A program on trends in Open Access Publishing
Featuring:
- Gerry Grenier, IEEE
- Kristin McNealy, John Wiley & Sons
- Thomas Ogier, Copyright Clearance Center
Recorded Thursday, June 26, 2014
For podcast release Wednesday, July 9, 2014
KENNEALLY: Welcome everyone. In 2014, the author has ascended the throne of scientific and scholarly publishing. With the rise of open access business models, authors today are much more than a source of content. They’ve become paying customers, and it’s time publishers find out what it means when authors wear the crown. Today’s program, When Authors Rule, will present a panel of specialists who offer important action-oriented insights on creating an author-centric customer service strategy. They’re going to share what they’ve learned on the job from front-line editorial staff training to responsive back-office support.
We’ll be speaking with Gerry Grenier from the STM Future Lab Committee, as well as with IEEE. We’ll be talking to my colleague Tom Ogier who can help us understand what it means to build an effective author support program. And we’re going to get some feedback and some insights from Kristin McNealy who is with Wiley’s Author Services program, and she can tell us about the importance of these author services.
At this point, though, I want to turn to our first guest today. We have on the line with us Gerry Grenier. He is the Senior Director of Publishing Technologies at IEEE. And Gerry, welcome to our program.
GRENIER: Thank you Chris. It’s great to be here.
KENNEALLY: Well, we’re looking forward to chatting with you because you’ve got some interesting insight on what open access models mean and this whole notion of what will be the impact when authors rule. We’ll tell briefly about your background. Gerry Grenier is currently Senior Director of Publishing Technologies for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE, the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology. Based in New Jersey, Gerry leads a 40-person electronic publishing team responsible for IEEE’s digital publishing ecosystem, including development and operation of IEEE Explore digital library that contains nearly four million journal articles, conference papers and standards.
He serves on the boards of the International Association of STM Publishers, and CrossRef and the National Information Standards Organization, NIGO. And he’s also a member of the Association for Computing Machinery. So someone, indeed, very well qualified to speak on this subject. But in particular, Gerry, we want to focus on your work with STM’s Future Lab committee. And every year, the Future Labs committee gets together in the late fall to look at some of the trends that will be making a real impact in scholarly publishing. And you led that discussion just last December.
And tell us about that. Who’s involved? And I know there was three important conclusions you came to, but the one that we’re going to focus on is the so-called – the return of the author, and how open access creates an individual with a wallet. But tell us about this discussion for the STM Future Lab. Open access, I’m sure, played a really important part in that discussion.
GRENIER: Oh, absolutely Chris. Thanks for the opportunity, again. But the STM Future Lab is composed of 25 technical and business people from a cross-representation of STM publishing companies, members of the International Association of STM Publishers. Every year, we gather in London to brainstorm and identify the most important phenomena and new initiatives that will affect our business. New developments are clustered into meaningful trends in a group discussion. So we just go around the room and, using a method called the Delphi method, which is essentially we go around the room, everyone mentions a trend, makes a few comments, and once we do that three times, we cluster those thoughts into meaningful trends and then distribute a report out to STM members.
We emerged from the December 2013 meeting with three themes. And as you’ve mentioned, I will focus on the return to the author. The other two, by the way, were the machine as the new reader, not just the human eye and brain ingesting the article. So that raised some really, really interesting thoughts. And then, the third theme was the fact that other players are involved in our ecosystem now, i.e., Mendelay – different companies that are developing social networking services, and other companies who are aggregating open access articles and building their own digital libraries. So it’s truly turning into a very interesting world.
KENNEALLY: Indeed it is. And everyone listening on the webinar today can find that full report in a kind of a poster form – a fun poster form at the STM website. Just Google Future Lab Trend Watch, and we will provide a link in our follow-up e-mails to everybody to that report so you get a good look at that.
But when it comes to the highlights around the return of the author, Gerry, I wonder if you could talk us through some of the points that I think are of most interest to people on the call today. And there’s this one little catchy phrase that the publishing ecosystem is turning now into a new ego-system. And I think we want to make clear that, for publishers, this isn’t about any kind of thing, but just trying to give to authors the very highest level of service, and really, publishers recognizing that this a new way of doing business, and they want to be the best at it.
