February 10, 2026 The Rosenblum Award Committee is delighted to announce that the 2026 Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact has been awarded to Digital Preservation of the Scholarly Record. This joint collaboration by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), and the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM), celebrates innovations that have transformed scholarly publishing, and is now in its second year.
Digital preservation ensures that researchers, now and in the future, have reliable access to the full breadth of scholarly literature, providing a crucial safeguard against the loss of information due to technological obsolescence over time, infrastructure failure, publisher cessation, or other catastrophic events. As research builds upon the work that came before, the ongoing availability of the scholarly record is essential for progress and integrity in scholarship. Today, a robust and diverse ecosystem of digital preservation services and technical solutions underpins this mission, providing redundancy and resilience for the global research community.
The Rosenblum Award, established in memory of Bruce Rosenblum, recognizes technologies, infrastructure, standards, or practices that have become indispensable to scholarly publishing. Rather than honoring individuals or organizations, the Award highlights transformative innovations that have shaped the scholarly ecosystem and continue to inspire progress.
Why the Digital Preservation of the Scholarly Record was selected
Digital preservation is the invisible infrastructure that makes scholarly communication possible for generations to come. This year’s award recognizes the collaborative achievements of libraries, publishers, technologists, and preservationists who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the scholarly record remains accessible, reliable, and secure.
The need for digital preservation became a specific focus of the academic library community in the late 1990s, as the transition from print to digital publishing raised new challenges for long-term access. Libraries, publishers, and preservation services have since developed best practices and sustainable models to safeguard digital literature at scale. Today, organizations across the ecosystem play a vital role in preserving millions of scholarly articles, books, supplementary content and datasets.
Despite significant progress, challenges remain. New forms of scholarship, such as dynamic web-based content, research data, software, and gray literature, require ongoing attention to ensure their preservation. The Rosenblum Award Committee will be conducting interviews with leaders and innovators in digital preservation, and a video capturing their insights will be released later this year.
For press and media inquiries, please contact Bill Kasdorf.
Quotations can be taken directly from the Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact announcement video, which features Caroline Sutton, CEO of STM; Melanie Dolechek, Executive Director of SSP; Peter Berkery, Executive Director of AUPresses; Todd Carpenter, Executive Director of NISO; and Wayne Sime, CEO of ALPSP.
Notes for Editors
Quotations can be taken directly from the Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact announcement video, which features Caroline Sutton, CEO of STM; Melanie Dolechek, Executive Director of SSP; Peter Berkery, Executive Director of AUPresses; Todd Carpenter, Executive Director of NISO; and Wayne Sime, CEO of ALPSP.
About The Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact
The Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact honors the memory of Bruce Rosenblum and recognizes infrastructure-level contributions that have become essential to the scholarly ecosystem, innovations that enable collaboration, interoperability, and trust across the global research community. The 2025 Rosenblum Award recognized the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for Scholarly Publishing. A video featuring community voices on digital preservation will be released later in 2026.
The Rosenblum Award Governance Committee
The Award Governance Committee is made up of the leadership of the five organizations, responsible for overall management:
- ALPSP: Wayne Sime, CEO
- AUPresses: Peter Berkery, Executive Director
- NISO: Todd Carpenter, Executive Director
- SSP: Melanie Dolecheck, Executive Director
- STM: Caroline Sutton, CEO
The Rosenblum Award Committee
The Award Committee consists of representatives from each of the five organizations, designated for their deep expertise and tasked with operational planning, recipient selection, and promotion:
- ALPSP: Lou Peck and Louise Russell
- AUPresses: Charles Watkinson
- NISO: Mary Beth Barilla and Todd Carpenter
- SSP: Yael Fitzpatrick and Judy Hum-Delaney
- STM: IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg and Craig Van Dyck
Facilitation
Bill Kasdorf serves as a neutral facilitator of both committees. For more information, visit www.rosenblumaward.org or discover the announcement video at https://youtu.be/q-It5jSun7U.