Cadmore Media is excited to announce a new partnership with IET.tv, a trusted leader in video production since 2002. This collaboration allows Cadmore Media to offer production services to its clients, including high-quality broadcasts, webinar production, original content creation, and in-person event capture, all seamlessly integrated with Cadmore’s industry-leading video publishing solutions.
Through this partnership, Cadmore Media’s clients can now access:
Broadcast and webinar production: With IET.tv’s advanced live-mixing workflows, clients can elevate their webinars and seminars into polished, broadcast-quality productions.
Original content production: From talking heads to promotional videos, IET.tv brings two decades of expertise to create engaging and professional content.
In-person event capture and broadcast: IET.tv provides state-of-the-art equipment and expert engineers to capture events live and stream them directly to Cadmore’s platform.
End-to-end content publishing workflow: Content produced through this partnership is seamlessly delivered via Cadmore’s platform, ensuring a streamlined experience from production to publication.
“IET.tv brings decades of experience in creating professional, broadcast-quality video content, and their expertise is the perfect complement to our video hosting platform,” said Violaine Iglesias CEO and Co-Founder of Cadmore Media. “This partnership allows us to offer our clients a complete solution for producing, hosting, and delivering video content at the highest standards. Together, we are setting a new benchmark for video production and publishing in the scholarly and professional space.”
“Partnering with Cadmore Media is an exciting step forward for IET.tv,” said Mark Reynard, Head of IET.tv. “By combining our broadcast production expertise with their video publishing platform, Cadmore are offering clients an end-to-end solution that simplifies the process of creating and distributing professional-quality video content. Together, we’re enabling organisations to share their stories and ideas more effectively than ever.”
For societies, publishers, and organizations seeking a comprehensive video production and delivery solution, the Cadmore Media and IET.tv partnership provides unmatched expertise, quality, and scalability.
EDP Sciences is pleased to announce its renewed commitment to Research4Life, an initiative that provides vital research content to institutions in lower- and middle-income countries covered by the programme. As part of this recommitment, EDP Sciences will continue to offer free or low-cost access to its journals for these institutions, and will provide free publication for Group A countries. This commitment contributes to the global advancement of research and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Anne Ruimy, Editorial Director of EDP Sciences, signed the recommitment on behalf of the organisation.
Research4Life plays a crucial role in creating a more inclusive and equitable scholarly environment, empowering researchers in underrepresented regions to participate in and contribute to the global scientific community. By expanding access to high-quality research, Research4Life helps bridge gaps in knowledge sharing and promotes evidence-based research, which is essential in addressing societal challenges.
EDP Sciences remains dedicated to supporting this mission, strengthening global collaborations and fostering sustainable development through knowledge dissemination.
Defining the true impact of research is an elusive task. Open science practices such as data sharing, code sharing, protocol and methods sharing, preregistration, and others, can establish pathways towards increased impact. Communicating that impact hinges on easy access to as many elements of the research, metadata surrounding the research, and its usage, as possible. It takes a village.
For funders, transparent research maximizes the impact of every charitable dollar spent. That’s because transparent science practices are associated with high-quality, reproducible research—demonstrating the rigor and validity of scientific research, facilitating its reuse, and expanding its reach. For publishers, the ability to identify transparent research practices underpins organizational efforts to support open access, improve research discoverability, and showcase successes. Access to reliable, consistent Open Science Metrics are vital to both stakeholder groups.
Open Science Metrics meet Sensus Impact
In order to craft an engaging narrative around research impact, and the part transparent research plays within it, DataSeer, a provider of artificial intelligence data solutions for research stakeholders, is partnering with Silverchair, a leading independent platform provider for professional and scholarly publishers. The organizations have collaborated on a pilot that aims to display research transparency data on a funder level within the new Silverchair product Sensus Impact. This trial combines DataSeer’s Open Science Metrics with Sensus’ dashboards, creating another element in the dynamic, at-a-glance impact narrative that the platform’s funder microsites aim to tell.
