Over recent years, scholarly publishing has been an industry that has been rapidly evolving. Publishing models have been changing, data analytics are gaining further importance, research is becoming personalized, and social media is becoming a necessity. However, all of these changes would not be possible without startups. As impressive and exciting trends develop in the industry, startups play a vital role for introducing new opportunities and providing solutions for publishers.
Transforming Higher Education
Technology has been essential to the advancement of higher education. New classroom models to interactive learning have not only changed the higher education experience, but have introduced new methods for universities to engage with their students.
The role of startups in this transformation should not be overlooked. Startups such as Coursera, Udacity, and many others have been crucial in using technology to extend education outside of the classroom. Due to such startups, online courses have gained not only gained acceptance and accreditation – but have changed the dynamics of higher education by going beyond the classroom.
Research
While the concept of scholarly publishing usually reminds us of universities and impressive publications, it is important to realize that research is a vital component as well. Successful startups have been changing not only the methods of research, but have been actively involved in optimizing its impact as well.
Startups such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate have actively played roles in introducing online collaborations for researchers. While researchers collaborating is nothing new, the use of new social networking models to facilitate scholarly collaboration is a very beneficial step. On the other hand, certain startups have facilitated the process of research itself. For example, Papers for Mac and Iphone is a new product which helps researchers with references. Another beneficial startup is Overleaf, which provides support to researchers working on specific mathematical languages. Such convenient collaboration and solutions not only facilitate the research process, but opens further opportunities for the industry as well.
Improving Peer Review
Peer review is an essential process of scholarly publishing. However, it is often dealt with criticism due to improper implementation, arduous process, and many other challenges. Startups are focusing on bringing solutions to the process of peer review. For example, Publons is a startup which helps in simplifying the peer review process and assuring that scholars receive credit for their work. Libre is another startup which aims to improve the peer review process through online collaboration. Advocating open peer review, the startup takes initiative in facilitating the peer review process. With the rise of such startups, we look forward to the improvement of peer review and more opportunities for solutions in the industry.