Open Access for UK and Horizon2020 publications

In June 2012 a UK working group of scientists, funding agencies and publishers made available a report on “Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications”.

This work, known as the Finch report after the chairwoman of the group, Janet Finch, made the recommendation for a larger implementation of open access models in the UK publishing scene. The Finch report has very rapidly triggered a decision of Research Councils UK (RCUK), the umbrella body for Britain’s seven research councils,…

June Executive Committee Meeting

The European Physical Society [EPS] Executive Committee met at the EPS headquarters, in Mulhouse, on 8-9 June this year. Following the 2011 strategy discussion – and the elections earlier this year – the committee is now composed of 13 members, eight of whom are new to the board this year.

The Executive Committee has finalised the EPS statement on the use of bibliometric indices during assessment…

European Physical Society: get involved!

Dear Readers,

In almost all discussions with colleagues and students about membership in a learned society the question is asked: “what’s in it for me?” Besides the purely philosophical answer, there are many practical reasons for why membership in a learned society can be a fundamental asset for every scientist.

The European Physical Society [EPS] is a platform for your activities and a voice for your interests…

2012 European Physical Society Council

Representatives from all European Physical Society [EPS] Member Societies, Divisions and Groups met for the 2012 EPS Council, which was held on 30-31 March at CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland.

As with every even year, elections were a major item on the agenda. John Dudley, of France’s Université de Franche-Comté, was elected the incoming president of the EPS. Dudley is a past chair of the EPS Quantum Electronics and Optics Division, and was the initial proposer for the International Year of Light…

Morning on Open Access Gold model

A half-day session on the Open Access Gold model was organised on 19 January this year, at the Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris. The meeting, an initiative of the French Physical Society [SFP], was the first step in launching a discussion on the changing business models of French physics publications.

The event opened with an introduction to an innovative business model, SCOAP3, by CERN’s Jens Vigen; this was followed by a presentation on the current situation at the European Commission [EC], by the EC Open Access Policy…

January 2012 EPS Executive Committee Meeting

The European Physical Society [EPS] Executive Committee met at the EPS headquarters, in Mulhouse, on 27-28 January 2012. One of the central tasks of this meeting was to make preparations for the upcoming EPS council, and the preceding Forum Physics and Society, which are scheduled to be held at CERN at the end of March this year.

As the first meeting of the new year, the 2011 accounts were discussed, and a budget for 2012 was drawn up. In addition, the committee will prepare a brief statement on the study “Physics and the EU economy”, to be presented…

Executive Committee Meeting Summary

In conjunction with the Asia Europe Physics Summit conference, the European Physical Society Executive Committee met in Wroclaw, Poland, on 25 October 2011.

The open session of the committee was, of course, dedicated to meeting representatives from the Polish Physical Society and the Wroclaw University Physics Department. The committee also learned of the impressive scientific and economic situation of the Wroclaw region…

Executive Committee Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria

The EPS Executive Committee travelled to Sofia over 20-21 May, to meet with representatives from the Balkan Physical Union and the Union of Bulgarian Physicists.

Our Bulgarian colleagues demonstrated impressive levels of activity; with the organisation of various schools, publications and workshops – in spite of their struggles with a very tight context for research and teaching…