Robert Harington

As I sit at my desk here at the American Mathematical Society (AMS) offices in Providence, RI, I am having a slow moment. I see the urgent calls to the Government to stop destroying science in the USA. I see the rush to hop on new business model bandwagons in a bid to be the coolest on the block. I see the hype and reality of AI invade our publishing thoughts from sunrise to dusk.

In May, the US Government’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released proposed changes to the “Uniform Guidance” (rule 2CFR Part 200) for how organizations may use funds received via federal research grants. A great deal has been said and written about this proposed change in the last few weeks, so, with less than one week remaining for the public comment period, we asked the Chefs: How are you (or your organization) responding to the OMB proposed rule change?

Do you — like me — wake up, read the news, and wonder in that Dorothy Parker way, “What fresh hell is this?” Or perhaps you are innately optimistic in that “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” way – a dark and lugubrious optimism? I gather that back in 2014, this 1979 Life of Brian song was the most popular choice of a song to play in UK funerals. It is this vein that I attempt to embrace a gloomy optimism as I muse on the state of publishing at a scholarly society.