Using natural language processing, DataSeer analyzes thousands of published research articles and returns top-level metrics on transparent research practices such as data sharing, code sharing, protocol sharing, preprint posting, repository use, and more. Metrics can be filtered by date, journal/publisher, corresponding author affiliation, and funding source—making it easy to identify trends and track changes over time. With Open Science Metrics, scholarly communications stakeholders can establish meaningful benchmarks, set goals, implement policies and strategies, and quantify outcomes.
Developed in partnership with Oxford University Press (OUP) and with development informed by nearly 30 industry organizations that participate in the Community of Practice, Sensus Impact aims to centralize fragmented measurement and reporting into a single, free-to-access resource with a focus on demonstrating the impact of research supported by funders. Sensus captures access and usage data from sources including publishing platforms and Digital Science’s Altmetrics tool, enabling funders to track article views, downloads, research citations, patent and policy citations, and more.
Together, the reporting tools have the potential to seamlessly integrate value data with data on transparency and integrity.
“Giving funders the information they need to make up-to-date decisions about their research outputs is a huge step forward for science communication. We’re really pleased to be part of the great work that Sensus Impact is doing, and hope to make a major contribution to the ways they can help funders make good decisions,” said Tim Vines, founder and CEO of DataSeer.
“We’re very excited to have DataSeer’s incredibly vital Open Science Metrics as an element of the data dashboards on the funder microsites selected for this pilot,” said Hannah Heckner Swain, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Silverchair.
“We’re very excited to have DataSeer’s incredibly vital Open Science Metrics as an element of the data dashboards on the funder microsites selected for this pilot.”
“We think that this is a great way to increase the value of Sensus Impact, showcase publisher efforts to encourage the adoption of open science practices within their author base, and paint a picture for funders of the reach and impact of their investments. We look forward to exploring the possibilities of expanding this pilot to include all funders, as well as more publishers as they sign on to participate in Sensus Impact.”
Results of a trial of transparent research reporting featuring three funders
DataSeer analyzed a sample of articles publicly available through PMC and supported by one of five major funders: National Science Foundation (NSF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and National Cancer Institute (NCI), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). All five funders have open science and data-sharing policies in place. CIHR has, since 2015, required grantees to deposit specific types of data in public repositories and to retain original datasets for 5 years or longer. Gates is a Plan S signatory. NCI, NSF and NASA are U.S. federal funding bodies impacted by requirements of the Nelson Memo. Long before the Nelson Memo, NCI followed the National Institutes of Health’s 2003 Data Sharing Policy, which requires that research proposals seeking $500,000 or more include a data-sharing plan with their application, and release data as described in the plan no later than acceptance for publication.
The dataset included 5000 articles published between 2001 and 2024, 1000 from each funder, with a majority published since 2017. Across the sample, the rate of data sharing was 37%, code sharing 19.83%, and preprint posting 24.32%.
Viewed by individual funders, patterns begin to emerge. Researchers supported by NCI and NASA, and researchers supported by Gates and NSF shared data at similar rates. Authors funded by CIHR were less likely to share data.
These authors’ use of different data sharing methodologies (online, supplemental, or a combination) were broadly similar, with the exception of NASA-funded researchers, who were much more likely to share online than any other method.
NCI and NASA funded authors continued to exhibit similar behavior when it came to code-sharing. Authors funded by Gates were least likely to generate code during the research process; CIHR authors were least likely to share code if generated. Authors who shared code did so almost exclusively online, typically on GitHub.
Preprint posting was most common among authors funded by NASA (69%), NSF (24%) followed by Gates (10.8%), CIHR (9.89%), and NCI (7.8%).
When viewed by publication year from 2017 to 2023, all three transparent research practices showed a general upward trend. All three remained relatively stable in the early years, between 2017 and 2020, before ramping up in 2021—likely due to the combined effects of the pandemic and increasingly stringent Open Science mandates.
