The American Society for Horticultural Science: Six Weeks to Launch on PubFactory

Society publisher meets deadline to flip subscription journal to Open Access

Keywords: subscription journal, flip, open access, OA, hosting, PubFactory

Challenge

The American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) had a time-sensitive requirement to change the business model of their flagship journal, HortTechnology, from a subscription to an Open Access (OA) model, with a hard launch date of January 1, 2019. In addition, ASHS needed to migrate and launch two other subscription journals, HortScience and Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, by the end of January 2019.

When the migration to PubFactory began, it was already early October; this left only six weeks in which to complete both projects.

“The decision to relaunch our journals on PubFactory was made with confidence, as it allowed us to extend and expand our long-term relationship with KGL. There were risks involved, especially with our very compressed timeframe to relaunch HortTechnology on PubFactory. It was a critical period for ASHS, with long-term impact on our future. KGL was the partner we had great trust in to lead us through the strategic transition from one platform to another while also flipping HortTechnology from a subscription journal to an OA journal,” said Michael Neff,Executive Director of ASHS.

Solution

José Fossi, Vice President of Client Services for KGL PubFactory confirms, “We always remind publishers that challenges will inevitably arise during our work together. What’s most important is how we manage and resolve challenges together. It’s the greatest determinant of our shared success.”

With this in mind, the ASHS team and the PubFactory team formulated a strict timeline and project plan detailing the actions required by both sides. To that end, ASHS provided preliminary guidance in three critical areas:

•   Branding

•   Design and content presentation preferences

•   ASHS member community needs

During preparatory sessions, ASHS agreed to grant the PubFactory team nearly full autonomy in making platform implementation decisions. This allowed PubFactory to develop a functioning version of the platform for ASHS to respond to within two weeks of project kickoff.

Preceding the move to PubFactory, ASHS already had a long-established working relationship with KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. This provided significant advantages for both ASHS and PubFactory, including:

• Both teams―ASHS and PubFactory―had a strong foundation of trust upon which to build

• From the outset, the PubFactory team had a deep understanding of ASHS’content needs and business requirements

• A typically complicated migration task―migration of subscription data―was eliminated because it was already managed in-house by KGL

“The project with ASHS was a model of successful collaboration,” remarked José Fossi. “We worked together to find the most cost-efficient solutions that would keep the project on schedule, while always having a view to meeting the needs of ASHS and its members.”

Results

On January 1, 2019, ASHS launched HortTechnology on schedule as an OA journal on the PubFactory platform. Three weeks later, on January 22, ASHS launched their other two journals, HortScience and Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, on the same PubFactory platform.

“We are extremely pleased with the relaunches of our three journals on the PubFactory platform. Despite the short schedule, all of the migration—as well as the transition of HortTechnology from a subscription to an Open Access model—was achieved on or ahead of schedule. We are especially pleased with all of the KGL teams we work alongside every day,” said Assistant Executive Director Tracy Shawn, leader of the ASHS transition team.

Products and Services Used

• PubFactory hosting platform

• KGL content workflow solutions

• Subscription management services