Westchester Publishing Services

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Council of Science Editors 2026 Conference

Conferences

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer
conference table with blue tablecloth on top of it, and pens and notebooks. Behind the table are two chairs and a rollup banner featuring services.The 2026 Council of Science Editors (CSE) Annual Meeting held in Durham, NC offered a dynamic program from Sunday through and Tuesday, May 3-5, that reflected the complexity, creativity, and rapid evolution of scholarly publishing. Many of the attendees work for independent, smaller journal publishers, whose challenges and opportunities differ greatly from those of larger publishers. Our retired former journal lead, Tim Cross, was a one-time president of CSE, and it was simultaneously an honor and intimidating to walk in his footsteps representing Westchester this year.

 

Participating in the conference was a beneficial experience that included learning from the sessions that were presented by industry colleagues, meeting with our clients who were in attendance, and to exchange useful information. During the Bright Ideas Showcase, we presented an AI alt text workflow solution designed to support journal publishers, and in the exhibit hall we introduced an alliance with two trusted organizations in the scholarly publishing community that expands the range of options we can offer journal clients beyond the editorial, production, and digital accessibility services for which Westchester is already well regarded.

Monday’s opening events set the tone for the conference with a keynote about trust, community, and collaboration in the next era of publishing, signaling a strong focus on how the industry is adapting to change. From there, attendees had opportunities to learn from experts at sessions that balanced professional growth with practical innovation. Highlights included lightning talks on career development at every stage and a candid discussion of AI in real editorial workflows, exploring what worked, what did not, and what teams learned along the way. Other sessions addressed launching journals, data sharing, multimedia in scholarly publishing, research integrity, mentorship, diversity in peer review, and the growing role of AI in the editor’s workbench. Taken together, these sessions provided a complete picture of a field that is rethinking both its tools and its responsibilities to the scholarly community.

The session with the most significant impact for me was the ethics clinic on authorship, held on the second day of the conference. I have attended countless ‘workshops’ at conferences that were more performative than substantive, with an extended speech followed by a few minutes of a brief exercise to drive home the point before a refreshment break. CSE provided more meaningful opportunities for collaboration than many conferences, delivering an impactful session requiring each table to collaborate on solving or responding to successive real-life scenarios. These hypothetical situations generated authentic discussions between the facilitator and participants, and summed up CSE the most for me. The editors, publishers, and vendors who routinely attend CSE aren’t going there simply to network or earn a certification — they’re doing the hard work that the scientific editorial space demands, and are doing so with determination, authenticity, and sincerity.

Journal publishers with small or medium sized programs often face daunting challenges to deliver content to their audience, and traditional publishing arrangements aren’t always scaled to their needs. To provide independent, non-profit journal publishers with a more flexible, coordinated alternative, Westchester, Scholastica, and the Scholarly Publishing Collective have developed an alliance that offers connected support across the publishing lifecycle. Independent journal publishers or academic societies can select options provided by any or all of the entities, including Scholastica’s peer review and publishing technology, Westchester’s editorial and production expertise, and the Scholarly Publishing Collective’s hosting, fulfillment, and sales capabilities.

You can learn more about the Allied Journal Publishing Solutions in this information sheet, or contact any one of the participating organizations to explore how it may benefit your program. You can also connect with us at the Society for Scholarly Publishing and the AUP conferences, where we’d love to meet with you and discuss ways we can resolve your publication challenges. If you won’t be at those shows but want to see if this is the solution your journal program has been searching for, let’s talk.

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

Conference panelists seated on the stage for session about accessibility in publishingAttending the PCPA 2026 conference on behalf of Westchester Publishing Services was an energizing and rewarding experience. From the opening plenary through the closing sessions, the event delivered thoughtful, practical content that spoke directly to the opportunities and challenges facing publishers today. 

One of the biggest takeaways was the strength of the programming. The keynote sessions offered a solid mix of strategy, innovation, and real-world application, especially around artificial intelligence, accessibility, and discoverability. I was especially glad to take part in the accessibility panel, where I had the opportunity to moderate a meaningful discussion on how publishers can better serve more people through inclusive content and technology. It was encouraging to see how much momentum there is around making publishing more accessible, sustainable, and audience-focused. 

The workshop lineup also reinforced just how much our industry is evolving. Sessions on AI tools for publishing operations, accessibility best practices, metadata, translation, and digital marketing all offered practical insights that attendees could take back to their organizations right away. The content was consistently strong, relevant, and well delivered, making it clear that this conference was designed to provide real value rather than just high-level talking points. 

Just as valuable as the sessions themselves was the opportunity to connect with so many partners, clients, and colleagues across the publishing community. Those conversations in the hallways, during networking breaks, and on the exhibit floor were a highlight of the event. It was a great chance to strengthen existing relationships, make new connections, and hear firsthand about the priorities and challenges others are navigating. 

We’re proud that Westchester Publishing Services was part of this year’s conference, and we left feeling inspired by both the quality of the content and the incredible people who make this industry so collaborative and forward-looking. 

by Alli DeMan, Account Manager

young woman with short blonde hair standing behind a conference table and next to a rollup banner.I recently attended PCPA (Protestant Church Publishers Association) 2026, and as possibly the youngest attendee of the conference, I found myself returning often to a central theme of how publishers can better understand and reach people in my age group.

