Consultancy services
Scholarly publishing is going through a tumultuous period. Funder mandates change by the week. Bad actors are ramping up their activities. Editors and publishers need to balance quality with quantity.
Navigating these choppy waters is difficult. An external viewpoint from someone who has deep, real-world experience can be the difference between success and failure.
Schedule a discovery callConsultancy projects are bespoke for each client. I can help you to solve problems across the editorial and publishing landscape.
Portfolio strategy
Three components are needed: a home for every publishable paper; efficient transfer pathways; outstanding author service
KPI review
Key performance indicators need to be actionable. Are yours? Would you be able to spot problems in article pipelines? An expert audit can help.
Open access strategy
The biggest challenge publishers face is how to respond to open access funder mandates. There are many solutions. Which one is best for you?
Editorial performance
Setting editors objectives, monitoring and evaluating their performance, and incentivising them appropriately is not straightforward. I can help.
Publishing advice you can trust
If you are going to engage a consultant, you should hire someone who has real-world, first-hand experience of the challenges that you are facing. I have developed a highly successful portfolio of journals and led a large team. I understand what it takes to create best-in-class journals that are impactful and financially sustainable.
Before I started Journalology, I led the publishing development of arguably the most successful portfolio of journals, expanding the Nature brand beyond the natural sciences and helping to create a leading open access publisher. I oversaw the launch of 26 new Nature journals, including the fully open access journals Nature Communications and Scientific Reports. As a consultant I have successfully developed new launch proposals for clients and helped them to develop publishing strategies that reduce risk in a rapidly changing environment.
IÂ offer strategic and tactical advice to help publishers and editors create editorially and commercially impactful journals.
Schedule a discovery callPortfolio strategy
Publishers of all types are developing portfolio strategies to help them survive and thrive in an increasingly open access environment. Portfolio strategies are important because they allow publishers to protect their flagship journals from having to increase the volume of content they publish. A successful portfolio strategy relies on close teamwork between departments. Three key elements need to be addressed:
- New launches. Is the portfolio able to offer a home to every publishable paper? Should the publisher launch or acquire new journals? Is the market saturated? How are competitors developing their portfolios? Getting proposals for new journals approved by governance committees can be challenging. I can help you to review the landscape, develop proposals using a tried and tested formula, and advise you on how to launch a journal once it’s been approved.
- Transfers. A well planned portfolio strategy allows a publisher to publish a larger proportion of papers that are submitted to the group, by transferring articles between journals. This can be challenging to implement because editorial teams often care more about their own, individual, journal than the wider portfolio. It’s important to monitor key performance indicators that provide visibility on the editors who need extra support and guidance on implementing transfers. You can engage me to audit your existing processes and to recommend areas for improvement, based on 20 years of experience working on Lancet and Nature journals.
- Author satisfaction. In the past, readers were the most important customers. Now, authors are. A portfolio strategy is dependent on providing a fantastic author experience. Editorial workflows need to be efficient and communication to authors be on point.
Consultants talk a lot about portfolio strategies, but very few have actually implemented one. I can bring a credible viewpoint to projects related to new launches and transfer pathways, helping you to create a more impactful journal portfolio.
Open access strategy
Publishers have adopted a multitude of different strategies in response to funder mandates. The landscape gets more confusing by the day; publishers need to play to their strengths while adhering to their owners’ strategic objectives.Â
A few years ago open access created a gold rush, with quantity often being prioritised over quality. But the events of 2023 have changed that to a large degree, partly because of the rise of bad actors including paper mills. Portfolios need to protect their brand by focusing relentlessly on quality, while also understanding the financial realities of open access business models that often create less revenue per published article than institutional subscriptions.
I have deep experience of open access, having led two of the most successful open access journals: Nature Communications and Scientific Reports, as well as many niche OA titles. I can help you, and your publishing board, to think through how best to position your portfolio for future success.
Publishing KPI review
Publishers need to regularly assess the most important key performance indicators for their business. It’s easy to fall into the trap of collecting lots of data that are “interesting”, but aren’t actionable.
Do you have measures in place that allow you to spot bottlenecks in the publishing pipeline? Do you know which levers to pull to get a journal back on track or to make it even more successful?
You can engage me to review how you measure your business and to help implement the cultural changes needed to ensure that everyone in the team is on their A-game when it comes to monitoring and evaluating the financial and non-financial performance of a portfolio.
Editorial performance
Editors are the driving force behind a successful publishing portfolio. However, there’s increasing tension between editorial and publishing teams, especially with regards to balancing quality with quantity. Many publishers need to increase volumes in order to create financially sustainable journals; editors are often wary of lowering editorial thresholds.
Successful journals are built on a strong relationship between the editors and their publisher. Both parties have an important role to play and mutual respect is the key to success.
It’s imperative that editors understand what’s required of them and that publishers understand where the boundaries lie. Editor contracts should clearly state the terms of engagement and editors should have a clear view of their yearly objectives.
Setting objectives, measuring performance, and appropriately incentivising editorial teams is important, but is also potentially problematic. I can help you to navigate this difficult topic and help you to create a high performing team.
Contact me about your consulting project
Please outline the challenges that you’re facing and the support that you need.
