The Asia-Pacific region, a growing hub of scientific innovation, is playing an increasingly influential role in shaping the future of global scholarly communication.
On June 16, the 2nd STM APAC Conference was held in Beijing, bringing together more than 300 delegates from 13 countries to discuss research and publishing, subscription and open access, and research integrity and social responsibility.
The conference, themed "Openness, Integrity, Inclusion: The Evolution of Scholarly Communication in Asia-Pacific", was co-hosted by China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Co and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM). Through keynotes and panel discussions, participants explored collaboration among publishers, researchers, libraries, and institutions to foster a more open, sustainable, and trustworthy research ecosystem.
The first session examined the evolving relationship between scientific research and publishing, focusing on AI's impact and the growing importance of trust. Wang Zhenchang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, discussed AI's role in transforming research, knowledge production and publishing. Caroline Sutton, CEO of STM, said discussions on scholarly communication are expanding beyond access to include trust, quality, and responsibility.
The second session addressed the transformation of publishing models and the challenge of balancing access to knowledge with sustainability. Jin Jianbin, director of Tsinghua University Library, examined the pressures facing libraries and research institutions as they seek to support access to academic resources in a rapidly changing open science environment. Niels Peter Thomas, CEO of BMJ Publishing, discussed the diversity of publishing models emerging across global markets and the need to move beyond viewing subscription and open access as a simple binary choice.
The final session focused on research integrity and ethics. Yang Daiqing, deputy director of the Center for Scientometrics and Evaluation at the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, stressed the need for more systematic and standardized approaches to research integrity governance. Joris van Rossum, program director of STM Solutions, highlighted the importance of shared infrastructure and cross-sector cooperation in managing integrity risks.
The panel discussion underscored that a trustworthy research environment relies not only on technical tools and standards but also on effective governance, institutional accountability, and sustained collaboration across sectors.