Looking ahead
We envision a future in which funders have transparent research adoption data at their fingertips alongside other more established and standardized metrics on article usage. That business intelligence will enable funders to demonstrate the real-world impact of transparent research, empower them to make data-driven policy dec
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our Compensation and Benefits Benchmarking Study! This annual global study will gather comprehensive data on wages, compensation, benefits, policies, and skills from professionals in scholarly communications and the organizations that employ them. The survey results will be hosted on SSP’s new Insights Platform.
The study includes two distinct surveys: one for individuals and one for organizations. Data collection is open now through March 31, 2025, with reports available beginning February 2025. Participants are encouraged to submit their surveys by December 31, 2024, to ensure timely findings that can guide decisions in the coming year.
Participation Benefits
Both individuals and organizations that complete at least 60% of the survey (including all required questions) will receive an executive summary of the aggregate data at no cost.
For Individuals: Participating in the study allows professionals to benchmark their compensation and benefits, helping with career planning and salary negotiations. The data offers valuable insights into competitive salaries, benefits, and the skills required across various roles and regions within the industry.
For Organizations: Organizations will gain insights into compensation and benefits trends, helping them stay competitive. This data supports evidence-based decisions on salary adjustments, benefits enhancements, and strategic workforce planning. Human resources professionals or those with access to organizational compensation data are the ideal participants for the survey.
Confidentiality and Data Security
Confidentiality is a cornerstone of the Benchmarking Study. All data is aggregated and anonymized, ensuring no proprietary information is linked to any individual or organization. SSP maintains sole control over the study’s production and distribution, safeguarding the data’s integrity.
Subscription Options
Participants and other stakeholders can further explore the data through three subscription options:
Premium Access Subscription: Provides dynamic reports from the Individual Study with filters including level, area, region, and years of experience. This option offers a deeper dive into job titles and more data points beyond your responses. Discounts are available for participants and SSP members.
Enterprise Access Subscription: Ideal for organizations seeking comprehensive insights. This includes all Premium Access features from the Individual Study plus organization-level filters like revenue, employee count, and the ability to analyze position-level data. Multiple authorized users can access the reports, continuously updated as new data comes in.
Industry Access Subscription: Focused on Organization Study data, this option allows multiple users to filter by region, organization type, and more. Reports update dynamically, reflecting the latest survey submissions.
This study is a valuable resource for individuals and organizations within the scholarly publishing community. By contributing your data, you help shape equitable, research-driven compensation standards that benefit the entire industry.
Participate today to ensure fair and competitive compensation practices in scholarly communications. Your input is essential for producing the most accurate, actionable data.
ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States, today announced a new partnership that aims to grow the reach and readership of AAP journals through ResearchGate’s innovative Journal Home offering.
The agreement includes all six AAP journals, including their new open access journal – Pediatrics Open Science. The version-of-record of all open access and free content from the past several years will be available on ResearchGate, boosting visibility for all journals with ResearchGate’s 25m+ researcher members.
Journal Home will enable the AAP to grow journal brand awareness, usage and authorship through researchers globally. Dedicated journal profiles will provide key information and content from the journals and allow ResearchGate members to understand how they are connected to a journal’s community. Additionally, the journals will have prominent branding on all associated article pages and other relevant touchpoints with members.
AAP journal article authors will also benefit from having their articles automatically added to their ResearchGate profiles, boosting engagement with their research and making it easier for them to connect with their readers, including unique insights on who is reading and citing their work.
“ResearchGate’s Journal Home provides a new opportunity for the AAP to grow the global reach and visibility of research published in our journals,” said Mark Grimes, Vice President of Publishing for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Joining this community of journals offers our readers and potential authors new ways to forge connections and engage with one another.”
