Emerald Publishing agrees sponsorship deal with HELP Logistics of the Kühne Foundation to make humanitarian logistics research open to all

Emerald Publishing has agreed a four-year sponsorship deal with HELP Logistics of the Kühne Foundation to flip the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management to a fully open access journal from 2023.

Emerald and HELP Logistics have collaborated to remove the barriers to publishing and accessing research, with researchers being able to publish with no Article Processing Charges (APCs) and those working in the humanitarian logistics field having free access to content within the journal.

Sally Wilson, Director of Publishing at Emerald Publishing, said: “This progressive sponsorship enables us to remove the barriers to participation and to empower those that are underrepresented in academia. It is our hope that by enabling more people to access the research in this field and by removing the APCs, we will see more research being submitted from universities that have previously been underrepresented.”

The relationship with HELP Logistics is another way that Emerald is demonstrating its commitment to the SDG Publisher Compact by publishing content that will help inform, develop, and inspire action. Moving the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management (JHLSCM) to an open access model will make a difference to those delivering truly responsible management in the humanitarian logistics field.

The deed of the Kühne Foundation is support for training, further education, scholarships and research in transport and logistics. HELP Logistics was established in 2014 to provide technical advice, training and research to international aid organisations and governments to strengthen their logistics capabilities and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian operations. One of its main aims to get humanitarian logistics research outside of the barriers of academia to those working in the field, wherever they are in the world.

Sean Rafter, from HELP Logistics, commented: “For many years, HELP Logistics has supported logistics and supply chain knowledge transfer between academia and humanitarian practitioners. Sponsoring the JHLSCM to be open access will put new approaches and methods into the hands of a bigger global audience. We invite researchers from all countries to contribute to the fast-evolving humanitarian sector. At the same time, we encourage practitioners to inform researchers about local critical topics and play their role to make research work more meaning- and impactful.”

Ahead of the journal becoming fully open in 2023, Emerald will run virtual issues and publish free to access content, as well as providing workshops on how to get published to support researchers who may not have engaged with the publishing process before. The sponsorship deal officially started in January 2022 and the journal will continue to publish 4 issues and 24 articles per year.

Emerald is committed to removing barriers to participation and is passionate about opening new pathways to impact and helping researchers make their findings open to all. It has created a number of open research routes that give authors the choice and flexibility when publishing their findings, from zero-embargo policy on green open access to gold and platinum routes, launched an innovative open platform which offers six gateways aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

To find out more visit Equity & participation.

ENDS