Gdynia Maritime University GMU

‘How to gain the reader’s interest’, ‘Communication through pictures in marketing at higher education institutions’, ‘Publishing good practices’, and ‘Challenges facing editors and publishers in the digital world’  – these were the main topics explored at the 31st Conference for the Editors of Academic Publications and University Websites. Organised by the Lubin University of Technology, attendees at the Conference were also able to visit the University’s Science and Technology Information Centre and Pollub.tv television studios.

Held over four days (11-14 September 2024) in Kazimierz Dolny, the event included workshops, lectures, and discussions, which were attended by representatives of more than 20 Polish centres of higher education. Publishing good practices were discussed using the case study journals and scientific monographs published by Lublin University of Technology Publishing. These touched on the vicious circle Universities and other academic centres fall into when attempting to improve the ranking of their scientific journals. Also mentioned during the debates was the creation of online open-access university bookstores with delivery services for books and textbooks.

Gdynia Maritime University was represented at the Conference by the Editor-in-Chief of the University’s news bulletin, the ‘Maritime Courier’, Małgorzata Sokołowska, and the Editor of the GMU website, Beata von Schada Borzyszkowska.

The University is proud of its student online television network, which has now been on air for three years and benefits from a professional studio. It also runs a new (1st-cycle) degree in multimedia engineering, at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.

Conferences for editors of academic journals and university websites have been held for more than 30 years. The first event, entitled ‘Confrontations of Academic Newspapers’, was organised by Dr Tadeusz Zaleski at Gdansk University in 1993 - the author and first editor of the ‘University Gazette’, former University of Gdansk press officer, the initiator of the Baltic Science Festival, and the plenipotentiary of the Council of Rectors of the Pomerania for the Baltic Science Festival.

Events have also been hosted in Toruń, Wrocław, Częstochowa, Poznań, Opole, Kraków, Płock, Gdańsk z Gdynią, Zamość, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Warszawa, Białystok, and Kalisz. The Lublin University of Technology has organised the conference on two previous occasions, in 1996 and 2017. The fact that editors of academic journals and university portals have been meeting for so many years to exchange experiences on best practices and share inspirational ideas shows how much such conferences are needed.