“It’s fantastic to be working with the AAP and their prestigious portfolio of pediatrics journals,” said Sören Hofmayer, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at ResearchGate. “Journal Home offers a unique way for the AAP to understand and act on the engagement with their journals, which is particularly important for new launches. We look forward to seeing these journals grow on ResearchGate!”
New analysis suggests that open data practice is now on the edge of becoming a standard, recognised and supported scholarly output, globally.
As part of the latest in the State of Open Data series, produced by partners Digital Science, Figshare and Springer Nature, direct author-sharing practices have been analysed from a funder, country and institutional level. The resulting data shows key trends driving successful open sharing and the growth of global adoption, while also enabling recommendations to be drawn to help bridge the remaining gaps between policy and practice.
Report co-author Mark Hahnel, VP of Open Research at Digital Science and Founder of Figshare, said:
“Open research is now officially an inevitability. If we look at open research in general and closed vs open publishing, there is now more open publishing than closed. We’re now in a place where we consistently see around 2 million datasets being published every year; this is the same amount of articles that we saw published annually in the year 2000. This report provides a valuable insight into what is really driving this data sharing and enables us, as a community, to see what is working and what we need to do more of to both sustain these figures and increase them.”
Key findings from the report show that:
More universities now have data sharing policies as part of their efforts to promote open science and research transparency.
There has been a strong growth in papers linking to data from universities globally since 2010. Although there are differences regionally, with a spread of just 5-10% in data sharing policies, this is less significant than the number of articles (>85% ) that were previously not linked to data.
The success of open data initiatives reflects a broader policy environment. However, having policies in place is not sufficient on its own.
Policies for open data sharing are now more consistent globally, which has contributed to a general decline in “on request” sharing with reductions ranging from 1-9% in all but one country – i.e. researchers are now sharing more ‘naturally’. However, there are fluctuations in practice based on the type of research being funded and geolocation, and even where policies are in place, there is not necessarily a significant rise in repository sharing.
Global uptake of open research practice has increased, but is impacted by country-level motivations for data sharing.
The United States has the lowest percentage of researchers that are motivated through citation of their data (4.88%) while having the highest percentage being motivated by funder requirement (10.23%). Conversely, Ethiopia and Japan show similarity with a higher importance of motivation through citation of their data (9.3% and 14.8% respectively) and a similar low importance of motivation from funder requirement (at 2.33% and 1.67% respectively).
Resource disparities remain.
Progress in some countries is hindered by limitations in internet connectivity, institutional support, and a lack of awareness. Across the 10 regions analysed*, the US, UK, Germany, and France demonstrated similar trends in repository sharing, averaging around a 25% sharing rate. However, for Brazil, Ethiopia and India the sharing rate remains significantly below a quarter.
Sustained efforts are needed to respond to the challenges in diverse research areas.
A wide range of disciplines are now being covered by the growing number of data availability statement (DAS) policies, but many still lack established community practices, suitable repositories, and/or the ability to handle sensitive data which is difficult to share.
Report co-author Graham Smith, Open Data Programme Manager, Springer Nature said:
“Our aim with this report is to help open up the conversations we need to have around open data and research practices. Providing global data that helps to recognise and address the disparities in practice, we can identify as a sector the targeted and practical next steps needed to further accelerate the global adoption of open data practices. In doing so, we can foster a more equitable and accessible research ecosystem, where data sharing is valued, rewarded, and ultimately becomes a cornerstone of academic success – key if we are to move to a fully open science future.”
This year’s focused report combines three different data sources: Dimensions, Springer Nature Data Availability Statements and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative-funded Data Citation Corpus, to look at the linkages between peer-reviewed published research and data sets being made available. The combination of these sources has enabled patterns to be analysed around how researchers are making their data open, to what standard, and better understand the real motivations for data sharing, to help inform how we as a community can effect positive change.
