American Physical Society Appoints Rachel Burley Chief Publications Officer

COLLEGE PARK, MD, August 22, 2022 — The American Physical Society (APS), publisher of the prestigious Physical Review journals, has appointed Rachel Burley as its first Chief Publications Officer (CPO). In this new role, Burley will manage more than a dozen leading peer-reviewed journals.

“I am delighted to welcome Rachel to the American Physical Society as our inaugural CPO,” said APS CEO Jonathan Bagger, who chaired the search committee. “Rachel impressed us with her industry knowledge, proven leadership, and commitment to the values we hold dear in the physics community.”

Burley is a seasoned publishing executive, with more than 20 years experience leading operations, marketing, and journal development for major scholarly publishers. She most recently served as President of the Research Square Company, where she led an international team of 280 scientists, researchers, language experts, software developers, and publishing professionals providing editing and preprint services. She previously held Vice President and Publishing Director roles at Springer Nature, Wiley, and Nature Publishing Group.

“Scientific publishing is evolving and APS has a critical role to play in meeting the needs of physicists globally,” said Burley. “I'm excited to work with my new colleagues to build on the excellence of Physical Review and identify opportunities to advance scientific discovery and research dissemination in the physical sciences.”

Throughout her career, Burley has embraced and delivered on the transition from subscription-based publishing model to open access (OA) publishing. She was instrumental in expanding open-access pioneer BioMed Central’s scope by launching new journals covering the physics and chemistry disciplines. At Wiley, she led the launch of Wiley Open Access and developed strategic partnerships to grow the publisher's OA portfolio.

“Rachel is an innovative leader, fully committed to open science and developing the platforms and services researchers need to do their best work,” said Jeffrey Nico, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who participated in the CPO search as chair of the APS Committee on Scientific Publications. “I am confident that she will be a dedicated steward of our journals, ensuring they can continue to advance physics for years to come.”