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Silverchair To Acquire ScholarOne From Clarivate To Expand Investment & Innovation In Critical Publishing Technology

Silverchair, the leading independent hosting platform partner for scholarly and professional publishers, today announced signing a definitive agreement with Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT), a leading global provider of transformative intelligence, to acquire ScholarOne Manuscripts and ScholarOne Conferences (“ScholarOne”). Upon closing, this new combined offering will set Silverchair apart in the industry as an independent and client-led technology partner to scholarly publishers. With this acquisition, Silverchair will be uniquely capable of helping publishers solve their greatest content and technology challenges.

“For over 30 years, Silverchair has served the needs of publishers as an independent and unconflicted technology partner,” said Silverchair CEO Will Schweitzer. “We believe that innovation and technology can help fulfill the promise of scholarship, and we will make substantial investments in ScholarOne to meet the needs of the research community. This acquisition was part of Founder Thane Kerner’s long-term vision for Silverchair, and I’m pleased to bring it to fruition with the strong support of Thompson Street Capital Partners.”

Emmanuel Thiveaud, Senior Vice President, Research & Analytics, Academia & Government, at Clarivate said: “We are confident that Silverchair is a great home for ScholarOne with a compelling strategic fit. We are delighted that the team at Silverchair recognizes the significance of what we have built at ScholarOne. ScholarOne’s next chapter as part of Silverchair will bring together world-class talent and capabilities with a shared commitment to helping the scholarly publishing community thrive.”

Following significant investment by Thompson Street Capital Partners in 2022, Silverchair has grown by making substantial investments in the flagship Silverchair Platform, adding new partners and products (like Sensus Impact), and launching the Silverchair AI Lab. Following the close of the acquisition in the coming weeks, ScholarOne will join Silverchair as a complementary and critical piece of publishing technology, offering more of Silverchair’s renowned services to more of the publishing lifecycle.

The ScholarOne (Manuscripts & Conferences) submission systems are essential platforms used by more than 9,000 scholarly journals and conferences to review millions of manuscripts and conference abstracts each year. Over 25% of scholarly journals in the world trust ScholarOne.

“The ScholarOne team is excited to continue serving the scholarly publishing community, now as an independent, end-to-end partner,” said Josh Dahl, Senior Director of Product Management for ScholarOne. “We look forward to collaborating with our expanded community to amplify the impact of scholarship by developing these leading technology platforms to meet the needs of publishers, editors, and authors.”

Together with Silverchair’s client-led, customer-focused, and transparent approach, the combined company will meet even more of the needs of the publishing community as an innovative technology and services provider.

Driving growth for integrated infrastructure

Both the Silverchair Platform and ScholarOne are essential pieces of publishing infrastructure. With this acquisition, Silverchair will harness the full potential of these complementary technologies and workflows to accelerate innovation in scholarly publishing, particularly with AI and in research integrity. Publishers may now partner with Silverchair through even more of the publishing lifecycle, from submission and review to content hosting, productization, and distribution.

“We’re delighted by this news and look forward to working with Silverchair across more of the publication process,” said John Campbell, Product Strategy Director for Oxford University Press. “We’ve seen the impact and success of our partnership providing exceptional platform services to the research community and will work with Silverchair to bring that same approach to submission and peer review. We have a long-standing relationship with ScholarOne and are excited for this next phase of transformation and development.”   

Building a future for long-term commitment

This acquisition marks a key milestone in Silverchair’s continued investment in scholarly publishing infrastructure to serve the community. Clients will benefit from further expansion and investment in both ScholarOne’s offerings as well as the Silverchair Platform.

“We see amazing potential to implement AI and automations across the publishing lifecycle, bringing efficiencies and integrations that will benefit a diverse group of stakeholders from authors through to readers,” said Emilie Delquié, Chief Product & Customer Success Officer. “Our planned strategic investment will ensure ScholarOne leads publishing workflows in trust, transparency, and user experience. By bringing Silverchair’s signature level of service and community to ScholarOne, we can truly transform publishing infrastructure.”