GRENIER: Right. We did coin this term, the author ego-system. And we came to that conclusion on that phrase after some discussion over what gold open access will mean and how that will create a new business dynamic for publishers. Gold open access, by the way, won’t be the only business model. I’m sure that traditional business models will endure for years to come. So we will be operating in, I think, a hybrid business model over the next – over the foreseeable future. But gone are the days where the sole objects of our marketing efforts are the librarian or the corporate – either the corporate or the academic librarian who are purchasing our digital libraries.
Authors now, because they have a wallet, and because they will participate to be a contributor to our financial – not only contributing content, but now contributing money to our operation – their expectations, I think, they have will increase along the way.
KENNEALLY: Sorry Gerry. But I was going to say, one of the things that’s going to happen that publishers will need to respond to is kind of a competition for authors in this marketplace, and the customer experience portion of it is going to be critical to that.
GRENIER: Yeah, absolutely right. I think something that, at least IEEE, has been dealing with over the past, I’d say five years, as well as other publishers are developing new tools and services for those authors. So I’ll talk about some of them right now. And that’s just services that we’re building around the peer-review system, collaborative authoring systems that we’re looking into building. There’s been a great demand for that, for example, where there are disparate, spread out authoring research teams that collaborate on paper writing. So developing platforms for those authors to collaborate. Doing things, helping authors in defining trends within their own articles by offering semantic tagging systems.
So those are just a few things that we’ve been working on here at IEEE in order to answer some of the demands that those authors have in working in a new environment.
KENNEALLY: Right, and one of the things that I think that is worth pointing out is that everyone today, whether you’re an author, or a publisher, whatever you do, you’re also a consumer online. And companies like Amazon, for better or for worse, raise expectations around what the online customer experience is going to be like when you purchase something or order something, whatever you do there. And those expectations and all become – they bleed into, from the B2C experience – from the business to consumer experience – they bleed into the business-to-business experience, it seems to me.
GRENIER: Right. As authors interact with us in exchanging money, I think it’s incumbent upon up as an industry to offer them an experience as smooth as they’ve come to expect through the likes of Amazon or the eBays even. I think it behooves us all as an industry to coalesce, get together, and agree upon certain standards for authors to – a certain user interface, for example. So we’re not so naïve at IEEE to think that our authors are coming only to us. Our authors publish with other publishing companies, and it would be, I think, a service to them, if they’re publishing gold open access, to be able to go into a platform that looks the same across all of us and transfer their money, and also allow their own librarians to set up things like deposit accounts and make it easy for that author to take advantage of university funded open access.
KENNEALLY: Indeed. And you know, I think about this STM report, Gerry, as kind of a weather report. If you listen to the weather in the morning, you find out if you need to bring an umbrella or if you can get away without wearing a jacket. And so, the weather report in the STM report is for really specific services that authors are going to be expecting. We’ve called out a few of those here, and some of these have not just importance to authors, but are really going to change the way that publishers approach their business. And I wonder if we could point out a couple of those. You’ve mentioned already the importance of standards and metrics, and authors are going to expect to know how their articles are being consumed, the places that they’re being used and read and so forth.
But when it comes to article processing charges and the whole open access business model, things like the one-stop payment systems and a really kind of robust e-commerce plumbing, that’s going to become part of what every publisher is going to need to provide.
GRENIER: Oh, absolutely. And you know, I guess the question that we have ask ourselves, do we want to build these systems ourselves and hope that we get it right? Indeed, will building a spoke system offer any competitive advantage. I’m not convinced that it will, but I think that we know that, as the author comes in to interact with us on that level, they’re paying ABC (sp?) charges, that the experience needs to be very seamless. We can’t miss that opportunity for that author to engage with us.
KENNEALLY: Indeed. And you know, I think the other point to call out there is the impact on the brand. IEEE, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific information, technical information, really has a reputation to uphold. In this new area of publisher around open access, you want to be sure to extend that brand into what you do in that regard as well.
