Wiley, one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in scientific research and career-connected education, today announced that Dr. Ralf Schimmer, a leading voice in the open science movement, has joined the company to work on government affairs, public policy and thought leadership. Based in Munich, Dr. Schimmer will report into Jessica Sebeok, Wiley’s Vice President for Government Partnerships & Public Policy.
Previously, Dr. Schimmer served as Director of Scientific Information at the Max Planck Digital Library, where he led the organization’s strategy for more than two decades and played a significant role in driving Germany’s leadership in open access. In his new role, Dr. Schimmer will work with a range of stakeholders to inform policy and direction in Wiley’s ongoing transition to open access, lead strategy workshops with partners and customers, run thought leadership events from Wiley’s Innovation Lab in Berlin, and support Wiley in building, expanding, and maintaining relations with government and other policymakers.
“In order to deliver on the promise of open research, effective collaboration and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders is required. I look forward to drawing upon my deep expertise within the library community to help advance this work at Wiley,” said Dr. Schimmer. “I am excited about this opportunity to continue engaging policymakers, partners, funders, learned societies and others who are working to deliver scholarly publishing services that enable and facilitate the trustworthy dissemination of scientific research and advance the global scientific enterprise.”
“We’re extremely fortunate to have such visionary, world-class leaders like Ralf at Wiley, and this appointment will help us continue to play a leading role in scholarly communications and open science in the years to come,” said Jay Flynn, Wiley Executive Vice President and General Manager, Research. “So much of what we do at Wiley requires dedicated and ongoing engagement with government and regulatory stakeholders to advance outcomes for the thousands of individuals and institutions we serve across the globe.”
This news builds on Wiley’s continued momentum in open access, having signed or extended eight open access agreements so far this year. More information on Dr. Schimmer is available on The Wiley Network.