The future of online publishing: a workshop

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The future of online publishing a workshop

• UKeIG 2009 Conference, June 2009Innovation in
  e-information
• Nick Evans, Chief Operating Officer, ALPSP
• Nick.evans_at_alpsp.org

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ALPSP the trade association for non-profit
scholarly publishers and those who work with them

• 340 organisations in membership
• Increasingly international 35 membership not
  in the UK. 33 countries now represented.
• Large and small publishers are included (e.g.
  Institute of Physics, Monash University ePress)
• Two types of member Full Members are
  publishers, Associate Members are suppliersof
  services, including commercial publishers
• ALPSP members publish over 9,000 journals
• (over 40 of the world total) and many books,
  databases and other scholarly publications.

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The future?

• http//www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/expertsurve
  ys/2008survey/default.xhtml
• In this web-based survey, 578 leading Internet
  activists, builders, and commentators and 618
  additional stakeholders (1,196 respondents) were
  asked to assess thought-provoking proposed
  scenarios for the year 2020.

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Quantitative results from the expert group

• Some 77 said the mobile computing device (the
  smartphone) with more significant computing power
  will be 2020's primary global Internet-connection
  platform.
• 64 favored the idea that 2020 user interfaces
  will offer advanced touch, talk and typing
  options and some added a fourth "T" - think.
• Nearly four out of five respondents (78) said
  the original Internet architecture will not be
  completely replaced by a next-generation 'net by
  2020.
• Three out of five respondents (60) disagreed
  with the idea that legislatures, courts, the
  technology industry, and media companies will
  exercise effective intellectual property control
  by 2020.
• A majority56agreed that in 2020 "few lines
  (will) divide professional from personal time,
  and that's OK."
• 56 said while Web 2.0 is bringing some people
  closer, social tolerance will not be heightened
  by our new connections
• 45 agreed and 44 disagreed with the notion that
  the greater transparency of people and
  institutions afforded by the Internet will
  heighten individual integrity and forgiveness.
• More than half (55) agreed that many lives will
  be touched in 2020 by virtual worlds, mirror
  worlds, and augmented reality, while 45
  disagreed or did not answer the question.

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Stuff thats changing things

• Social networking (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook
  etc) including peer to peer specialist sites and
  other online communities
• Mobile devices, eBook readers (Kindle, Sony
  Reader, iPhone)
• Digital printing
• Print on Demand Espresso machines
• Processing speed (everything is everywhere)
• Semantic web searching and other deep trawling of
  web
• Linking
• Intellectual property rights
• Open access and changing business models
• Peer review techniques
• Information retrieval and delivery in libraries
• Trust networks and ranking mechanisms
• Self-publishing
• and . . . ?

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2020 Case studies

• Society publisher RCOG
• Specialist newspaper TES
• Academic Publisher Bloomsbury
• General Publisher Random House
• Give a short summary of 2020 situation
• What has changed most since 2010?

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RCOG
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RCOG key objectives 2008

• Publications Department
• To improve awareness within the College of the
  importance of the editorial and production
  processes, to maintain and improve standards
• To ensure that all College publications, print
  and electronic, maintain the highest standards of
  accuracy, design and compliance with house style
  and are published in the most cost effective
  manner
• To develop an e-books collection and to join the
  Association of Learned and Professional Society
  Publishers e-Books Collection, to ensure that
  RCOG Press titles are accessible in the digital
  arena
• To continue to publish in BJOG high-quality
  research in womens health and thus improve the
  journals reputation and increase readership
• To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding
  of TOG and to look to the future, continuing to
  keep obstetricians and gynaecologists informed of
  new developments in clinical areas and in
  cutting-edge science and to develop the CPD
  component
• To maintain and develop StratOG.net in accordance
  with the core curriculum and in liaison with the
  Education Board

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RCOG 2008 results
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TES

• The newspaper continues to be published weekly on
  Fridays, at a cover price of 1.30. It has
  continued to combine its print publication with
  its online presence, particularly in connection
  with its employment vacancies. Circulation
  figures for the first half of As of 2008update
  show an average net circulation per issue of
  57,714, with 98.2 of these being sold in the
  United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.2 Data
  from the National Readership Survey suggests that
  average monthly readership is around 397,000, of
  which around 90 are in the ABC1 category.3
• The TES website is now split into distinct
  sections, including 'Community', 'Jobs' and
  'Resources'. Community contains Staffroom forums.
  Jobs is home to all the vacancies listed in the
  TES paper and is updated daily. In the Resource
  sectionthere is the Resource Bank in which
  teachers upload classroom resources (lesson
  plans, PowerPoint presentations, IWB resources,
  etc.) to share with other teachers. The Review
  Bank is home to a database of educational
  products (books, software, classroom equipment).
  An electronic archive of TES news articles
  relating to education and published since 1994 is
  also available.
• The TES has published a succession of colour
  magazines supporting the newspaper - starting
  with Primary which was later spun off to become a
  free standing title under the editorship of
  Diane Hofkins, then Teacher and Friday and now
  The TES Colour Magazine.
• (Wikipedia 12 June 2009)

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Bloomsbury Academic

• New (2009) academic publishing company
• Business model online versions free, print
  versions sold

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• Innovative content, innovative delivery
  Bloomsbury Academic website
• Bloomsbury Academic will publish world class
  research-based books across the humanities and
  social sciences, with a strong commitment to the
  traditional virtues of scholarly publishing,
  including rigorous peer-review.
• But we plan to use current technologies and
  licensing developments to establish an innovative
  publishing model that will better meet the needs
  of the academic community. In addition to
  publishing in both print and e-book format, we
  are the first commercial company committed to
  putting our books online, using Creative Commons
  non-commercial licences. These licenses enable us
  to make the full text of the book available free
  of charge on our digital platform. Unlike open
  access journals we are not looking for authors
  (or their research funders) to pay for the
  publishing process.
• Discussions with academic librarians, and
  smaller-scale precedents have indicated that we
  can sell enough copies of the print version of
  our books to cover the publishing costs. We also
  believe that the availability of the online
  version will act as additional promotion for the
  book, allowing much wider dissemination of
  important scholarly work than traditional models
  have achieved. We welcome feedback on our
  publishing model.

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Bloomsbury home page
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Random House UK
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Business books
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Random House

• Will ebooks be developed which are really
  interactive?
• Will espresso print on demand machines in
  bookshops change business model?
• Mobile devices?

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Some general thoughts on scholarly publishing
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Adding value . . .
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Society publishers must

• Make content as available as possible (without
  going bust!)
• Decide if they can switch to Open Access
  publishing or not (one-fifth are experimenting)
• Hybrid/author-choice model a possible first step
• If not, decide whether they need an embargo
  period to protect subscriptions, and if so how
  long
• Will authors abide by this?
• At the same time, be creative about adding value
  to scholarly communicationin new ways

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• Non profit publishers put any surplus back into
  their other activities
• In particular, Learned Society publishers use
  surplus to support
• Conferences (33 of respondents applied median 7
  of their publishing surpluses to this)
• Membership fees (32 of respondents, 15 of
  surpluses)
• Public education (26 of respondents, 7.5 of
  surpluses)
• Bursaries (26 of respondents, 7.5 of surpluses)
• Research (21 of respondents, 25 of surpluses)
• Christine Baldwin, What do Learned Societies do
  with their Publishing Surpluses?
  (ALPSP/Blackwell, 2004)
• ? Knock-on effects for the scholarly community if
  publishing surpluses are reduced or eliminated

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Thank you

• Nick Evans
• Chief Operating Officer, ALPSP
• nick.evans_at_alpsp.org
• 44 0(20) 8789 2394