The Situation

The American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) had a time-sensitive requirement to change the business model of their flagship journal, HortTechnology, from a subscription to an Open Access (OA) model, with a hard launch date of January 1, 2019.

In addition, ASHS needed to migrate and launch two other subscription journals, HortScience and Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, by the end of January 2019.

When the migration to PubFactory began, it was already early October; this left only six weeks in which to complete both projects.

The decision to relaunch our journals on PubFactory was made with confidence, as it allowed us to extend and expand our long-term relationship with Sheridan. There were risks involved, especially with our very compressed timeframe to relaunch HortTechnology on PubFactory. It was a critical period for ASHS, with long-term impact on our future. Sheridan was the partner we had great trust in to lead us through the strategic transition from one platform to another while also flipping HortTechnology from a subscription journal to an OA journal.

Michael Neff
Executive Director of ASHS

The Solution

We always remind publishers that challenges will inevitably arise during our work together. What’s most important is how we manage and resolve challenges together. It’s the greatest determinant of our shared success.

José Fossi
Vice President of Client Services for Sheridan PubFactory

With this in mind, the ASHS team and the Sheridan PubFactory team formulated a strict timeline and project plan detailing the actions required by both sides.

To that end, ASHS provided preliminary guidance in three critical areas:

• Branding
• Design and content presentation preferences
• ASHS member community needs

During preparatory sessions, ASHS agreed to grant the Sheridan PubFactory team nearly full autonomy in making platform implementation decisions. This allowed Sheridan PubFactory to develop a functioning version of the platform for ASHS to respond to within two weeks of project kickoff.

We worked together to find the most cost-efficient solutions that would keep the project on schedule. The project with ASHS was a model of successful collaboration, always having a view to meeting the needs of ASHS and its members.

José Fossi
Vice President of Client Services for Sheridan PubFactory

• Both teams―ASHS and Sheridan PubFactory―had a strong foundation of trust upon which to build.
• From the outset, the Sheridan PubFactory team had a deep understanding of ASHS’ content needs and business requirements.
• A typically complicated migration task―migration of subscription data―was eliminated because it was already managed in-house by Sheridan Journal Services.

The Results

On January 1, 2019, ASHS launched HortTechnology on schedule as an OA journal on the PubFactory platform.

Three weeks later, on January 22, ASHS launched their other two journals, HortScience and Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, on the same PubFactory platform.

Despite the short schedule, all of the migration—as well as the transition of HortTechnology from a subscription to an Open Access model—was achieved on or ahead of schedule. We are especially pleased with all of the Sheridan teams we work alongside every day.

Tracy Shawn
Assistant Executive Director, leader of the ASHS transition team

American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS)