The grander Plan S debate, as well as large publisher deals (both those signed and those non-renewed by consortia) this year, brings to the surface the over-arching desire for transparency around Open Access publishing costs for journal articles. The real challenge in this desire, I believe and also often brought up in Twitter threads, is transparency around the actual value provided and what its price should be.
In my December 2018 Peerwith guest blog, “Year end thoughts on truly serving your customer, innovating and more”, I wrote: “…if there is one thing certain in these turbulent times in scholarly communication, it is the importance of the relationship with your author, and transparency and excellence of your service as a publisher to them…”. To this end, I would emphasise that it’s key to be in control of your own development roadmap, and to provide your own unique author experience.
It is not a secret I like working with Peerwith because they provide a smart, publisher-neutral platform for peer-to-peer author services, encouraging collaboration, all while offering a fair deal to the academic community. They also have a great proposition, an excellent team and technology, and visionary ideas for the future. But above all, they are working in collaboration with an impressive list of partners and year on year receive outstanding customer satisfaction scores.
A development of specific interest to publishers I would like to tell you about is the innovative Peerwith Submission Service, launched a year ago already, which sits between pre-print services and journal editorial teams, streamlining traditional submission processes. The unique and innovative aspect of this new service lies in its combination of smart technology and human interaction. Additionally, it allows publishers to provide their own unique author experience by applying modular and interoperable services. In short, a service offering publishers the chance to provide that unique and transparent author experience I talked about earlier. Something that today is probably more relevant than ever.
If you would like to receive more information and are also attending the Frankfurt Book Fair, drop by and meet the Peerwith Team in the Academic Tech area (stand Hall 4.2, H28).
We look forward to seeing you there!
