FORCE11 is an international coalition of researchers, librarians, publishers and research funders working to reform or enhance the research publishing and communication system. The group began in 2011 (hence the name!) as a meeting of interested people called ‘Beyond the pdf’, which was looking at the changing nature of scholarly publishing. This then grew into FORCE – the Future of Research Communications and eScholarship.

FORCE11 has hosted an annual conference since 2011, a number of working groups that have advanced transformative initiatives in our community, and hosted educational programs, such as the FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute (FSCI).  FORCE11 has created meaningful best practice guidance for Data Citation Principles, the FAIR Data Sharing Principles, software citations, the Researcher Bill of Rights and many others.  FORCE11 is driven by the passion and commitment of the members of our community, who span the research, publishing, library, and software communities that support scholarly communications.

With a brand new website and a refreshed committee structure, we are ready to welcome a wider community into FORCE11’s work, FORCE11 is now ready to continue its second decade of work. 

We need you!

It takes a village – indeed an entire global community – to build and maintain such a wide range of activities and community. All of our active members not only benefit our community, but also are building their skills. By joining our community you can develop skills and gain experience to help you in your current position, or to help you land the job you have your eye on.  Becoming an active contributor to FORCE11 is a way to progress your career in a demonstrable way.

Interested? Have a look below at some of the activities you can be part of, and fill in this form.  A member of the FORCE11 Board of Directors will get in touch to follow up.

Current activities

FORCE11 is governed by a Board of Directors who volunteer their time for a three year term. Our two main activities are the FORCE11 annual conference, held in December  and the FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute (FSCI), held in July. In addition we have Working Groups, we run Community Calls and regularly publish material on the Upstream blog. There’s a lot going on!

The work of the organisation is distributed across multiple committees. More information about the committees is on the FORCE11 goverance pages. Generally by becoming a member of a committee you will attend regular meetings, and contribute to work of the committee outside of that time. View the committee lists and more details here.