During formal sessions, in side conversations, and in the broader atmosphere of the conference, it was acknowledged that this generation is searching for community, connection, and belonging, with many of us finding this through religion.

Our life is shaped by technology, which may explain why we are drawn to religious spaces. For faith-based publishers who want to reach members of Gen Z, it helps to understand that many readers in this age group engage with religion differently than previous generations. There is strong interest in doctrine as well as the spiritual, philosophical, and exploratory dimensions of faith. Books examining these questions thoughtfully and openly, or that connect religion to culture, art, music, and everyday life, may resonate more strongly with younger adults.

I was particularly struck by the perspectives of Keith Reigert, Fauzia Burke, and Valarie Guagnini, who helped frame these concepts within the larger work of publishing during separate sessions at the conference.

The keynote “Practical AI for Publishers”, included Keith, founder of Stable Book Group, who I first heard at a session he presented about AI during the NYU Summer Publishing Institute program. It was both intriguing and thought provoking to hear how leaders in the industry think about AI, with opinions ranging from a human-focused AI model to more technology forward thinking. As people become more reliant on AI for what they write, think, and feel, I believe the publishing industry needs to promote these conversations. It was great to reconnect with Keith at PCPA and his excitement and passion for the future of the industry were infectious, leaving me inspired to embrace the future of technology.

My colleague, Tyler Carey, moderated the second keynote session “Accessible Publishing to Serve More People”. Valarie Guagnini, Cambridge University’s Head of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, was one of the panelists, and she brings a unique perspective to the topics of accessibility, faith, and human-first based AI thought.  During the discussion, she shared that accessibility shouldn’t be viewed as a checklist of tasks to complete, but as an opportunity to love thy neighbor. This resonated strongly with me and I’m sure with many of the other attendees.

A few weeks prior to the conference I also participated in a webinar hosted by PCPA, “How Christian Publishers Can Reach Gen Z”, which discussed some of the ideas that were further expanded on during the conference. That consistency stood out to me, with the same underlying message being shared across both the webinar and the conference: Publishers who want to connect with Gen Z need to do so with nuance and authenticity. For me, the takeaway from PCPA was not that publishers need to chase trends, but that they need to better understand a generation who are asking serious questions about identity, meaning, creativity, and belonging.

A group of colleagues standing inside a trade show booth for Westchester Publishing Services and Westchester EducationThe Westchester team – with representation from our offices in the US, UK, and India – had a very busy London Book Fair. The Olympia, for all of its pros and cons, has been a hub for our industry for over a decade, and it will be a culture shock to shift to the Excel next year. (For a look back on that, please check out this LinkedIn post.)

Publishers Weekly and The Bookseller did fantastic jobs with their coverage of the Fair. Key topics that the attendees were discussing were AI (for and against), accessibility (with a phenomenal session moderated by Simon Mellins including publishing experts like Princeton University Press’ Cathy Felgar), print on demand, and global disruptions to our industry. The above linked articles do a good job showing what was being discussed in panels and on the floor, and I encourage you to check out their coverage.

For this final year at Olympia, what was on publishers’ minds? We met with over 60 publishers and these were the top topics:

