What Alpsp does

ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) is the international trade association supporting not-for-profit organizations that publish scholarly and professional content, including learned societies, university presses, and academic publishers. It serves as a membership-based community platform connecting approximately 1,000 participants across Special Interest Groups covering topics from AI in publishing to open access and production operations. Its core services span a peer-reviewed journal (Learned Publishing), monthly Alert newsletter, quarterly Policy Bulletin, virtual and in-person training courses, an annual conference and awards ceremony, a mentorship scheme, a jobs board, and curated resources and toolkits.

ALPSP generates revenue through four primary streams: recurring membership fees (tiered by staff count and LIC/LMIC country classification with discounts up to 65%), professional training programs (£275-£715+ VAT per course depending on member status and timing), conference and event ticket sales (from £825 for the annual conference), and sponsorship packages targeted at vendors and B2B partners serving the scholarly publishing sector. Its technology stack is modest: a TYPO3 content management system designed and maintained by Liquid Light, with no proprietary software products, APIs, or applications. The organization is governed by a board of directors, operates as a UK-registered nonprofit, and has no parent company, venture capital, or private equity ownership.

Name

Alpsp

Legal name

Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers

Website

https://alpsp.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2026

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ALPSP is a UK-based international trade association supporting not-for-profit scholarly and professional publishers through membership, training, conferences, awards, mentorship, and community resources connecting nearly 1,000 industry participants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Watford

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: Annual membership fees for organizations in the scholarly publishing community, with tiered pricing and significant discounts for organizations in Low Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LIC/LMIC) based on staff count.
2. Training Programs: Virtual training workshops, on-demand training, and in-house training delivered by publishers for publishers. Revenue generated through course fees ranging from £275-£715+ VAT depending on course type and membership status.
3. Conference & Events: Annual conference and awards, UP Redux events, in-person seminars, and webinars. Revenue from ticket sales and sponsorship packages.
4. Sponsorship: Sponsorship packages available for the ALPSP community to benefit ALPSP members, offering visibility opportunities for vendors and B2B partners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ALPSP is an international trade association that supports not-for-profit organizations publishing scholarly and professional content. Its core offerings include annual organizational membership, a multi-format training program (virtual, on-demand and in-house) devised and delivered by publishers for publishers, an annual conference and awards program, peer-reviewed publications (the Learned Publishing journal, ALPSP Alert newsletter and Policy Bulletin), a jobs board, mentorship scheme, special interest groups, and curated industry resources/toolkits.

Product overview

ALPSP is a trade association offering membership services, training, events, publications, and professional resources for not-for-profit scholarly publishers. The organization provides virtual and in-person training courses, conferences and awards, a member directory, peer-reviewed journals (Learned Publishing), newsletters (ALPSP Alert), careers resources, mentorship programs, and special interest groups—all designed to support and connect the scholarly publishing community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ALPSP Membership Annual organizational membership for not-for-profit scholarly publishers and those who work with them, providing access to training discounts, member directory listing, webinars, policy bulletin, mentorship, jobs board posting, special interest groups, and industry resources.
• ALPSP Training Program Training courses covering commissioning, publication ethics, journal publishing, open access, project management, marketing and other scholarly publishing topics, delivered as live online workshops, on-demand self-paced courses, and tailored in-house sessions for member organizations.
• ALPSP Annual Conference and Awards Flagship in-person annual conference bringing together scholarly publishing professionals, paired with the ALPSP Awards program recognizing innovation, impact, rising stars and contribution to scholarly publishing.
• UP Redux Conference Conference and networking event focused on university press publishing within the ALPSP community.
• Learned Publishing Journal ALPSP's peer-reviewed journal providing scholarly articles on publishing topics, available to members and non-members.
• ALPSP Alert Newsletter and Policy Bulletin Free monthly ALPSP Alert newsletter and quarterly member-only Policy Bulletin delivering updates on international policy, legislation and practices impacting the scholarly publishing industry.
• Webinars Live and on-demand webinars featuring expert speakers discussing key issues in scholarly publishing, with member-only webinars available free to ALPSP members.
• ALPSP Jobs Board Online platform listing vacancies from ALPSP members and non-members in the scholarly publishing community, with free job postings for members and a job alert subscription service.
• Mentorship Scheme International mentorship scheme sponsored by PLS that connects mentors and mentees in scholarly publishing, available free to ALPSP members.
• Special Interest Groups (SIGs) Special interest groups including University Press Group, AI SIG, Open Peer Review, Library Publishing, Open Access Books, Marketing groups, and Production & Publishing Operations, engaging nearly 1,000 participants across the scholarly publishing community.
• Resources & Toolkits Curated industry resources including Open Access Resources, SDGs and Publishing Resources, and an EDI toolkit supporting the scholarly publishing community.
• Careers Hub Centralized collection of career resources for the scholarly publishing community, combining the jobs board, mentorship scheme, educational videos, and a redundancy support package.
• In-House Training Tailored in-house training delivered to members worldwide, run virtually via Zoom or in-person at member offices with a minimum of five delegates.
• Sponsorship Packages Sponsorship packages providing visibility opportunities for vendors and B2B partners serving the scholarly publishing community, with associated conference and event benefits.

