Under an Elsevier global partnering programme Publishing Connect, an Elsevier Australia Editors Forum 2015, was held at the Royce Hotel, St Kilda Road, in Melbourne on Tuesday, 28 April 2015. The Forum gathered together a couple of dozen invited journal editors mostly based in Melbourne, including Mrs Dorota I. Pudlowski and Prof. Zenon J. Pudlowski, representing the World Institute for Engineering and Technology Education (WIETE).

The paramount objective of the Forum was to share information on recent advances in journal publishing in the context of the changing nature of the journal landscape, as well as to discuss contemporary issues in journal publishing. Participants of the Forum were welcomed by Mr Robert Gorter, Managing Director of Elsevier Australia.

The Forum’s programme included several presentations by Elsevier’s international experts eminent in the field of journal publishing on the topics and issues related to journal publishing and the Elsevier’s effort in facilitating the work of journal editors. The speakers included Mr Youngsuk Chi, Chairman - Elsevier, and Director of Corporate Affairs of RELX Group, who presented his opening address entitled: The Changing Journal Landscape. Other speakers included Mr Chris Hammond, Publishing Director, International Markets, STM Journals (Trends in Journal Publishing); Ms Diana Jones, Senior Publisher, Journals, Elsevier Australia (Improving Journal Visibility); Mr Max Dumoulin, Director of Research Solutions Enablement (Elsevier’s Research Intelligence Platforms); Dr Steven Riddell, Customer Consultant, Research Management Elsevier, Research Solutions Australia & New Zealand (Measuring Journal Impact and Bibliometrics) and Professor Dr Anders Karlsson, APAC Vice President, Global Academic Relations, Elsevier Japan (Open Science Publishing - Australian Context). The Forum concluded with a Panel Discussion Plus Q&A, including the topic of Handling Ethics, chaired and facilitated by Mr Chris Hammond. Forum participants were also given the opportunity to provide feedback on the Forum.

The day-long Forum was an excellent opportunity for journal editors to refresh their knowledge of, and acquire new information on, journal publishing, as well as discuss the burning issues, problems and challenges in journal publishing.

The Forum also placed emphasis on scholarly publishing that connects through networking. This theme was approached from a huge, international publisher’s perspective, so that not all the connectivity that can be established and be viable at that level, applies to a small-size publisher, such as the WIETE. However, global connectivity though social networking is certainly an idea that we will take forward as presence in academic social networks, such as academia.com, Mendeley, Research Gate, etc, has its value to the WIETE authors and readers. Reflecting on the discussion on the editorial value that big publishers offer to the global scholarly community, it is worth noting that small-size enterprises may also offer specialised services, for example, extra editorial advice and direction that may be of value to young researchers or researchers from countries relatively new in the global scholarly publications market.

The WIETE directors are grateful to Elsevier for the invitation to the Forum, and look forward to develop cooperation with other editors under the umbrella of Elsevier. They believe that the information gained and contacts established at the Forum will assist the WIETE in the day-to-day operation of the two journals, the Global Journal of Engineering Education (GJEE) and the World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education (WTE&TE), which are indexed by Scopus, one of the business arms of Elsevier.

The top photo shows Mr Youngsuk Chi, delivering his opening presentation, and the bottom photo shows Ms Diana Jones (r) and Mr Chris Hammond (l) enjoying discussions at Forum’s lunch.