooperation, innovation, and support to drive transformative change within our communities. This might be attributed to the global nature of the challenges, as the SDG framework sets out to address universal issues from climate change and renewable energy to protecting our oceans and ensuring good health and well-being in our communities. While the publishing industry has been very supportive of the SDG agenda (with the launch of the SDG Publishers Compact and IPA SDG Dashboard), it can be hard to relate the specific SDG targets and measurements to what we, as academic publishers, can truly influence.

Read the full article in The Scholarly Kitchen. 

The post Protecting Progress: The Case for Staying Committed to Sustainability in 2025 appeared first on STM Association.

STM’s Social Responsibility Committee is in need of three new members. The term runs two to three years, and the committee meets monthly to take action for equitable, inclusive and sustainable practices in scholarly publishing.

Learn more about STM’s Social Responsibility Committee — their work, mission and programmes that are benefitting society,

Want to bring your perspective to the table? Apply through this form by June 30, 2025. 

The post Join STM’s Social Responsibility Committee appeared first on STM Association.

Level 3: Advancing SDGs Together draws on the collective expertise of STM members across the academic publishing landscape. It offers a rich, thoughtfully curated collection of insights, resources, and case studies—demonstrating how a diverse community of publishers can unite around a shared mission: advancing trusted knowledge in service of global progress.

Level 3 features:

• Targeted strategies for advancing key SDG targets, including SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals)
• Real-world case studies that showcase impact and provide replicable models for action
• Practical tools and guidance to translate research into accessible, actionable insights
• Shared best practices for community engagement, policy influence, and sustainability integration

“Level 3 brings focus to the ways publishers can turn intention into impact,” said Leila Jones, COO at STM. “It reflects a collective effort to provide a range of pathways for publishing that support the progress the SDGs call for.”

Aligned with the SDG Publishers Compact, the roadmap continues to build momentum across the industry, helping STM members and the wider publishing community advance sustainable development through shared responsibility and practical leadership.

Explore Level 3 now and discover how your organisation can take the next step toward SDG impact.

The post Now live: Level 3 of the SDG Sustainability Roadmap | Driving targeted action for global impact appeared first on STM Association.

This month, STM’s Social Responsibility Committee is focusing on accessibility.

Preparing for the EU Accessibility Act? We’re planning for an Accessibility Roundtable to offer us an opportunity to connect, collaborate and share best practices for implementing accessibility ahead of new regulations in the EU and US. If you or a colleague would like to attend, get involved, or if there is particular topic you’d like us to consider — we’d love to hear from you. (Our Social Responsibility Committee is full at the moment, but we’re always happy to note expressions of interest for future openings!)

The post Spotlight on accessibility: resources, best practices and a chance to connect appeared first on STM Association.

As we count down to the STM Annual US Conference, we’re highlighting some of the expert voices shaping the conversations at this year’s event. One such voice is Simon Holt, Head of Content Accessibility at Elsevier, who brings deep insight into the evolving landscape of accessible publishing.

Simon will be part of the panel “Accelerating the adoption of accessible publishing laws and standards”—a session that explores how technology and legislation intersect to drive more inclusive practices in scholarly communication. In this brief Q&A, Simon challenges common misconceptions about accessibility, shares the promise of multi-modal learning, and offers a compelling case for why collaboration is key to success.

Join us in DC at the STM US Conference 2025 to further this conversation in person — seats still remain!

The post Spotlight on accessibility: a conversation with Simon Holt ahead of the STM US Conference appeared first on STM Association.

The SDG Classifier uses a pre-configured algorithm to evaluate content against specific SDG targets, then returns the number and name of all SDGs that the text matches.

But it’s not done yet: we need your help testing the SDG Classifier. You can try it out here. We’d love to get your feedback by 30 March.

The post Your feedback needed! Help us make it easier to classify content based on SDGs appeared first on STM Association.

Let our program committee set the stage, below. Read on to see what’s in store, and register to join us while you can (this event sold out last year).

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Many STM members remember the shift from print publishing to digital. We embraced the changes by offering new features, creating shared infrastructure such as CrossRef, and allowing readers to access content as soon as possible, wherever possible. We launched new journals before Google launched its first search engine. We introduced new business models to accommodate the needs of funders, governments, corporations and the academy. We confronted new challenges as the cost and efficiency of making copies—lawfully and unlawfully—declined and as our users embraced preprints, mobile, social media, and demanded ever faster, ever more robust, tools.

With the growth of artificial intelligence and generative AI, our industry faces a new moment of inflection, opportunity, threat and innovation. Our content may not always be perfect, but it is the best available in terms of validation, quality markers, use of PIDs, consistency of formats, and other attributes. In contrast to materials found randomly on the web, this quality makes our books, journals and databases, especially as versions of record, highly sought after and indeed crucial for the high-stakes application of AI.

AI introduces noise into the system. It offers new paths to revenue and new ways to improve workflows and research outcomes, while challenging key assumptions underpinning subscription, rights-based, and open access business models. Here, at the STM Frankfurt Conference, we will explore what is at stake as AI becomes a norm. We will investigate the importance of quality to AI. We will discuss what it means to be “AI ready” from the perspective of our users and our members. We will debate the policy implications of broader and narrower copyright protection in a market where everyone agrees the content is valuable, but not everyone wants to pay to support its ongoing viability.

This—and more—awaits you in Frankfurt. Won’t you join us?

Explore the full program — and register to join us

The post The STM Conference Frankfurt 2024: Advancing Trusted Research in the era of AI appeared first on STM Association.