Silverchair will develop a bold vision for the future of ScholarOne, with transparent feedback and input from all stakeholders. This acquisition gives Silverchair increased global reach and scale to consider holistic improvements to scholarly publishing infrastructure and workflows. The acquisition is expected to close within the fourth quarter of 2024 subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

ACS Publications partners with Kudos to accelerate global sustainable development

Kudos and the Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) are proud to announce a new partnership to increase the reach and impact of research relating to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The collaboration will see ACS Publications joining the SDG Knowledge Cooperative, an initiative led by Kudos wherein publishers join forces to help more people find, understand and act on research that will help drive progress towards achieving the SDGs.

ACS has identified 7 goals that are “foundational to the work of the chemistry community”; Kudos will help identify articles published within ACS Journals with the greatest impact potential in terms of driving innovation, changing attitudes and, behaviours, and accelerating better outcomes. Selected articles will be summarized for broader audiences, and actively promoted to groups including industry, educators, policy makers and the media.

“Chemistry is fundamental to achieving many of the SDGs, from providing clean water to developing green energy solutions,” says ACS Publications President James Milne, PhD. “This collaboration with Kudos will help amplify the reach and impact of key research that supports the SDGs, making innovations more accessible and actionable for scientists, and for the many stakeholders who can accelerate society’s progress towards achieving the SDGs.”

“The SDGs encapsulate the biggest problems facing the world today,” says Charlie Rapple, co-founder of Kudos and lead for its SDG program. “The research that will solve many of these problems is already underway – many of the solutions exist; our challenge is to make sure that those solutions are known about and being applied in the places where they are most needed. I’m excited to be joining forces with ACS Publications in our quest to maximize the reach and impact of research.”

ACS is a sponsor of Kudos’ ongoing research into how researchers, universities, and funders are aligning their work with the SDGs, offering actionable recommendations for stakeholders looking to engage with SDG-related opportunities. The findings from this study will be published next month.

For more information about the SDG Knowledge Cooperative:
https://info.growkudos.com/landing/sdg-knowledge-cooperative

For more information about the SDG research study:
https://info.growkudos.com/landing/real-world-change-sdg-research-study

For more information about ACS’ SDG program: https://www.acs.org/sustainability/chemistry-sustainable-development-goals.html

IOP Publishing partners with Baidu Scholar to provide excellent publishing services in China 

IOP Publishing (IOPP) and Baidu Scholar, a Chinese academic search engine, have formed a partnership to integrate IOPP’s academic resources onto the Baidu platform. The partnership makes it easier for researchers to find and access IOPP’s content via Baidu’s convenient and user-friendly platform. 

Baidu Scholar will label IOPP journals with an “official certification mark” to help promote the journal brand and improve the search quality for Chinese scholars.  It also includes an ‘online submission’ button, providing researchers with a seamless ‘one-click submission’ option that easily submits their work to the platform. 

Emmie Yang, Head of Publishing, APAC at IOP Publishing, said: “This partnership underlines IOPP’s commitment to provide excellent and localised publishing services in China. Fully certifying IOPP journals on the Baidu platform will bring assurance to readers of our journals’ authenticity and increased visibility for our authors and their work.” 

IOPP has joined more than 1.2 million academic sites on Baidu Scholar, providing nearly three billion services to tens of millions of academic users each year. 

cOAlition S announces the release of an independent study on the impact of Plan S

cOAlition S is pleased to announce the release of an independent, comprehensive study assessing the impact of Plan S on the scholarly communication landscape. Conducted by scidecode science consulting, following a tender process, this study provides the first assessment of the impact of Plan S five years after its launch.

Titled “Galvanising the Open Access Community: A Study on the Impact of Plan S”, the report combines quantitative analysis with qualitative insights from key stakeholders across the academic publishing ecosystem.

Key highlights

The authors of the study highlight that Plan S has opened new avenues for achieving full and immediate Open Access, successfully placing Open Access high on policymakers’ agendas and bringing publishers to the negotiating table with institutions. The study underscores the potentially game-changing effect of the rights retention strategy, which institutions have since expanded into their own Rights Retention Policies. It also notes the contribution to the current momentum around Diamond Open Access, and the role of cOAlition S in raising awareness of the inequities of article-based charges publishing models.

