It takes time to build infrastructure that people and systems can rely on, and even more time to maintain and improve so it keeps serving the community reliably. That’s the thinking behind this year’s Annual Meeting: Good infrastructure is patient work. The meeting is on 22 October 2026, with two sessions to accommodate the different time zones in our community. Register:

In this special edition newsletter, we’re sharing a preview of some of the conversations we’ll be having. Join us on 22 October to hear the full story, see what we’ve been working on, what’s coming next, hear from members of the community, and take part in the conversation.

We look forward to your participation!

Best,
Reyhana

Shared infrastructure is shaped by the people who participate in it: whether that’s registering and using metadata, building services on top of it, or contributing to the conversations that shape its development. At the meeting, we’ll turn to governance; and during the second session, we’ll conclude the election of our Board of Directors. If you’re the voting contact for your organisation, check your email for your unique voting link from eBallot, and vote before 22 October at 12:00 UTC.

There is a lot to talk about, and plenty of ways to get involved.

What does shared responsibility look like in practice? From strengthening our collaboration with service providers, to our community consultations on the draft member practices designed to clearly describe the expectations of Crossref membership, shared infrastructure only works when the community around it takes responsibility for its maintenance. The draft member practices are still open for comment until 9 October, and we look forward to sharing the outcome of our consultations with you during the meeting. 

At the meeting: Member practices | Service providers program | Community highlights

Good infrastructure doesn’t maintain itself. Behind every API request and record deposit is a system that must be funded, improved and, when necessary, retired to ensure it continues to serve reliable scholarly infrastructure for the community. At the same time, we're making changes to our fees, including lowering and removing some DOI registration fees from January 2027.

Some of this work is visible; much of it happens behind the scenes - join the meeting to learn more!

The scholarly record is becoming richer as we’re getting better at connecting it. We look forward to sharing more about how Crossref metadata has evolved, what we’re learning from our matching initiatives, and how provenance helps us understand where information comes from and how connections are made. We’ll also share more on what’s changed in Metadata Manager and improved ways to use Metadata Search. 

At the meeting: Metadata development | Matching | Enrichment | Metadata Manager