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Our team continuously monitors hot topics in the industry. In April, Mithu Lucraft and Kelly Henwood focused on AI integration and open access (OA).
The ALPSP webinar “AI and Beyond: A Vision for the Future of Publishing Technology” discussed AI’s role in knowledge delivery. Wiley’s Hong Zhou presented AI use cases like content classification and author profiling. However, AI integration has challenges including author disambiguation, research integrity, and scalability, as Ian Mulvany from BMJ discussed. The webinar stressed the importance of community creation and adapting to user behaviours and preferences. It also highlighted the need for governance in AI use and the potential for more autonomous publishing processes.
Looking ahead, the trustworthiness of AI systems, the future of OA publishing, and the decision to invest in AI technologies need consideration. AI integration in the publishing industry requires strategic decision-making.
OASPA’s webinar, “The impact of Plan S: a discussion on findings so far,” examined the impact of Plan S implementation. The webinar featured a summary from scidecode’s team, who were selected to deliver the review. Pablo de Castro from the University of Strathclyde shared a few early findings. These included that Plan S has sparked more discussions about OA at various levels. It’s too early to measure all the impacts of Plan S policies, but an early finding suggests a continued mix of models in the future. This bodes well for publishers renegotiating beyond the existing Plan S funding for TAs.
Another early finding was the variation in OA ‘flavours’ among funders. Many had already begun transitioning to OA before Plan S, so the policy hasn’t led to significant changes.
Emma Wilson from the RSC discussed Plan S’s catalytic effect on their strategy. The RSC has committed to a full transition to OA by 2028, anticipating a global shift towards OA. They are working on pilots in collaboration with customers to co-develop models.
In conclusion, both webinars point to the importance for publishers to maintain dialogue and collaboration with other stakeholders to navigate the changes ahead. Despite the challenges, there is much optimism that AI integration and the transition to Open Access can both benefit our industry!
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