GRENIER: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I think that IEEE, through its online digital library, IEEE Explore has developed a solid brand in the digital library world. IEEE constantly is rated as pretty high in the user interface. I think that we want to maintain that standard and that expectation level, as well, with APC systems.
KENNEALLY: OK. Well, Gerry Grenier, Chair of STM’s Future Lab committee and Senior Director of Publishing Technologies at IEEE, thank so much. And do stay on the line. We’re going to get back to you in just a moment. But at this point, I want to turn to my colleague Tom Ogier who’s our customer service manager here at Copyright Clearance Center. And Tom, welcome to the Webinar.
OGIER: Well, thank you Chris. I appreciate it.
KENNEALLY: Well, we’re glad to have you because you’ve been listening to what Gerry has to say about the Future Lab committee report and its emphasis around the rise of the author, when the author rules. And this is something you’re familiar with. You’ve been working here at Copyright Clearance Center in our customer service area since 2009, but you’re someone who’s got more than 25 years of customer service experience. So the issues that this is all raising, which appear to be new for the publishing world, are something that many industries have faced in the past, and you’re familiar with all of that. So we’re looking forward to chatting with you. And I suppose one thing we should tell people about briefly is just the kind of customer that you interact with here at Copyright Clearance Center. It seems to me rather like the people attending our Webinar today. It’s really a global community.
OGIER: Oh, it very much is. The spectrum of the customer we speak to in a given day varies by language, geography, level of understanding in terms of the product. This may be a first-time publication, this may be their 20th time. So it really – you have to be ready and willing to meet that author on their level. So if you have to get down to the ground and, so to speak, meet their expectations in educating them, or if you have to be quick and very fluid with your response, you have to accommodate accordingly.
KENNEALLY: Right. And the point that Gerry and I discussed about this bleed, that I call it, from the B2C world into the B2B world, is that something you see as well. Do you recognize that?
OGIER: Oh, absolutely. Every industry goes through this. So if you think about – you can choose your industry, whether it’s the hotel industry, the airline industry, the online industry – if you think back even 10 years and what those expectations were at that point in time versus today. Every year, the expectation changes a little bit, and it requires a faster response, a more personalized response, and more features. If you walked into a hotel 10 or 15 years ago, what you’d find would be very different than what you’d find today. And the expectations increase constantly.
KENNEALLY: Right. And what’s interesting to me about your background, Tom, when we were preparing for this program, is the sort of places you’ve worked for. Because, really, it’s about catering to what I think you called the high net worth individual. So you’ve worked at leading financial services firms, at the Four Seasons hotels, one of the leading brands around the world. So this notion of the customer and the real importance, the critical role that their investment, whether it’s a financial investment or a kind of experiential investment that they have in the company’s future is something you understand deeply.
OGIER: Yeah, absolutely. I mean it’s all really about retention. So you have that first opportunity to – if it’s an author or if it’s a guest at a hotel, you have the first opportunity to really wow them. And what we used to say at the Four Seasons, it isn’t necessarily about what’s on the menu. It’s about what’s not on the menu. So if somebody comes to you and asks for something or needs something that wasn’t necessarily on a marquee or a menu or something, you have to be ready to jump out there and take care of that according to what they need.
KENNEALLY: Right. And you know, I should’ve reminded people earlier, and I’ll do that right now. I’ll take an opportunity tell you that you’re listening to a Webinar in our open access series from Copyright Clearance Center. If you are tweeting the program, you should use the hash-tag cccopenaccess. You can follow us at Copyright Clear, and certainly we’d love to hear what you think and what you call out as the important points as you tweet them today.
You know, Tom, what we were just discussing kind of leads up to your first tip. We’re going to give people five tips that they can kind of take home with them to the publishing house in terms of establishing an author-centric customer service program. And really, this one seems obvious, but it’s critical. You need a service strategy, and you have to have a plan before you can execute on it.
