Academic Publishing in Europe - Short report: The funding of publishing. Changes and consequences for science and society - 29-30 January 2013, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences preceded by the Education and Training Course: "Talking to the Elephant in the Room" on 28 January 2012

Anna Metzner (German Association of Publishers and Booksellers) welcomed chairs, speakers and participants to Academic Publishing in Europe 2013. This being the 8th conference, she highlighted as continuous the open and discursive nature of the proceedings, and as evolving the themes under discussion. The funding of publishing is an especially timely theme as digital business models are being consolidated by the publishing industry. Eric Merkel-Sobotta (Chairman, International Association of STM Publishers & EVP Corporate Communication, Springer SBM) emphasized in his opening remarks that any discussion on the funding of publishing must focus on the political and economic foundations. Scholarly publishing is now supported by two business models, subscriptions and article-processing charges, and it is in the interest of all stakeholders that the foundations be solid and the publishing operation sustainable. Particularly in the United Kingdom, the foundation for both business models now seems dependable, and in the United States and Germany policy development is also progressing. Stable foundations enable publishers to continue adding value to scholarly communication. Prof. Dr. Karl Ulrich Mayer (President, Leibniz Association) started with his first keynote on Open Access: Improving Returns of Public Investment into Research – A perspective from Germany. He highlighted that the IT Revolution had resulted in new dysfunctions and inequalities in scholarly communication. A major problem is large price differences among publishers and journals. Secondly, widespread usage limitations and re-use restrictions indicate that copyright has become a barrier. Thirdly, publication has become an instrument that some scholars seek to manipulate illegitimately. Indicators, for example,