The authors note that it may be too early to fully assess Plan S’s quantitative impact, as many policies only took effect in 2021 or later, and they recommend revisiting the study in 5-10 years. However, observing significant progress in the push towards full and immediate Open Access since Plan S was first announced and the influential role of the alliance of research funders, they recommend continuing cOAlition S beyond 2025. The authors also emphasize that any meaningful transition towards more sustainable, affordable and equitable publishing will require collaboration among all actors in this ecosystem.

→ The full study, along with its underpinning dataset, can be accessed via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13738479

cOAlition S commissioned this independent study to objectively assess the impact of Plan S. Despite the challenging scope and the inherent difficulties associated with assessing the impact a policy intervention has had in a short timeframe, the insights gleaned from the analysis of scidecode science consulting, the stakeholder feedback and subsequent recommendations will help inform our future plans and the ongoing efforts to achieve full and immediate open access to research publications.

Open Access Partnerships Key to Increasing the Global Impact of African Research

Collaboration between libraries and publishers accelerating access to the work of African scholars

The work of researchers in Africa is experiencing increased international reach, supported by new open access (OA) partnerships between research libraries and publishers. Recent forums in South Africa have highlighted the importance of this cooperation for the continued growth and impact of Africa’s rich research output.

A fundamental shift in Africa’s research visibility is underway, through an acceleration in OA publications. For example, in each of the last two years, the number of African articles published OA in Taylor & Francis journals has grown by 20%. As their research becomes more available, African scholars are now better positioned to influence global development, drive policy changes, and foster societal progress through their work.

Transformative Strategies for Expanding Research Visibility

This theme was explored by leading librarians and researchers at recent ‘Academic Allies’ events, hosted in Johannesburg and Cape Town by Taylor & Francis. Delegates emphasized the particularly transformative effect of ‘Read and Publish’ OA agreements, which are now offering Southern African researchers increased visibility and influence on the global stage. ‘Read and Publish’ agreements enable institutions to cover the costs of OA publishing, allowing many more researchers to choose open access.

In March, the South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC) and Taylor & Francis announced a new three-year agreement, which supports researchers in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia to publish OA articles in over 2,100 journals. Delegates at the recent events were given an overview of the early successes of this partnership and speakers explained its importance.

Prof. Maria Frahm-Arp, Executive Director, Library and Information Science, University of Johannesburg stated, “There is widespread skepticism around pay-to-publish journals, but initiatives such as ‘Read and Publish’ agreements transfer that cost from the researcher to the institution, making open access more accessible across all disciplines.” Prof. Frahm-Arp emphasized “the importance of publishers like Taylor & Francis continuing to develop transformative agreements that ease the financial strain on researchers and expand access to knowledge.”

Dr Gilford Tapera Hapanyengwi, Director ICT, Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education said, “Content creation is imperative for the development of our education systems, and Taylor & Francis’s partnership is central to this transformation.” Dr Hapanyengwi also stressed “the critical role Taylor & Francis plays in rolling out initiatives like Heritage-Based Education 5.0 in Southern Africa.”

Practical strategies were also shared during the events, empowering attendees with actionable insights that will further boost the accessibility and influence of African academic contributions.

A Strong Commitment to Southern Africa’s Academic Future

The ‘Academic Allies’ forum underscored Taylor & Francis’ unwavering dedication to advancing research excellence in Southern Africa. The event was a testament to their commitment to nurturing long-term partnerships with SANLiC and other influential stakeholders. This collaboration aligns with SANLiC’s vision of providing cost-effective access to high-quality electronic resources in support of teaching, research, and learning in public higher education institutions.

As part of this effort, the forum highlighted the importance of continuous capacity-building initiatives, the integration of research-oriented learning, and the provision of ongoing support to Southern African universities. These steps will equip the academic community to lead the region’s future developments in the global academic sphere, ensuring African scholars are not only contributors but also key players in driving global innovation.