OGIER: That’s exactly right. Anybody that spend any time in a business school or something like that, strategy is nothing new to a business. However, you know, businesses go through an evolutionary state. So what I end up finding probably more often than not is a customer service strategy that’s been kind of cobbled together. And that’s not by design. It’s just f life. So as companies have been in business for 10, 20, 30 years, they pull together pieces of it and meet different needs at different times. And what they end up having at the end is kind of this cobbled together strategy.
So in first slide here, my point is to avoid a strategy that you’re just plugging holes. You really want to stay focused and build a strategy in the beginning and kind of work through that process.
KENNEALLY: Right. And I think the piece about open access that’s relevant here is that we’re discussing an end-to-end solution. Because the experience the author is going to have begins at the point when they submit the manuscript and works all the way through from the invoicing to the promotional codes, and the collection support, and everything that’s going to have to happen so that the research that they’ve worked on so hard is published as quickly and effortlessly as possible.
OGIER: That’s exactly right. Good customer service is really about good communication and good expectations, or setting good expectations. So you want to create and end-to-end solution. So you’re thinking about from the very moment that you first meet that author, be it online or in person, and you know it can be at the manuscript submission. But that’s your opportunity, when the process begins, and beginning to set that kind of author experience up. And so, you follow it all the way through the process – so the rapid invoicing. Are you going to need to consider split payments? And it’s becoming more and more common where you have several authors contributing to a particular article.
Localized currencies. Your author isn’t necessarily in your backyard today. You’re culturing authors from all over the world.
KENNEALLY: Well, we just heard about how in China they’re moving into this world. And they represent now 14% of scholarly publishing, and that number is only going to get bigger.
OGIER: That’s exactly right. So you have to make the assumption that you’re going to be courting authors in different nations. So you think about the currencies, you think about languages, your support collection. And then, once you’ve gone through that process, their first interaction with you, then it’s about, well, how do I retain that author? Let’s assume that it’s not going to necessarily be the one and done article. It’s going to – they’re going to write several different articles. So how do you reach back out to them? Do you use promotion codes to promote a second opportunity at publishing something?
KENNEALLY: Right. And you know, Gerry Grenier, again, mentioned something that I think is important to this point, Tom, which is that whether or not you build your own, and some may consider doing that, or whether you choose to go with an intermediary, you still need to have this plan in place.
OGIER: Yes. That’s exactly right. So your strategy, whether you are looking for that intermediary or not, build it organically. So you’re developing a strategy, and then once you finish that strategy, then decide whether or not you want to in-house it or if you want to use an intermediary.
KENNEALLY: And that strategy allows you to evaluate the intermediaries and see whether they live up to the expectations that (overlapping conversation; inaudible).
OGIER: That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. So the strategy is really all about building trust. So as long as you’re communicating your strategy and your plan communicates well with your authors, and they understand the process, and it’s spelled out very clearly, then you’ve got a great communication plan, and you’re building trust with that author base.
KENNEALLY: Right. Now, let’s move along. And we are talking today with my colleague at Copyright Clearance Center, Tom Ogier, who is our manager of customer service. And he’s got some tips, five tips on putting together an author-centric customer service program at your publishing house. And tip number two, Tom, is to understand resource needs. And so, if we put this strategy together, you’re going to have to pay for it.
OGIER: Yeah, that’s exactly right. And there are a lot of things to consider when you’re thinking about your resource needs. So number one tends to be volume, and that really goes back to – everything comes back to the strategy. So as long as the strategy was well developed, everything else cascades into place. It’s your roadmap. So when you think about what resources you need, depending on how well automated the process is, how well spelled out it is for the authors, how well they understand the process, and how well you’re communicating during that process, that will speak to how much staff you’re going to need in order to support that author base.
So for instance, if you had 20,000 submissions during the course of a year, your process is going to require a certain amount of support. So out of that 20,000, let’s say it’s 20%. Well, that means you’re going to be receiving somewhere between 4,000 plus or minus calls, e-mails, so forth, and you’ve got to have staff for that. But if you have a solution that’s really tight, well integrated – it’s spelled out clear for the author – then maybe you reduce that support to around 10%. And now you need half the staff that you had once before. Again, it comes back to that process and how well automated it is.
