Dr Haseeb Irfanullah

My relationship with scholarly publishing started in 1998 when I published my first peer-reviewed article in the Bangladesh Journal of Plant Taxonomy as a master’s student of Botany. I became the first Executive Editor of this journal in 2006 and led the process of its inclusion in the Journal Citation Reports.

Although I have never been a regular faculty at an academic institution, my co-workers and I have so far published 43 journal articles; have authored, edited and contributed to more than 55 books and other publications; and have written about 155 articles and thought pieces on diverse topics — from freshwater ecosystems to climate change to poverty-technology link to wildlife conservation, and of course, to research communication. I have also reviewed manuscripts for 32 peer-reviewed journals from various disciplines.

Currently, I am an Associate Editor (2022−) of ALPSP’s Learned Publishing; Advisory Panel Member of Crisis Response Journal (2021−); and Editorial Board member of Trends in Scholarly Publishing (2022−, of ACSE/UAE), of Bangladesh Journal of Plant Taxonomy (2016−; 2010−2014, of BAPT/Bangladesh), and was on the board of APN Science Bulletin (2017−2019, of APN/Japan).

 I am a member of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP)’s Scholarly Kitchen Cabinet (the advisory board of The Scholarly Kitchen) (2020−), Audit Committee (2021―), and was a member of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (2020−2021). I am also an Associate, AuthorAID Steward, and Strategic Advisor of INASP (International Network for Advancing Science and Policy), an Oxford-based charity.

I have actively been involved in organizing several initiatives in recent years. For example, I was a member of the planning team of the celebration of 50^th anniversary of the ALPSP (2021−2022) and a judge of the ‘ALPSP Awards for Innovation in Publishing 2022’. I have been a member of the Advisory Board of the R2R Conference 2022 and 2023. I was also a producer of the lightning talks and a co-facilitator of a hybrid workshop (Global Access to Publication) at the R2R Conference 2022; a co-organiser of ‘Inspiring Global Collaboration’ hybrid session at the 44^th Annual Meeting of the SSP (2022); and a co-convenor of INASP-led virtual ‘Unleashing Southern Research Leadership with Technology’ session at the ‘DSA2020: New Leadership for Global Challenges’ (2020).

I have been a mentor of the mentoring programmes of the SSP (2019−), the AuthorAID/INASP (2009―), the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (2017−), The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) (2021―2022), and the Gobeshona Young Researcher Programme/USAID (2015―2017). In 2022, I was the course facilitator of INASP’s ‘Editorial Processes for Journal Editors’ online course with modules on publication ethics, copyright & licensing, and indexing & increasing impact.

In 2019, I became the first Chef of The Scholarly Kitchen outside the USA and Europe. I have been highlighting views, developments and opportunities around sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); climate change and resilience; Global North-Global South divide; and Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA), among others, in relation to academic publishing.

I have also been sharing my views at different forums on issues defining the evolution of scholarly publishing industry: the future of research, copyright, equity, sustainability, and researcher-publisher relationships (SSP 2020-2022); peer-review identity and preprints (EASE 2021); equity in Open Science (C4DISC 2021; DST-CPR/Indian Institute of Science 2022), in Open Access (APE 2021; CCS/India 2022; Asian Council of Science Editors 2022), in Open Research (Wiley 2021); IDEA (R2R Conference 2022; STM, LLEA & GYA 2022); ethics in research communication (NISO Plus 2022; R4L/Taylor & Francis 2022); the SDGs, data & development (Cornell University Library/IFLA 2019; IFRRO/CCC 2019; De Gruyter 2022); ecological footprint (ISMTE 2022); and resilience of scholarly publishing (ALPSP/CCC 2021).

For my contributions to the SSP and the scholarly publishing, I received SSP’s ‘2022 Appreciation Award’ on 2 June 2022.

I very much appreciate EASE’s vision and commitment to building awareness, knowledge and capacity of its members in terms of, for example, editorial skills, publishing ethics, peer-review system, changing publishing landscape, gender, IDEA, the SDGs, and environmental obligations through its Special Interest Committees, Regional Chapters, publications, events, and networking. As a scholarly publishing enthusiast, I strongly believe that by being a member of the EASE Council (2023-2025), I will be able to actively contribute to the EASE’s mission in a rapidly transforming scholarly publishing ecosystem.

Career summary

Independent Consultant − Environment, Climate Change, & Research System

Over the past 23 years, Dr Haseeb Irfanullah has evolved from being an algal taxonomist to an aquatic ecologist, from a conservationist to a development facilitator. At the current stage of his evolution, he finds his niche in nature-people-knowledge nexus. Over these years, he has developed interest in and understanding of nature-based solutions, environmental governance, climate change adaptation, technology for poverty alleviation, scholarly communication, and research impact — all focusing on human well-being.

Haseeb has worked for and has been associated with different national and international environmental, development, learned, and research organisations [including British Council, US Embassy (of Bangladesh) INASP, The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), University of Oxford, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC), and ALPSP (of the UK), Society for Scholarly Publishing (of the USA), and APN (of Japan)], donors (ADB & FCDO/DFID) and his Government’s agencies in different capacities.

Haseeb is associated with many peer-reviewed journals, learned societies, funding agencies, and knowledge and professional networks. He helps his organisations with strategic direction and expert opinion; influencing policy and practice; planning, managing and ensuring quality of programmes; and fundraising and financial management. He also brings in expertise in creating, capturing and communicating knowledge; testing and promoting new ideas; and facilitating collaboration and network. He and his co-workers have so far published 43 journal articles; have authored, edited and contributed to more than 55 books and other publications; and have written about 155 articles and thought pieces on diverse topics — from freshwater ecosystems to climate change adaptation to poverty-technology link to wildlife conservation to research communication. As a research enthusiast, he often works with researchers, journal editors, and pertinent national and international agencies for improving research system. Haseeb has a PhD in aquatic ecology from the University of Liverpool, UK.

Read Haseeb’s CV

Conflict of Interest declaration