Nitasha Devasar, Managing Director- India, VP & Commercial Lead- India, South Asia & Africa remarked “Our partnership with SANLiC exemplifies our commitment to advancing diversity and equity in scholarly communication. We believe that by working together we will be able to significantly enhance the global reach and discoverability of Southern African research, maximizing its impact in Africa and more widely.”

Further information

The impact of open access research from Africa: How African researchers are influencing policy

SANLiC and Taylor & Francis Announce New Open Access Program for Researchers in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia

Biochemical Society journals transformed

We’re delighted to share that we will have a compliant open access (OA) route for all papers published in Biochemical Society journals in 2025, completing our planned transformation to an OA publisher.   

We made a pledge to create funder and institutionally compliant OA routes for all published articles to Plan S deadlines, and we are proud to share we have achieved this through four OA pathways, the fourth being Subscribe to Open to be implemented in 2025. Forces guiding the pace and method of our transition were:   

  • our strategic mission to ensure greater equity, diversity, and inclusion;   
  • actors within the scholarly communications landscape who set the agenda and provided guidance; organisations such as the Subscribe to Open Community of Practice, the Society Publishers Coalition, Jisc, CAUL and our many other consortia partners, ALPSP, UKRI, Wellcome, Plan S and more.  
  • our scientific community who sees value in producing and sharing results that (with more open data) are reproducible and readily accessible regardless of economic circumstances of region, institution, or career stage.  

As a fully OA publisher, we will have greater means to promote discovery of our authors’ research, broadening dissemination globally, and continuing to deliver great publishing experiences for our authors. We commit to high standards of peer review and quality control, to best in industry production turnaround times, and to taking responsibility for the integrity of the scientific record.   

We need financial stability, as do the institutions who support our work. As chair of Portland Press, Professor Nigel Hooper notes:

“Partnering with institutions and consortia to achieve fee-free OA for authors globally is a shared and mutual mission. The Biochemical Society (and its publishing arm, Portland Press) appreciate the ongoing financial support of many who are actively helping us to transition to a position where we can offer an OA route for all papers”. 

Therefore, thank you to our library community, on whose support we depend. Publishing surpluses are gifted back to the Society, helping to fund scholars through grants and bursaries, to subsidise events and training, to create opportunities for our members at all stages of their career development. Our mission is to achieve a rich scientific culture based on accessible and trusted research for the advancement of the molecular biosciences.   

MDPI Champions Open Access for Global Progress

MDPI, a leading open access (OA) publisher, is proud to announce its participation in International Open Access Week 2024, 21–27 October. This year’s theme, “Community over Commercialization”, resonates with MDPI’s commitment to publishing insights for everyone, regardless of background.

OA Week is a valuable opportunity to inspire engagement with the open access movement and to advocate for more sustainable and inclusive scholarly communication. This mission, shared by MDPI, helps to ensure that all communities have the means to participate in shaping global futures.

To support these aims, MDPI will be sharing a variety of digital resources discussing quality and ethics in OA publishing, the tools we provide to support researchers, and the benefits of OA and open research. For more information on MDPI’s initiatives, please visit our website.

By working together to further open access, we can collectively contribute to democratizing knowledge sharing among the global research community and society at large. Join us as we promote a culture of inclusivity in scholarly publishing.

Stefan Tochev, CEO of MDPI: ”Since its inception, MDPI has been an advocate for open access, driven by the need to reimagine academic publishing. As a leading OA publisher, MDPI is actively working to liberate science. We are dedicated to removing the barriers that researchers and the public face when accessing information, ensuring it is not locked behind paywalls. We firmly believe that everyone has the right to access information. By prioritizing open scholarship, we empower researchers to exchange ideas globally, accelerating scientific discovery and advancing social progress through more inclusive and impactful research.”

Qatar’s research extends its global reach with Figshare-powered repository

Researchers and institutions in Qatar are now directly sharing their outputs with the world thanks to Manara, the research repository by Qatar National Library.

Powered by Figshare, a leading provider of institutional repository infrastructure that supports open research, Manara was launched in 2022 to serve as a digital archive of Qatar’s research.