The communication channels also. So when you think about what tools you’re going to be using to communicate with your authors – so e-mail, versus chat, versus phone calls – if you think about service level, e-mail requires about half the staff that you would require ordinarily for phone calls. So the expectations around e-mail is that if I get a response in the same day, that’s pretty good turnaround time. But if I have a phone call, the expectation is that I’m going to answer that phone call within seconds. Same thing goes for chat as well. So depending on what channels you’re going to be communicating with your authors will dictate some of your staffing needs as well.
KENNEALLY: Right. And one of the things, I think, that must be difficult for publishers at this particular point is they recognize that they’re going to need to get their toes, and maybe their – all the way up to their necks – in open access business model just to really understand how big the challenge is. And the challenges are around technology, but they’re also, if I can put it this way, cultural challenges.
OGIER: That’s right. There really are. So you’re going to be thinking about language support. As soon as you’re dealing with other languages, now you’re going to need to think about, well, how simplified can I make the language that we’re using? In the e-mails, you need to think about how you’re constructing your e-mails and so forth, the directions that you’re placing, (inaudible) an e-mail on our Website, has to be well laid out again. And so, the more complex that process is, the more calls and e-mails you’re going to generate. So it’s really going to change everything for you.
KENNEALLY: Right. That whole service culture, which is so critical to what you do here at Copyright Clearance Center is going to be increasingly critical to what publishers are thinking about in their author interactions. So some of the questions they need to evaluate really are going to sort of roll back to an alignment with the brand. Again, we heard about that, the STM Future Labs committee recognized that that’s a real challenge. And brand, to me, is about commitment between the company and the customer. And you want to make sure that you are sort of delivering on that commitment.
OGIER: That’s correct. Companies spend an inordinate amount of time, effort and money investing in their brand. So some companies literally spend decades building a brand, and the markets come to rally around that brand. So you think about particular brands in the consumer market, whether it’s Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton, or great online experiences like an Amazon or a Zappos. They conjure an immediate thought when you have those brands. So as you’re developing a service strategy, that needs to be in alignment with the brand you’ve invested so much money in. So the last thing you’d ever want to see is really kind a dysfunctional service model in alignment with a really high quality brand. So a service model that is well laid out and complete end-to-end, and consistent, and responsive conveys a very positive image to your author base.
KENNEALLY: Right. And you know what I’m thinking about as I hear you, Tom, is not simply that customer service is important. We all pay lip service to that notion. Everybody sort of says, you know, customer service is job one and all that, and the customer is always right. But what really this is about is how, if I can put it, technical it is, and how thoughtful you have to be. And this isn’t just about doing what somebody asks. It’s about a continuing process delivering day in and day out.
OGIER: That’s right. Going right back to the strategy again, customer service isn’t a moment in time. It’s not something where you’re one and done. You don’t go in, put a bunch of people in a room, drop a bunch of technology in the space, and create a process, and then kind of slap hands and walk out on it. It’s something that has to be constantly reevaluated. So it’s something you have to continue to go back to and understand that you’re meeting the marketplace or not.
KENNEALLY: Right. Well, Tom Ogier, we’ll just remind people that if they have a question for you or for our other panelists, they can use the chat box in the lower right corner of the screen there. We’ll see those questions, and we’ll get to as many of them as we can after this discussion with Gerry Grenier, Tom Ogier, and another guest coming up in just a moment.
We’re very happy to have you join us in our ongoing series on open access coming to you from Copyright Clearance Center. If you have any questions about the technical support for WebX, you can dial in at (866) 229-3239. And otherwise, we look forward to having you join us for the next half hour or so.
And you know, Tom, we’re closing in on the end of your list here of things to think about. And technology, obviously, is part of tip number four here – is to use smart technology in workflow. (sp?) Technology is the core to everything that’s done today, practically. But you know, it is not itself an answer. For example just if I buy more technology, that doesn’t necessarily buy me a better system.
OGIER: No, you’re absolutely right. Wall Street is laid with a lot of businesses that went out of business. And you know, they created some great, cool technology, but in the end the consumer market never found it to be a solution to anything. So avoid – I guess you want to avoid just throwing technology at a problem for the sake of doing that. So think about smart technology.
