Publisher creates leadership role for building stronger relationships with institutions, funders and governments
The academic publishing company Springer Nature has shuffled its leadership roles to create a position dedicated to building stronger relationships with funders, institutions and governments, in a move it said was due to the wider transition to open access.
Steven Inchcoombe, who was previously chief publishing officer, has taken up the new position of president of research, in which he has been made responsible for engaging with key global stakeholders and growing the publisher’s research business in countries that are growing their research activities.
“The world is transitioning to open access at different speeds and therefore understanding these differences in order to be able to help and support our partners as they transition to open access is increasingly important,” Inchcoombe said as his new role was announced on 1 March.
Governments and public research funders around the world have in recent years increased their push for the research they fund to be made available open access, with actions in Europe and the US garnering particular attention. Last month, Research Professional News reported that the EU is considering calling for all research results to be made openly available immediately without authors having to pay publishing fees.
Chief solutions officer Harsh Jegadeesan will take over Inchcoombe’s former chief publishing officer role.
“Having been a researcher and author myself, I am extremely excited and honoured by this new opportunity,” Jegadeesan said. He added that he would bring his “background in, and passion for, new technology” to the role.