Leveraging the platform, Qatar National Library aims to ensure the long-term preservation of the nation’s knowledge and its dissemination to the rest of the world.

As of the start of Open Access Week 2024, Manara has become home to more than 6,300 research outputs from 25 institutions, serving over 106,000 downloads and 174,000 views across 149 countries worldwide – predominantly from the United States, Qatar, and several European countries – highlighting the international impact of the project. 

The platform continues to grow, with two prominent Qatar-based research institutions recently signing up to share their outputs and make Manara their institutional repository, namely the University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST) and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

The repository incorporates traditional research outputs – such as articles and monographs – as well as non-traditional outputs – such as datasets, conference proceedings, posters and presentations, and multimedia galleries. The team at QNL is also leveraging Manara’s functionality to further support Green Open Access initiatives, with the publication of preprints in the repository.

Marcin Werla, Director of Digital Collections at Qatar National Library, said Manara contributes a great deal to the Library’s mission to preserve Qatar’s research outputs for future generations, and to share that knowledge with the world. “Interest in Manara has been steadily growing since the platform’s launch two years ago, as evidenced by our expanding partnerships and increased global visibility,” Mr Werla said.

Mark Hahnel, Figshare Founder and Digital Science’s VP, Open Research, said: “It’s incredibly pleasing to see Qatar National Library becoming a champion of open research both locally and within the region. It’s my hope that QNL’s infrastructure solution, in the form of Manara, could inspire other institutions within Qatar to join, as two others already have, as well as inspiring other countries in the region to follow the same path. It’s critically important that local knowledge is preserved and shared for the benefit of society, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing with the growing number of outputs and the growing visibility for those outputs on Manara. Qatar has an even brighter open research future ahead, with the opportunity for green OA initiatives and the publication of preprints in the repository.”

Find out more about Manara: https://www.qnl.qa/en/manara-repository/about

Wiley to Reveal Key Insights and AI-Driven Innovations at Frankfurt Book Fair

This week at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Wiley, one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in research and learning, will share key insights on the potential and expectations for artificial intelligence (AI) in scholarly publishing. Wiley will also showcase initiatives to redefine publishing technology with AI-enabled tools, and foster industry dialogue and collaboration.

Bridging the Gap Between Potential and Practice
In a keynote address at 2pm on Thursday titled Capitalizing on AI for Smarter Publishing in the Frankfurt Studio (Foyer Hall 4.0 Room Europa), Josh Jarrett, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AI Growth for Wiley, will unveil findings from a comprehensive, new survey of nearly 5,000 researchers worldwide that reveals that while researchers have high expectations for AI, they also have ethical concerns and are calling on publishers to provide clear guidelines. By taking a future-facing approach and focusing on potential use cases for AI that span the entire research process, Wiley’s presentation will offer practical insights to assist researchers in navigating their choices for implementing AI. Jarrett will also discuss responsible AI development at Wiley to enhance productivity, innovation, and growth and the company’s vision for the future of AI in publishing.

Innovating for a Secure and Efficient Publishing Ecosystem
At the Fair, Wiley will also highlight the following initiatives aimed at promoting safe and productive use of AI in publishing:

  • Strategic Partnerships: Wiley AI Partnerships: A Co-Innovation Program, aimed to deliver AI advantages for researchers and practitioners, will launch at the Fair and additional partners are invited to join this effort to shape the future of AI in research. Interested organizations can learn more about the program at the 2pm keynote on Thursday.
  • A smarter and simpler publication experience: Wiley is leveraging AI to enhance Research Exchange, its comprehensive platform for submission, screening and peer review. At today’s session, User Data in Motion: Research Integrity Feedback Loops, at 10:30am on Stage 4.0 (Hall 4.0 H104), Wiley will showcase how Research Exchange delivers nuanced and actionable research integrity insights. Additionally, Wiley will demonstrate the platform’s Screening module, featuring AI-powered Papermill Detection technology, at the Wiley booth, C18, Hall 4.0.
  • Educational Resources:
    • GenAI For Dummies will debut at the Frankfurt Book Fair. This guide, part of Wiley’s renowned ‘For Dummies’ series, provides essential knowledge on generative AI. It was also developed using an AI-augmented authoring process, reflecting Wiley’s ongoing efforts to explore the use of AI applications to enhance educational resources.
    • zyBooks, Wiley’s affordable and interactive STEM courseware,has added a new chapter to its Data Science Foundationscourses, focusing on essential AI concepts like machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. This chapter not only covers practical applications of AI in various fields, but also addresses ethical considerations such as bias and privacy.
  • New AI research journals: Wiley recently announced the expansion of its prestigious Advanced Portfolio, which includes peer-reviewed journals focusing on AI. Building on the success of Advanced Intelligent Systems, two new journals focused on AI, Advanced Intelligent Discovery and Advanced Robotics Research, are on track to launch by the end of 2024.