Alongside the analysis of researcher actions, the report also suggests four ways in which to continue to drive progress forwards: consistent introduction of a four-step process of change (policy, mandate compliance and measurement); enhanced collaboration for equitable access to knowledge; an increase in training and identification of the regions that need more targeted support; and greater acknowledgement, by all, of the nuances by discipline.
The results of this year’s analysis will be discussed in a webinar on 23 January 2025. Register for the webinar here and join the conversation at #StateOfOpenData.
Digital Science is excited to announce that Altmetric, which gauges the online attention of research, has added the social media platform Bluesky as a new attention source for published research.
This major development sees Altmetric become the first to systematically track the impact of conversations about research on Bluesky, which has reached more than 23 million users.
By adding Bluesky as an attention source, Altmetric will provide:
Increased diversity of social media tracking
Reliability and continuity in data
Broader insights and analysis
Transparent attention scoring
Social media analytics to drive strategic decisions
Altmetric tracks Bluesky attention in real-time, detecting posts, reposts and quotes that contain a direct link to a scholarly output.
As of today, Altmetric has tracked 395,000 mentions of published research on Bluesky.
Amye Kenall, Vice President of Product, Data & Analytics Hub, Digital Science, said: “Bluesky has become a favored social media channel for research communications professionals and academics. Indeed, in our own research we found over 22% of researchers were using Bluesky over any other social media channel. We believe its importance to the global research conversation will strengthen even further over the coming years.
“Adding Bluesky to Altmetric unlocks a fresh, more comprehensive view of research conversations, which will help provide key insights into the attention research is receiving.
“With Altmetric, we’re empowering research communities to understand the real-world influence of their work. The inclusion of Bluesky supports our users’ need for transparent and comprehensive research engagement in today’s evolving social media landscape.”
Emily Liu, Bluesky Growth & Partnerships, said: “Scientists and researchers have been a core part of the Bluesky community since the very beginning, and we want to make this a great network for them. We’re excited that with Altmetric, it’s now easier to track conversations happening around their research.”
The Company of Biologists is delighted to announce the renewal of our Read & Publish Open Access agreement with Jisc, the UK digital, data and technology agency focused on tertiary education, research and innovation.
The agreement will run from 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2026, and corresponding authors at participating institutions can continue to publish an uncapped number of research articles immediately Open Access (OA) in our hybrid journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology), or our fully Open Access journals (Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open) without paying an article processing charge (APC). Researchers at participating institutions also benefit from unlimited access to our hybrid journals, including their full archives dating back to 1853.
Anna Vernon, Head of Research Portfolio at Jisc, says:
“We are pleased to renew our agreement with The Company of Biologists. As well as providing access to the latest biological literature for UK universities and supporting cutting-edge research, it will also continue to facilitate the transition to Open Access for UK research and the publisher.”
Rich Blount, Regional Sales Manager at The Company of Biologists, says:
“As a UK publisher, The Company of Biologists are very happy to conclude constructive negotiations with Jisc and reach a new agreement for the next two years. The number of participants in the consortium has grown year-on-year, so we are delighted the continuation of this groundwork will support researchers publishing their work through Open Access, fee free, via our highly popular Read & Publish initiative.”
The Knowledge Gate Group startup that has developed an AI-powered platform to accelerate research won first place at the VIA Award ceremony today, December 3rd, in London.
This year marks the fifth consecutive time that Karger Publishers has presented its Vesalius Innovation Award along with its first-time co-presenter BMJ. The award honors internationally active startups that offer innovative solutions for the rapidly changing needs of the Health Sciences ecosystem. This year’s competition focused on advancements in science communication that empower individuals with knowledge in order to promote informed decision-making. These areas include research integrity, knowledge transfer, and artificial intelligence.
