Last year, Jasper Simons became APA's executive publisher, charged with managing APA's largest business unit and identifying and developing new opportunities to support APA and psychology. He was promoted to the position after overseeing APA's PsycINFO and other specialty databases such as PsycTESTS.
The Monitor asked Simons about his plans in the new position.
How do you plan to enhance APA's publishing program?
The publishing program is one of unique strength as it is embedded within APA and operates alongside its members with hundreds of psychologists producing scholarly content through our journals and books programs. With the support of APA's Publications and Communications Board, we continually adapt to changing publishing practices, the shifting needs of our readers and the developments in the field. Disseminating scientific knowledge requires constant adaptation. A good example is our thesaurus, which allows for pinpoint searching across our databases. A few months ago, we updated the thesaurus with 400 new terms, including "assertive community treatment" and "restorative justice."
What does the next wave of success for APA's publishing program look like to you?
We will be working to innovate our current products and develop new research tools in the academic and higher education spaces. We know that our members and the broader community rely on our PsycINFO and related databases to stay ahead of developments in the behavioral sciences. We want to make sure that we not only focus on the content by working with the world's leading authors and editors, but also on the technology that allows for easy consumption and exploration of that content. So we are looking at ways we can strengthen the underlying technology and the user interfaces in the near future.
What is your long-term vision for the program?
In recent decades, we have seen a sharp increase in scholarly research in psychology and related disciplines. User needs and expectations have also changed rapidly as technology has proliferated across personal and professional settings. It is important that APA's publishing program stays ahead of these developments. APA is identifying the priorities we need to set to ensure that we achieve success in that context.
What are some notable publishing successes that APA has already achieved this year?
One key accomplishment has been the indexing of the four millionth record into PsycINFO — the seminal database of scholarly literature covering the behavioral sciences.
PsycINFO is the most respected database in the behavioral sciences. The feedback from our subscribers is consistent about that.
We're also delighted by the rapid growth we've seen in the number of subscribers to APA's PsycTESTS, the world's leading database on psychological tests and measurements. And we're excited about the upcoming launch of APA Style CENTRAL, a Web-based application designed to improve students' research and writing skills and help them gain mastery in APA Style.
What else do you want APA members to know?
The publishing program is working to ensure that APA continues to serve as the principal provider of scholarly psychological content for all communities. We need to serve the clinical, research and educational communities as well as continue to attract the best editors and authors in psychology and in the behavioral sciences. Luckily, we have the best staff and a great organization to assist us with that.