“As a trusted partner to thousands of organizations and a publisher to over a million authors, we’re committed to working across the community to redefine publishing for an AI-assisted future,” said Jay Flynn, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Research & Learning at Wiley. “Integrating AI safely and ethically into the publishing process is not just an opportunity—it’s a responsibility. We look forward to advancing the conversation and partnering with authors, researchers and industry groups to advance the responsible use of AI in publishing.”

Fostering Industry Dialogue and Collaboration
Wiley will tape the third episode of its new panel discussion series “The Conversations” live in Frankfurt. Titled “Into the AI Age: The Role of AI in Research and Learning,” this episode will feature experts discussing how AI can address academic challenges, spark creativity, and foster collaboration. Moderated by Jay Flynn, panelists include Olivia Gambelin, founder of Ethical Intelligence; Dr. Dorothea Baur, an independent ethics expert; and Ivana Bartoletti, Global Chief Privacy & AI Governance Officer at Wipro.

Wiley’s advancements in AI-enabled technology and services will be showcased throughout the Frankfurt Book Fair. A full list of Wiley sessions is available here. Wiley’s AI innovations and initiatives adhere to the company’s AI Principles.

Signals launches free research integrity submissions evaluation platform to help restore trust in research

We started Signals to help build a transparent foundation for identifying problematic articles as well as trustworthy and valuable research outputs. Our greater goal of restoring trust in research requires the support and effort of the entire research community, and right now publishers are on the frontline of efforts to counter the rapid rise in problematic articles. 

To help them in this complex and challenging effort, Signals is launching a free manuscript submissions check service for publishers to evaluate the research integrity profiles of their submissions. By giving all publishers, including smaller societies and specialist publishers, access to these essential evaluations, we can build a robust research integrity network that will help prevent the publication of articles from paper mills and other bad actors, protecting the scholarly record.

Signals Submissions Checks will integrate into editorial workflows to provide research integrity evaluations and key underlying signals for all submitted manuscripts. Publishers requiring the full suite of signals, journal and portfolio level evaluations, analytics, or post-submissions monitoring will be able to upgrade to one of Signals’ subscription offerings.

 Publishers in Frankfurt this week are invited to talk with Signals Co-founder and Commercial Lead Nicko Goncharoff, who will be attending the STM Frankfurt Meeting on Tuesday, October 15th. Nicko will also be at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday and Thursday, where he will be joined by Signals Co-Founder Tiago Barros.

ResearchGate launches Journal Home’s Open Access Agreement Upgrade

ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, today announced a significant new upgrade to its Journal Home product for publishers, with the introduction of the Open Access Agreement Upgrade (OAAU). 

This new feature enables publisher partners to identify and effectively communicate with relevant researchers about funding for publishing that they are eligible for through Open Access Agreements (also referred to as Transformative Agreements, Transitional Agreements or Read & Publish Agreements) – driving greater awareness and uptake of open access publishing. 

With more than 1,000 Open Access Agreements across 70+ countries worldwide, publishers have continued to scale the number of Open Access Agreements available to support open access growth. 

However, many publishers report that it is very difficult to effectively communicate with individual researchers about agreements, with limited options to target the right researchers at the right time. This communication gap has left many researchers unaware of Open Access Agreements or what they offer. 