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Liquid LightminorOthersLiquid Light is an award-winning digital agency with over 25 years of experience that designed, developed, and maintains the ALPSP website. They specialize in creating websites for membership organisations and associations, providing enterprise-class content management systems.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP): SSP is a North-American based membership organization for scholarly publishing professionals offering conferences, training, and networking. It competes most directly with ALPSP in scope and audience, serving similar functions for scholarly publishing community members.
• OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association): OASPA represents open access publishers and provides standards, advocacy, and member services. It overlaps with ALPSP's Open Access Books and Open Peer Review SIGs, addressing many of the same not-for-profit and mission-driven OA publishers.
• Association of University Presses (AUPresses): AUPresses is a membership association of university presses offering conferences, training, and shared resources. Its university press focus closely mirrors ALPSP's University Press Group SIG and serves a substantially overlapping institutional audience.

Broad incumbents

• Publishers Association (UK): The Publishers Association is the UK trade body for book and journal publishers. While broader in scope (encompassing commercial publishers), it shares ALPSP's UK domicile and overlapping advocacy role on policy and legislative matters affecting scholarly publishing.
• STM Association (International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers): STM is a larger international trade association serving STM publishers with training, advocacy, and conferences. It overlaps directly with ALPSP in training and policy advocacy but serves a broader (STM-focused) member base and operates at greater scale.

Emerging players

• INASP (International Network for the Advancement of Scientific Publishing): INASP supports scholarly publishing capacity in low- and middle-income countries. Its mission aligns with ALPSP's LIC/LMIC discount strategy and International Journal Course Asia, serving a partially overlapping audience of emerging-market publishers.
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): COPE provides ethics guidance, membership, and training for editors and publishers. Its publication ethics training directly overlaps with ALPSP's 'Introduction to Publication Ethics in Scholarly Publishing' course, making it a peer in adjacent professional services.
• Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ): CELJ is a smaller professional organization for journal editors offering networking and resources. It addresses a subset of ALPSP's member audience (learned journal editors), with overlapping training and community functions.
• Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP): SfEP is a UK-based professional organization for editors and proofreaders. While focused on editorial practice rather than publishing strategy, it competes for the same professional training wallet within the broader scholarly communications workforce.

Regional players

• European Association of Science Editors (EASE): EASE is an European membership association for science editors offering training, resources, and conferences. It overlaps with ALPSP's training portfolio and member base, but with a primarily European editorial rather than publisher orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/alpsp
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCot-NVcjpNRFHx_hcvlGEcg
• Facebookfacebook.com/ALPSP.Community
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/4231454

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Alpsp