The award was presented today as a part of the STM Innovation & Integrity Days in London. The following five finalists pitched their innovative ideas to the jury: Clear Skies, Knowledge Gate Group, Prof. Valmed®, Prophy, and Signals. The winning startup Knowledge Gate Group provides an AI-powered platform that accelerates research by connecting organizations with leading experts in life sciences. By automating manual processes, the platform facilitates strategic decision-making and fosters collaboration in research and development. Advancing Scientific Research in New Ways At today’s ceremony, Knowledge Gate Group received the 15,000 USD award from Daniel Ebneter, CEO of Karger, who highlighted the importance of supporting innovative solutions in the field of health sciences and publishing. In addition, he thanked the eight-member jury, the VIA team, the award’s co-presenter BMJ and the participating startups for their outstanding dedication to advancing scientific research in new ways.
“In making Knowledge Gate Group the winner of the 2024 Vesalius Innovation Award, the jury selected an applicant that ticks many boxes of successful and sustainable innovation,” explains Daniel Ebneter, CEO at Karger Publishers. “By using a combination of self-identification of interested academics and advanced AI, Knowledge Gate Group has managed to build a robust network of experts that are pre-qualified, ready and available to engage with industry partners, thereby dramatically increasing efficiency of while fostering real-world impact.”
“Winning the Vesalius Innovation Award is a transformative milestone for KGG, validating our vision and amplifying our credibility in the industry,” says Viktoriya Vasilenko, Co-founder & CEO of Knowledge Gate Group. “The prize provides critical resources and visibility, enabling us to accelerate life-saving research, advance development, and bring our innovation to those who need it most.”
Runner-up prizes were awarded to two startups: Prof. Valmed®, which offers a CE-registered AI tool that acts as a medical co-pilot, providing healthcare professionals with validated diagnostic and therapeutic support, and Clear Skies, which develops innovative data analysis tools to support research integrity.
You can find more information about the Vesalius Innovation Award at karger.com/via and in this ›video.
Find out more about our partner the STM Association along with Gold Sponsor Molecular Connections, Silver Sponsor Park56 and Startup Academy and co-presenter BMJ.
Emerald Publishing Limited has today acquired Information Age Publishing (IAP).
Publishing academic book series, monographs and journals with particular strengths in the areas of Education, Management and Psychology, IAP expands Emerald’s portfolio of high-quality academic resources, and significantly enhances Emerald’s author footprint in North America. The sale comprises over 2,600 books and six peer-reviewed journals.
George Johnson, Founder and Publisher, Information Age Publishing said: “Having founded IAP 25 years ago, it’s been an honour to work in close partnership with the academic research community across the social sciences and related fields. I’m delighted that the program will be taken forward by the team at Emerald, whose publishing ethos is so closely aligned to that of IAP. Emerald is now home to Ablex, JAI Press and IAP – three publishing imprints founded by my family. I look forward to introducing our series editors and authors to Emerald and I’m excited to see the publications go from strength to strength on the global stage, publishing research that has positive real-world impact.”
Vicky Williams, CEO, Emerald Publishing said: “As an award winning, independent publisher of mission driven research, Emerald is delighted to acquire IAP’s publishing programme. We share a common mission to advance learning and research that makes a real-world impact and IAP’s strengths in Education, Management and Psychology allow us to offer our customers an expanded portfolio of high-quality academic resources. We look forward to welcoming IAP’s authors and series editors to Emerald, taking forward the wonderful legacy created by George over the past 25 years.”
The Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) is thrilled to announce the launch of the Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative “DeSci Connect”. DeSci Connect aims to transform scientific collaboration by embracing principles of openness, transparency, and democratization. Through the integration of Web3 technologies, the initiative fosters secure, transparent, and accountable data sharing, creating new pathways for scientific discovery.
The initiative will actively engage with the international DeSci movement to understand and shape its impact on the scientific community and to influence and guide the movement’s trajectory by staying at the forefront of decentralized science developments. It will provide strategic advice to MPG management and researchers, highlighting potential new DeSci tools and methodologies that could enhance scientific outcomes. DeSci Connect aims to integrate these innovative approaches, to empower researchers to achieve greater transparency, collaboration, and efficiency in their work.
