my background and experience has proved very helpful indeed.


Emerald is celebrating 50 years in business this year. How is it marking the occasion? Our 50th anniversary is a time for Emerald to look to the future. We’ve been on an exciting journey in recent years, growing from one company into a group of businesses and expanding our offering to help our communities meet new challenges and opportunities. At a time when expertise


and evidence is being challenged in some quarters, we remain passionate about helping people in the worlds of research and practice cut through the information overload and make decisions that count, based on research that matters. With this aim, we are seeking to build a group of companies that really brings research to life. The new Emerald Group


brand has therefore been created to incorporate all companies in the business, including GoodPractice and Research Media, as well as future acquisitions. This prominently includes the established global publishing business, which has been renamed Emerald Publishing (formerly Emerald Group Publishing) and will continue to provide access to a growing collection of more than 300 journals, 2,500 books and more than 1,500 case studies. We have created new


websites for emeraldgroup.com and emeraldpublishing.com, to introduce the aims of the business, and enhanced our emeraldinsight.com research platform to improve the user experience.


www.researchinformation.info | @researchinfo


In addition to the rebrand


and new websites, we have other exciting things going on to mark our 50th, including the launch of a new website, emeraldat50.com, and the publication of a book dedicated to our anniversary that both chart the business’ journey from 1967 to this day. We held celebrations with our staff across all of our global offices to launch the brand at the very beginning of 2017 and we’re looking forward to celebrating our 50th birthday with our communities at events across the world in 2017. Over the years the business has supported many charities, and we are proud to have


“Overall, I’d say that big data is the most significant development in recent years”


raised over £150,000 in the past six years. This year, we’re challenging our global community to raise £50,000 for our charity of choice, Heart Research UK, which is also celebrates its 50th anniversary. The charity has a special significance to us as a business due to former Emerald chairman Martin Fojt’s unexpected passing from a heart attack in 2014. Emerald staff are also


volunteering for a Right to Read scheme with local schools, helping under-privileged children gain vital access to reading support.


What would publishers 50 years ago have thought if they could see the industry today? In many ways, a publisher of 50 years ago would have the same preoccupations as one of today – how to help discover, promote, nurture and disseminate research which will have an impact both on future academic work as well as policy and practice. But with global information output now doubling every nine years – and the huge digital transformation which continues to reshape the way we access and share information – a publisher from 1967 would be fascinated by the industry today. Understanding how users


behave and learn in this volatile, digital world is one of the most important undertakings of a modern publisher. Developing the most compelling experience online for users is a major and skilled task. Indexing and discoverability are fundamental concerns. The emphasis within the publishing industry on these emerging and changing skills is completely different today to how it was 50 years ago. A publisher from 50 years ago looking at the industry today would also recognise the value that today’s publishers continue to provide to the scholarly communities they serve. This extends through the facilitation of peer review as a foundational element of the research process, the development of trusted, high-quality publication venues serving the research disciplines, global dissemination and permanent, discoverable archival of the scientific record. There would also be a strong sense of pride in the role that publishers play


in developing a robust digital infrastructure that supports scientific progress.


What is the most significant development in the industry in recent years? There have been many: open access; alternative metrics; SciHub and Research Gate. But, overall, I’d say that big data is the most significant, as it has such fundamental and far- reaching implications. The way that publishers can describe and disseminate data, enrich and link content, make data searchable, and personalise user experience with data signals is the tip of the iceberg. We don’t yet know the potential of machine-readable data on a large scale, but it will be transformational.


Looking ahead, what one thing will have the biggest effect on academic publishing? The ability of publishers to understand, experiment with and communicate their value. The publisher’s role in


the scholarly community is evolving and traditional structures – peer review, editorial curation, subscriptions, book formats, the concept of the journal issue itself – are being re-evaluated. These are valid and exciting


developments and ones necessary to explore together with the creators and users of research content. There are fantastic opportunities here for innovative publishers to hone new solutions that help customers maximise their impact, learn and apply new knowledge.


Interview by Tim Gillett


February/March 2017 Research Information 37


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