It may sound really simple, but when you consider like self-help on a website – the banking industry, back in the ‘80s, when the ATM machine came out – the bank tellers specifically thought that that was going to be pretty much the end of their jobs. And in fact, they kind bifurcated the customer base. And really, what that speaks to is kind of cultural differences, and just differences between generations and so forth where some people enjoy a more automated solution and more self-help. And then, others really look toward that kind of human connection. You have to meet both needs. You can’t dismiss one over the other. So you really have to offer a full solution that provides the spectrum of your customers’ needs. So when it comes to like self-help on a website, good self-help, for some customers that will solve – that will actually offload about 25% of your volume if it’s really good self-help that people want to use.
KENNEALLY: Right. And you know, Gerry Grenier talked about this new ego-system, and some egos are bigger than others. Some egos are more sensitive than others. And some people just don’t want to do any more than send you a quick chat note.
OGIER: That’s right. And that actually speaks to another kind of technology that’s out there that, in one form or another, if you can have a ticketing system or a CRM – there are a lot of different terminologies for it. But basically, a system that allows you to track that interaction. So if you have authors that are going to, what I refer to, as be frequent flyers, so they’re interacting with you frequently, and you have a pool of agents that are taking those calls and e-mails and so forth, you want a system that kind improves that communication between the various agents. So as one agent has one experience, the next time the author calls in and a different agent gets that call, they need to fully understand where one agent dropped off and the other picks up so it creates a very smooth and transparent communication process.
KENNEALLY: The recordkeeping, the way that the company tracks all of this, and also the way that the company doesn’t simply track it for tracking’s sake, but then reviews all that and evaluates it is going to be important. If you want to measure a system, potentially, if you’re a publisher, that should be a point you should look at closely.
OGIER: That’s exactly right. As you build this strategy, again, it’s kind of this circle of evolution. So you’re going to build this strategy, you’re going execute against that strategy, but then you’re going go back and reevaluate that strategy. And one way you do that is through evaluating those customer interactions. And there are a lot of great ways of doing that. Some of those have to do with the recording of phone calls. So you’re going to record those interactions for kind of a quality experience, you’re going cache your e-mails, you’re going to go back and read those e-mails – not only form the perspective of, gee, did my agent do a good job interacting with that author, but also just the really meaty information that sometimes authors will provide to you about giving you insights to future expectations they’re going to have so you can end up building new services based on just some very cavalier comments the authors provide you.
KENNEALLY: Indeed. And you know, that brings, I think appropriately, to tip number five here, Tom, which is about – this is a life-long process. You’ve made that a point. This is a process about listening. That’s what we say at Copyright Clearance Center. We’ve heard what publishers are looking for, and we’re trying to deliver on that. But it’s about listening to your staff and how they are handling these kinds of inquiries. It’s about listening to the authors themselves. That’s really important.
OGIER: That’s right. So as you implement these various tools for capturing the information, you’re going to try to create a benchmark. You’re going to establish kind of a line in the sand where your current capabilities are. And then, you’re going to want to improve around it, so you’re going to set goals for yourself and kind of move towards that goal. And really, a quality service program for any company, really it’s not a department goal. It’s a company goal. And so, really you have to start right from the top. The CEO or the president of the company should be marching to the same drum as everybody else. So you’re going to be thinking about things that are rewards for excellence, and really kind of pumping up the entire company. Although, if it’s your engineers, if it’s your customer service department, if it’s your marketing department, everybody needs to be hyper-focused on that quality experience to the author.
KENNEALLY: Right. Well, Tom Ogier, my colleague here at Copyright Clearance Center, I want to thank you for that very impressive and thoughtful rundown on the kinds of things that publishers need to be thinking about, and when they’re evaluating partners and intermediaries and all of this. That’s what they should be looking for. So Tom Ogier, thanks so much.
Stay with us Tom. And we want to turn now on our program to Kristen McNealy who is the Senior Product Manager for Author Services at John Wiley & Sons. And Kristin is based in Hoboken, but reaching us today from the U.K. Kristin, welcome to the program.
