1. What are scholarly publishers good
for?
Lynne Herndon
President and CEO
Cell Press
A short history of the journal
• Are the key drivers of scholarly
communication still intact?
• Let’s take a look back at the origin of
the learned journal, which evolved
from books in the 17th century
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Oldenburg and Boyle
• [We must be] very careful of registring as well the person and
time of any new matter.., as the matter itselfe; whereby the
honor of ye invention will be inviolably preserved to all
posterity. [Oldenburg, 1664]
• all Ingenious men will be thereby incouraged to impart their
knowledge and discoveryes. [Oldenburg, 1664]
• [I should not] neglect the opportunity of having some of my
Memoirs preserv’d, by being incorporated into a Collection,
that is like to be as lasting as usefull. [Boyle, 1665]
• [Phil. Trans. should be] licensed under the charter by the
Council of the Society, being first reviewed by some of the
members of the same. [R.Soc. Order in Council 1/3/1665]
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2. Core publishing values
• Certification = Peer acceptance
• Registration = The minutes of science
• Dissemination = Broadcasting
• Archive = Perpetual record
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Common ground
• Commercial and society publishers
have upheld the tradition of scholarly
communication
• We have developed new products and
services beyond print
• Access and usage have increased
• However, if our mission is to move
scholarly communication forward,
what do we need to do next?
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The change model
• Driven by the Internet, scholarly
publishing is undergoing a
transformational shift from the
aggregate, publish, then distribute
model to a more user-driven, demand
model
• It’s not about what I have to sell you,
it’s about what you want and when
you want it
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3. Tomorrow’s key drivers
• Registration
• Dissemination
• Archive
• Certification
• Filtering and interpretation
• Serving communities
• Enhancing productivity
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Current challenges
• Filter and interpret
– How do we put content into context?
• Serve communities
– How can we help communities develop
and share knowledge in a new way?
• Enhance productivity
– How can we deliver content to enable
users to make an impact?
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Filter and interpret
• As the world of science grows more
complex and collaborative, there is
more need for interpretive content
• Our job is to have a view of all
benchtops, to judge what is important,
to publish it, and to gain trust
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4. Our Anniversary: 1974 - 2004
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Serve communities
• New communities are broader and
more overlapping than traditional,
focused communities
• Beyond traditional publishing, how
can we help communities share
knowledge?
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Cell as a community
• A must-read journal builds a
community through a common
knowledge base and a common
language
• We engage our authors and improve
science in the process
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5. Other examples of community
• Los Alamos’ arXiv
• Signal Transduction Knowledge
Environment
• High Wire Press
• Are these tired examples?
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Enhancing productivity
• We need to move from dissemination
to comprehension and application:
What you want, when you want it
• Do publishers understand enough
about how their users’ workflow and
information needs?
• Will publishers become suppliers to
workflow software companies, or will
they develop software competencies?
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MDL
• “Our mission is to become the leader
in integrated information, information
management and workflow solutions
for the entire R&D value chain.”
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6. Integrated medical records
• PDA delivery of “when you want it”
• Electronic medical records =
– Patient record +
– Dx and Rx protocols +
– Integrated evidence-based medical data
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Tomorrow’s key drivers
• Registration
• Dissemination
• Archive
• Certification
• Filtering and interpretation
• Serving communities
• Enhancing productivity
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The challenge
• Stay competent at traditional values
• Learn to add value in new ways
• Plan to spend, develop new skills,
experiment and take risks
• Scholarly publishers, large and small,
should heed the call
• Are new players new partners?
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