“The Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative represents a bold step towards a new era in science where collaborative and equitable research practices flourish,” said Friederike Kleinfercher, Head of the Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative. “By harnessing blockchain technology, we are building an environment where scientific findings are more accessible, accountable, and secure for all.”
Beyond open data access, DeSci Connect fosters groundbreaking web3-models for research funding and evaluation, enabling scientists to gain direct support from the community and paving the way for sustainable, community-backed research.
With DeSci Connect, the Max Planck Society is one of the first traditional research organizations to pioneer the strategic entry into the field of decentralized science.
For further details on the Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative DeSci Connect and its activities, please visit the initiative’s details here.
Growth in revenue (+6%)1 and adjusted operating profit2 (+9%)1 in the first nine months of 2024; outlook for 2024 confirmed
Revenue growth was driven by Research segment (underlying +7%) through strong performance of the Journals portfolio
Continued deployment of technology and AI solutions to drive performance and deliver value to communities
Reached the milestone of publishing one million articles and chapters related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); on track to deliver on goal of publishing half primary research articles open access in 2024
Springer Nature, a leading global research, health and education publisher, reported continued growth for the first nine months of the 2024 financial year. Revenue amounted to €1.37 billion, representing, on an underlying basis, a 6% increase over the same period in 2023. Growth was mainly driven by Research due to a strong performance in the Journals portfolio, particularly by full OA and Nature titles. The company’s adjusted operating profit for the period was €379 million, equating to underlying growth of 9%.
Frank Vrancken Peeters, CEO of Springer Nature, said: “Our performance in the first nine months of 2024 shows that we are on track to deliver on the goals we set at our IPO. We are well positioned to continue to outgrow the market, achieve our targets and deliver for the communities we serve. We will keep investing in technology solutions to support researchers, enhance the publishing process and help accelerate solutions to the world’s urgent challenges.”
Research was the main contributor to Springer Nature’s positive development with underlying revenue growth of 7% compared to the same period the year before.
Already this year, Springer Nature surpassed the milestone of publishing one million articles which are related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The company has also continued to expand its portfolio of Nature branded journals with the launch of three new Nature titles.
This puts the company on track to publish half of its primary research articles OA in 2024. Springer Nature now has 58 Transformative Agreements (TAs) in place, with more than 3,700 institutions covered by such contracts.
Springer Nature continued to invest in AI-based solutions to make the research publishing process faster and more equitable while maintaining research integrity. These solutions include a new assistant tool to help reviewers, as well as Geppetto, a program to identify fake text. In Health, a conversational chat interface named AskAdis was launched for the pharmaceutical market.
To further drive its technology strategy, the company has appointed Saskia Steinacker to the new position of Chief Digital Officer. Springer Nature also strengthened its leadership team by welcoming Maria Castresana as Chief People Officer as it seeks to continue attracting top talent committed to research and scientific progress.
Free Cash Flow rose to €72 million from €55 million for the nine-month period. As a result, Springer Nature’s financial leverage improved to 2.8x net debt/EBITDA at the end of September 2024, compared with 2.9x net debt/EBITDA at the end of 2023. Since the end of the third quarter, the company has used proceeds of €200 million from the IPO to repay outstanding debt, further reducing financial leverage to 2.5x net debt/EBITDA.
Alexandra Dambeck, CFO of Springer Nature, added: “We are pleased with our operating performance to date and have succeeded in further improving our leverage. This validates our focus on the evolution of the product mix with a strong focus on delivering for our communities, as well as on our programmes to increase operational efficiency. As a result, we are confirming our guidance for the financial year 2024.”
Springer Nature confirmed its full-year guidance for 2024. The company continues to expect revenue in a range of €1.82 billion to €1.85 billion and adjusted operating profit in a range of €505 million to €520 million.