In a survey of over 2,000 researchers globally, ResearchGate found that nearly half (48%) were not at all familiar with such agreements. Even those that do know about Open Access Agreements struggle to understand if they are eligible, or how to access funding when they are. 

Journal Home’s new Open Access Agreement Upgrade addresses these challenges, providing publishers with a powerful solution to reach eligible researchers more effectively and at scale. 

The upgrade provides publishers with:

  • Unprecedented reach to eligible researchers: ResearchGate’s individually-assigned institutional data ensures that publishers can now connect with researchers at participating institutions more accurately. 
  • Contextual education: Journal Home’s unique network functionality enables publishers to deliver Open Access Agreement messaging relevant to the individual journal that a researcher is actively engaging with on ResearchGate.
  • Continuous engagement throughout the research lifecycle: The OAAU enables continuous, personalised communication at the individual researcher level at the right point in their publishing journey. Whether they’re reading an article, visiting a journal profile, searching in their feed, or updating their own profile, publishers can help potential authors get the support to publish open access through an agreement.
  • Unique insights: publishers gain access to Journal Home’s unique reporting and analytics, enabling them to measure the reach and effectiveness for their Open Access Agreements at each stage of the publishing journey from readership to authorship. 

A range of publishers have already activated this new upgrade, including Wiley, Taylor & Francis, IOP Publishing, De Gruyter, Sage Publications, BMJ, Optica, The Royal Society, Rockefeller University Press, Trans Tech and Royal Society of Chemistry.

“Our publisher partners have highlighted how difficult it is to consistently communicate to the right researchers that they are eligible for open access funding support through Open Access Agreements,” said Mathias Astell, VP of Commercial Products, ResearchGate. “Traditional channels and tools often fall short due to limited targeting, high costs for individual campaigns, and lack of data. Journal Home’s OAAU overcomes these challenges by integrating agreement messaging into our researcher-centric ecosystem, where researchers have already verified their institutional affiliations and are actively engaging with the journals they know and trust. This approach means messages are always-on, and delivered at the right time to be useful for researchers and effective for publishers.”

Early adopters of the OAAU are already seeing strong results, continuously reaching researchers in more than 90% of the institutions covered by their agreements within the first six months. 

“Journal Home has consistently delivered great value to our partners by increasing journal visibility, usage and authorship through the ResearchGate platform, and delivering unique insights on researcher engagement”, said Sören Hofmayer, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at ResearchGate. “Now, the OAAU enables publishers to further harness these capabilities to build momentum for open access through their institutional agreements. This is a groundbreaking opportunity to drive forward open access adoption!”

For more information about Journal Home, please visit researchgate.net/journal-home

Charlesworth Expands Gateway Service with LINE App Notifications for APAC-based Authors

Charlesworth, a leading provider of publishing and marketing solutions in Asia, is proud to announce the expansion of its Charlesworth Gateway product to support APAC-based authors by integrating with the LINE app. Authors can now receive instant manuscript status updates directly through their personal LINE accounts, ensuring they remain informed at every stage of their submission-to-publication journey.

This new service aligns with Charlesworth’s vision of providing a localised, enhanced author experience, facilitating fast, efficient communication between editors, authors, and reviewers.

“Japan is a key market for us, and we are excited to extend our communication solutions to authors there using LINE,” said Andrew Smith, Product and Marketing Director at Charlesworth. “By building on the success of our WeChat services in China, we aim to offer Japan-based researchers the same high level of engagement and support via an app they already use extensively.”

Launched in 2011, LINE is a popular messaging app in Asia Pacific. It has become Japan’s most popular instant messaging app, with over 70% of the population using the platform. Its official business accounts are an effective communication tool to reach authors in the region. By leveraging LINE, Charlesworth enables publishers to connect with authors on a platform they engage with daily, streamlining notifications and enhancing the overall author experience.

This expansion of Charlesworth’s services marks a significant step forward in supporting authors across the Asia Pacific, making fast, streamlined, localised communication a reality.

Charlesworth first launched the LINE integration with its parent company, Enago, to send push notifications to clients of its author services business. In addition to notifications, Charlesworth can provide marketing solutions in Japan via its Tokyo team. 

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