Bookseller article: Opening doors

Posted on by Rob Virkar-Yates
Open Access challenges publishers to innovate: to develop new journals and new platforms, to rethink existing processes and models. As vendors within the scholarly publishing ecosystem, we also have to accept these challenges. We do not – and cannot – adopt a dogmatic stance with regard to Open Access as a movement. Our role is to support publishers as they navigate a fast evolving, volatile market and cope with changes forced upon their businesses by political forces beyond their control. In this article I explore some of the technical challenges particular to building Open Access journals platforms. (This article first appeared in The Bookseller (www.thebookseller.com) in May 2013.)  

What does Elsevier want with Mendeley?

Posted on by John Helmer
Mendeley logoThe recent report on TechCrunch that Mendeley is ‘joining’ Elsevier for a sum in the region of $69M-$100M was of especial interest to us at Semantico, prompting memories of the symposium dinner we hosted just a few months back at which Mendeley was a guest. At that point, the company’s talks with Elsevier were not public knowledge. Now the confirmed sale is sparking controversy, and has launched a new hashtag on Twitter – #mendelete – promoted by those who see this particular piece of M&A activity as The Empire acquiring the Rebel Alliance. Speculation is also intense about Elsevier’s plans for its acquisition. Mendeley spoke under Chatham House rules at our Symposium, constraining what we can repeat here, but it is interesting to revisit that conversation in the light of subsequent events. Continue reading →

Riding the Tectonic Plates 3: The Future

Posted on by John Helmer
Photo: The Grand Canyon, USA

Image: Tobias Alt

Report from the Third Semantico Online Publishing Symposium Technology is driving disruptive change in scholarly publishing – as well as altered expectations and behaviours among scholars, researchers, students, librarians and those who set institutional and governmental policy. This symposium was held recently in London to discuss how publishers can survive and thrive within this fast-changing landscape. An invited audience of publishing industry leaders debated the issues under Chatham House rules. Delegates were from organisations including Beilstein-Institut, BioScientifica, CABI, Cross Ref, eLife, Mendeley, Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Sage, SIPX and Springer. The discussion was in three parts, covering the following themes:
  1. The changing user
  2. Changing business models
  3. Future tech trends
This post looks forward to how the technology trends identified as driving disruptive change in the previous two parts are liable to play out in the future, and how further developments of educational and publishing technology look likely to impact the business of scholarly communication. Continue reading →

Riding the Tectonic Plates 1: The Changing User

Posted on by John Helmer
Photo: The Grand Canyon, USA

Image: Tobias Alt

Report from the Third Semantico Online Publishing Symposium Technology is driving disruptive change in scholarly publishing – as well as altered expectations and behaviours among scholars, researchers, students, librarians and those who set institutional and governmental policy. This symposium was held recently in London to discuss how publishers can survive and thrive within this fast-changing landscape. An invited audience of publishing industry leaders debated the issues under Chatham House rules. Delegates were from organisations including Beilstein-Institut, BioScientifica, CABI, Cross Ref, eLife, Mendeley, Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Sage, SIPX and Springer. The discussion was in three parts, covering the following themes:
  1. The changing user
  2. Changing business models
  3. Future tech trends
This post covers the changing user. Continue reading →