Academic and scientific publishing runs on a different model from the rest of the industry. Its readers are mostly researchers and clinicians, and its customers are often the libraries and institutions they work for. What it really sells is confidence in the research record.
Open access has become the standard model, moving revenue away from subscriptions towards publishing charges and institutional agreements. Learned societies that switched early have used the change to build data and analytics products around their journals. Where research comes from is changing as well, with a growing share now produced in Asia.
However, it is a common misconception that open access somehow reduces the importance of the publisher. In reality, it is the opposite.
Niels Peter Thomas Academic media
AI raises the stakes. Fabricated papers test peer review on an industrial scale, and publishers are building integrity tools while deciding on what terms to license their content to AI developers.
Science also reaches general readers through magazines and specialist journalists, who face many of the same pressures as the rest of the press.
Below you'll find some of our best feature articles on academic and scientific media, from open access and research integrity to medical journals, institutional sales and science journalism, alongside our latest news and industry commentary.
We asked Niels Peter Thomas, chief executive officer of BMJ Publishing, what does best practice publishing look like in academic media? This is what he said…
The task ahead is clear, says Anke Beck: to harness AI not as a threat but as a catalyst.
Sara Sharman, head of content services, Institution of Engineering and Technology, tells Ciar Byrne about how the scientific / academic media sector is managing the digital transformation journey.
Laura Feetham-Walker, head of publishing strategy and performance, tells us how IOP Publishing is using AI now and where she sees the best opportunities for future development.
Pandemics, climate change, health inequality are all existential threats that require expert trusted analysis, and that is why BMJ’s content is increasingly in demand beyond its traditional audience.
With all the current talk around ‘post-truth’ and ‘alternative facts’, with people like Michael Gove saying they’ve “had enough of experts”, the newly rebranded Emerald Publishing – part of Emerald Group – is sticking to its core values. As Tony Roch
Mark Allen Group is a big believer in print… and a big believer in digital too! As Matt Cianfarani tells Ciar Byrne, digital publishing is opening up lucrative new revenue streams for the group’s healthcare titles.
Catherine de Lange of New Scientist was crowned Editors’ Editor of the Year at the BSME Awards. Here, she talks about her trend-spotting tricks, the “pub test” the team employ for stories & how she’s running a 70-year-old publication like a start-up.
With big issues like AI and robotics, climate change and space exploration, it’s difficult to keep science off the front pages. But what does all this mean for the science journalists and writers who are forever adding context and explanation?
What do the next twelve months have in store for the publishing sector? We grab five minutes with Adam Sherman, CEO of Air Business, to get his take on the challenges and opportunities facing publishers.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) research database, Inspec, will now expand coverage to include content from five additional Chinese Laser Press (CLP) journals.
BMJ has partnered with the COVID-19 International Modelling Consortium (CoMo Consortium) to promote their policy recommendations and findings to help countries contain the spread of COVID-19.
Major physics societies have joined forces to show their commitment to open access (OA) for physics research.
Dr Mandeep Bajaj, an expert on diabetes and endocrinology, has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.
Emerald Publishing has announced a new three-year agreement with Jisc, the UK research and education not-for-profit.
Identity and access management specialist OpenAthens has unveiled the details of its annual Access Lab conference which will take place online, 16-17 March 2021.
IOP Publishing is launching a suite of new open access environmental journals, marking the creation of the Environmental Research series.
IOP Publishing has signed a new open access (OA) transformative agreement with the Polish Academic Consortium.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Inspec database has reached over 20 million indexed records throughout its 50-year history.
Professor Evert Verhagen, a human movement scientist and epidemiologist, has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.
Healthcare knowledge provider BMJ has announced that its clinical decision support tool BMJ Best Practice has been approved by the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians.
Cambridge University Press will request the majority of its journals be given Transformative Journal status by cOAlition S as part of a commitment to transition them to full Open Access.
IOP Publishing has signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment as part of its commitment to support more equitable, inclusive approaches to research evaluation.
Emerald Publishing has announced that it is a founding signatory of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publishers Compact.
