Innovative publishing (ad)ventures: My experience of managing Cardiff University Press

In my capacity as Scholarly Publications Manager I have had the privilege to manage Cardiff University Press, our Diamond Open Access online publishing house, for the past 2.5 years.

During this time, we’ve grown from 5 to 12 titles, have moved from our initial open source hosting platform to a professional platform provider and have prepared the ground for launching monograph publishing. We have hosted events, registered our Open Access archiving policies on Sherpa Romeo and started depositing our content on Portico for preservation.

Managing a Press has been a new experience for me, and a steep learning curve, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge! The Cardiff University Press Editorial Board includes enthusiastic academic staff and students from a range of Schools and Colleges. This has allowed me to draw on their expertise and diverse perspectives on many areas of publishing, shaping our strategy, vision and mission for the Press. 

It’s been an absolute pleasure seeing the Press grow and develop and being part of this journey. I have learned a lot during my time with the Press, but if I had to summarise what has helped me most it would be these points below:

1. Get the basics right at the start (workflows, policies, contracts), i.e. walk before you run
2. Be open to change and adapt what you are doing, and how you are doing it
3. Take your editors with you – keep them informed and supported along the way
4. Be realistic and pragmatic – unless you have unlimited resources you will need to make important decisions on where your limits are
5. Keep your enthusiasm – it’s vital!

I look forward to following Cardiff University Press and its next exciting steps from afar!

 

Sonja Haerkoenen