Reflections

Abstract

I’m delighted that these notes accompany the first issue - in the 129^th volume - of the new JIB published by the Institute of Brewing & Distilling.  As noted previously in Reflections, all papers are ‘open access’ without any fees for the authors or readers!  The new website - https://jib.ibd.org.uk/index.php/jib - is powered by PKP (Public Knowledge Project) in tandem with OJS (Open Journal Systems, used by > 30,000 journals worldwide).  The front end of the workflow (from submission to rejection or acceptance) continues with ScholarOne with papers being managed to publication through OJS. 

The transition to the new system has inevitably had its fair share of challenges.  Although, the ‘heavy lifting’ is done, some fine tuning remains to be worked through.  Of the upsides, having editorial control over publications and the website is a significant benefit.  Further, in addition to being open access, papers in JIB will benefit from more extensive ‘meta data’ than in the past which will step change visibility to search engines. 

Over the last five months, launching the new JIB has been a team effort.  Big thanks to Steve Curtis and, especially, Dan Griffiths for masterminding the transition - via numerous ‘Teams’ meetings - to the OJS website and Oliver Bremner for his expertise in creating the papers as stylish pdfs with improved readability.  It’s been a steep learning curve but the unfamiliar is becoming increasingly familiar.