McNEALY: Hi. Thanks guys.
KENNEALLY: Well, it’s good to have you join us. We’ll tell people briefly about your own role at John Wiley & Sons as Senior Product Manager for Author Services. You’re responsible for development of improved dynamic systems to enhance author and funder experiences. And you joined Wiley after completing a Ph.D. and post-doc program in developmental neuroimaging and neurogenetics. So you understand what researchers and authors really are expecting and can clearly relate to their expectations. And Kristin, you’ve been working as a senior development editor in the Wiley open access group as well, and helped to develop a strategic editorial and operational plan.
So given all of that as a background, you’ve heard what Gerry Grenier had to say about the STM Future Lab and some of its thoughts around the return of the author. You’ve also heard my colleague Tom Ogier speak to the critical elements in an author-centric customer program. Give us your quick response to all that because that’s clearly what Wiley has been focusing on. At Wiley, you support open access in a variety of different ways, and really any business model that’s sustainable and scalable. And so, I expect what you’re hearing is stuff that you’re discussing at the office pretty much every day.
McNEALY: Absolutely. Everything that’s been discussed today so far has really resonated with the experiences that we’ve been having at Wiley over the last couple of years. We’ve been focusing on trying to develop exactly these kinds of strategies, and then putting them into our everyday practice. So being responsive to our customer needs, really sort of changing the historical culture of publishers and their attitudes toward a more service-oriented focus on customers’ needs and making sure that we’re aligned to their needs and supporting them to meet the changing landscape to fulfill any obligations that they have and funder mandates in the open access space. And offering them a variety of different options and choices so that they can fulfill those needs in as easy and transparent a way as possible.
KENNEALLY: Right. Societies have always had a really important relationship with their members – they’re the lifeblood of any society. And now, as we move toward that open access business model, that relationship is changing, developing, deepening. And they must be turning to you and really expecting that you’re going to take great care of that author.
McNEALY: Sure. So we’re trying to serve as a resource for our society partners, and to help them to understand the changing landscape and what that means for them and for the services that they’re offering to their society members and to their authors who publish in their journals. We’re trying also to provide some of the foundations for them to do things that will enable them to explore in that open access space. So to facilitate open access payments by having a customized payment system to allow authors to understand new licensing regulations and requirements and funder mandates. By having a license signing system to facilitate the relationships of authors with their funding accounts that are available through different funders or at their institutions by having open access accounts and a dashboard where those account holders can come through and easily see the requests that are being made to deduct from those accounts. And to facilitate all of this for our society partners, as well as our proprietary journals.
KENNEALLY: Right. And indeed, those points speak to the complexities involved here. And you heard Tom talk about the need to develop a strategy and put a plan together. I wonder at this point, when the societies are speaking with you about all of this, how thoroughly have they planned for this? Or is that what they turn to you for to provide them?
McNEALY: So it’s a mixed bag. There is a variety of different levels of expertise and degree of thinking around open access from our different society partners. Some of them have very clear strategies in their own right, and they are turning to us to see about implementation. Others are really looking to us to help them navigate this new territory as they’re just starting to dip their toes into that water.
KENNEALLY: I do want to thank, as well, our panelists today. Gerry Grenier is the Senior Director of Publishing Technologies for IEEE. Gerry, thanks for joining us.
GRENIER: You’re welcome Chris. Great to have been here.
KENNEALLY: Absolutely. And Kristin McNealy, thank you for joining us today from the U.K. She is Senior Product Manager for Author Services at John Wiley & Sons. Kristin, it was our pleasure to have you on the program.
McNEALY: Absolutely. Anytime.
KENNEALLY: And then, finally, sitting right next to me here at Copyright Clearance Center’s offices, Tom Ogier, Customer Service Manager for CCC. Thank you for your contribution as well.
OGIER: My pleasure.
KENNEALLY: And my name is Chris Kenneally. And finally, I want to thank Casey Bassett from the Educational Services group here at CCC for driving the program today.