Future Professional Communication in Astronomy II

Joseph Jensen

Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series; Utah Valley University

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) has been publishing the proceedings of conferences in astronomy and astrophysics for more than twenty years. The ASP Conference Series (ASPCS) is widely known for its affordable and high quality printed volumes. The ASPCS is adapting to the changing market by making electronically published volumes available to subscribers around the world, including papers in the Astrophysics Data System (ADS) database, and allowing authors to post papers on e-print archives. I will discuss the role of the printed book in our future plans, and how electronic publishing affects the types of products and services we offer. Recently there has been increasing pressure in the academic world for “open access” (electronic copies of scholarly publications made freely-available immediately after publication), and I will discuss how the ASPCS is responding to the needs of the professional astronomical community, the scholarly society that supports us (the ASP), and humanity at large. While we cannot yet provide full open access and stay in business, we are actively pursuing several initiatives to improve the quality of our product and the impact of the papers we publish.