  • Accessibility – While many publishers may feel they’ve heard it all about accessibility at this point, the adoption of ADA Title II, and its expected impact on library acquisitions in the US provided an opportunity to reaffirm workflow decisions, talk about their backlists and what they may wish to do to ensure futureproofing their files, including the potential AI offers to address alt text and language shift tagging needs.
  • AI – As a recent PwC commercial represented, it sure does feel like everybody’s trying to wedge ‘AI’ into their product descriptions and solutions the way everyone said ‘blockchain’ about 8 years ago or ‘AR/VR’ about 10 years ago. That being said, one publisher caught some flak for saying that AI is a worker skill that we can’t ignore (see PW article above), and they’re not wrong. As an industry we have every right to be concerned about AI due to the lawsuits against Gen AI platforms that enthusiastically abused publishers’ intellectual property. But, learning and – where appropriate – putting into practice AI skills in the workplace will be our industry’s competitive gap as compared to other media verticals like recording, film, and journalism that have in some cases advanced the use of non-content-led AI within their workplace. Comparing documents from business partners, answering questions (with attribution) regarding complex topics, doing market analysis, and more are business needs that any business has. Our discussions around AI have emphasized that Westchester is not using AI on client content with the exception of cases where clients want us to use it – and have signed contracts to do so – to support tasks like crafting alt text. This PW interview with our CEO, Deb Taylor, talks about how AI can be powerful when used with appropriate consent and human review, but not as a catch all to all problems or needs. Our discussions with clients and prospects seemed to echo this – a cautious enthusiasm but the need to have trust, transparency, and a human in the loop. I’m very curious to see how the industry has progressed on this topic by the time of next year’s London Book Fair.
  • Speed to Market – Driven by our ability to help publishers like Zando and Sourcebooks edit and typeset their pick ups and key titles quickly, we saw a number of publishers identifying use cases where upcoming books may only have weeks instead of months to move from the copyediting stage to printer files. Several of our discussions focused on the specialized workflows Westchester has developed to help move important titles on your list into the market quickly.
  • Sustainability – Likely driven by our launch of Sustainable Typesetting® – in partnership with 2K/Denmark – we had many discussions about how we can help publishers take extra-long titles and reduce the page count by 20%, meaning less paper required for printing, less weight for freight, and other practical savings across a book’s life cycle, while also supporting the sustainability initiatives many of our clients are pursuing.
  • Journal Programs – Increasingly, our society and university press clients are acquiring journals that need varying levels of support, from as far upstream as peer review through to our copyediting and production offerings and then to digital distribution, sales, and more. We’ll be announcing a new set of services at the Council of Science Editors (CSE) conference in a few weeks, but if you are publishing journals and need to evaluate different service levels or needs, please reach out.
  • Repurposing Backlist Content – This was especially interesting to our education clients. Many educational content providers – especially those serving the library market – see topical opportunities arise for state adoption, general interest library sales, and more, but acquiring or packaging new titles to support those needs can be cost prohibitive depending on the market opportunity. Never fear, Westchester has a great, cost-effective solution. We are increasingly helping our educational partners take backlist titles – in some cases deep backlist titles – and updating them as new editions with new covers, updated interior text, new art, and more, all resulting in quick-to-market printer files and accessible EPUBs. This approach generated a great deal of interest from our partners, as a way to support expanding their lists without the large expenditure.
  • How to Get it All Done – Lastly, for many of the publishers we met, they are trying to get more books done without raising headcount. Seasonal spikes don’t always translate to continued productivity throughout the year, so many of our discussions revolved around how we can help publishers manage those peaks by providing project management, copyediting, design, production, and accessible digital services for titles where adding staff is difficult to justify. We work with many publishers where we augment their capacity during busy seasons, and are open to exploring these kinds of solutions with you, using staff from our US, UK, and India offices, based on a book’s needs and budget.

Which of the above topics are affecting you the most? Contact Us to discuss how we can help. And we’ll see you on the conference circuit this year at PCPA, CSE, AUP, and more!

On Wednesday, May 21, Westchester Publishing Services sponsored the IPG Summer Summit virtual event. The day featured several sessions covering tariffs, metadata, marketing, and accessibility. A full day, indeed!

Westchester’s Chief Revenue Officer Tyler Carey moderated the panel on accessibility, which featured panelists Julie Willis (Editorial Director and Systems Lead from Westchester, speaking on behalf of an absent client), Eileen Reilly (Digital Production Manager at Princeton University Press), and Michael Johnson (Vice President of Content from Benetech).

The IPG will be sharing the slides and video shortly, and we’ll update this blog post with those assets once they are available. But in the interim, here are the key topics that were covered:

  • The EAA deadline is approaching fast – June 28, 2025!
  • Julie and Eileen talked about the steps that two IPG-member presses are taking to prepare, including:
    • Evaluating all of the titles in your backlist in your ONIX feed and sales data, with a consideration towards remediation costs in mind. Titles that have high sales volume are being remediated first, but documenting decisions and future plans by title is also important. If a title is challenged for inaccessibility, being able to provide documentation regarding the accessibility plan for that title is a strategy that some publishers are taking to minimise risk.
    • Setting up author guidelines for the creation of alt text – like these ones on Princeton University Press’ site – is a key step to bringing accessibility into the process early on a frontlist title, and giving authors agency to write or influence the alt text of their content. Julie talked about the importance of this – especially on academic titles that go through peer review – as the author holds responsibility for the content in many cases.
    • Joining PAAG, DAISY, and Benetech’s GCA program, so that you have access to up-to-date information on accessibility practices and legislation.
  • Michael shared Benetech’s approach to accessibility, and answered questions on topics including:
    • Alt text – Michael shared guidance on the different needs for different use cases for an image. An image of the Eiffel Tower in a cookbook on crêpes might be decorative, and could be labelled as such. In a travel guide for Paris the same image might merit a description of the Eiffel Tower for a reader having the text read aloud to them. For a book on engineering, the same image might bear an alt text entry about its construction from iron instead of steel, augmenting what is in the text through a description of the Eiffel Tower’s structure itself.
    • Language shift tagging – this topic has been coming up more and more often for publishers exploring the requirements for WCAG AA standards, as they try to get ahead of the baseline level A standards inferred to be required for the EAA. Michael talked to how casual use terms and place names do not need to be tagged, but passages and alternating dialogue in different languages, as examples, should be tagged.
  • Lastly, best practices to really understand and embrace accessibility were discussed, including the recommendation to download Thorium or another accessible reading software, so that you can have your EPUB files read aloud to you to better understand the end user’s experience. Between this process and auditing ACE by DAISY reports on your titles, you will be better equipped to have quality accessible EPUB files that don’t just meet standards but also address the needs of end users.

Stay tuned for more accessibility information from Westchester, and please do visit our online repository of accessibility information, including this white paper.