Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke (@mtclarke) is the Founder and President of Clarke & Company (www.clarke-company.com), a management consultancy focused on digital information strategy, product development, and marketing research related to STM and scholarly publishing. Prior to founding Clarke & Company, he was Executive Vice President for Product and Market Development at Silverchair Information Systems. Additionally, Michael has held positions at the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the University of Chicago Press. He currently serves on the board of directors for Silverchair Information Systems and has previously been elected to the boards of the Society for Scholarly Publishing, and the Council of Science Editors. Michael is a graduate the University of Colorado and the University of Chicago.
Michael Clarke has written 41 posts for The Scholarly Kitchen

The Changing Nature of Scale in STM and Scholarly Publishing

Smaller independent and society publishers are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the economies of scale around production, technology, and (most important) institutional sales that can be brought to bear by a large publisher. If you are a society that has been self-publishing for many decades, such effects may appear as only a recent headwind in a long publishing tradition. This headwind, however, is most likely not a temporary zephyr but rather a permanent fixture of the STM and scholarly publishing landscape, and one that will only increase in intensity. To understand why, it is helpful to look at the two vectors on which scale operates in STM and scholarly publishing: horizontal and vertical. While horizontal scale has long been the province of commercial publishers, society publishers are typically organized to take advantage of vertical scale. The headwinds are presently blowing along the horizontal plane, from the perspective of the society publisher. Continue reading

Peak Subscription

Since the late 1990s there have been two drivers of growth in STM and scholarly publishing: site licensing and global expansion. As successful as these activities have been, however, we appear to be nearing, if not a peak, at least a plateau. Institutional library budgets have not kept pace with the growth in global research output. At the same time, institutional market penetration is nearing saturation for many publishers.

So the question is, where is the growth going to come from? Continue reading

Data Detectives: Investigating What is, and What is Not, Measured

Businesses are using more data than ever to inform decision making. While the truly large Big Data may be limited to the likes of Google, Amazon, and Facebook, publishers are nonetheless managing more data than ever before. While the technical challenges may be less daunting with smaller data sets, there remain challenges in interpreting data and in using it to make informed decisions. Perhaps the most daunting challenge is in understanding the limitations of the dataset: What is being measured and, just as importantly, what is not being measured? What inferences and conclusions can be drawn and what is mere conjecture? Where are the bricks and mortar solid and where does the foundation give way beneath our feet? Continue reading

The End of an Era for Academia.edu and Other Academic Networks?

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Elsevier has issued a sweeping series of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take down notices regarding Elsevier-published content to Academia.edu, a file-sharing network for researchers and other academics.

This has prompted a storm in the Twittersphere, a response from Elsevier, a number of commentaries on blogs and list-serves, and a truly bizarre article from CNET. Academia.edu for its part is reportedly encouraging authors of affected papers to sign this Elsevier boycott petition despite the fact that their own terms of use prohibit the posting of content that infringes on the copyright or license of publishers such as Elsevier.

Is this a footnote or the end of a chapter in the annals of digital science publishing? Continue reading

Professional Associations and the Strategy Gap

Given the pace of technological change, new sources of professional information and community, the increasing competition for attention, shifting demographics, and an uncertain economy, an effective strategy is more important than ever. While most commercial organizations have developed strategic frameworks, and many now have leadership roles dedicated to strategy, not-for-profit organizations tend to focus less on these activities. While some of this “strategy gap” may be due to relative resource scarcity and its associated time pressures , there are also structural and governance issues at play, particularly in the case of professional associations. These challenges are not insurmountable, however. Professional associations can close the strategy gap by incorporating this series of steps into their strategy development and implementation processes. Continue reading

An Interview With Janne-Tuomas Seppänen, Co-founder of Peerage of Science

Peerage of Science’s Janne-Tuomas Seppänen discusses their new peer review offering for authors and journals. Continue reading

Stick to Your Ribs: Why Hasn’t Scientific Publishing Been Disrupted Already?

Revisiting Michael Clarke’s incisive post about disruption, or rather the lack thereof, in scientific publishing. Continue reading

Game of Papers: eLife, BMC, PLoS and EMBO Announce New Peer Review Consortium

eLife, BioMed Central (BMC), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) will be forming a new peer review consortium based around the concept of what eLife calls “portable peer review.” Continue reading

Why the Apple Ebook Ruling is a Loss for Publishers, Authors, and Readers

Yesterday federal judge Denise L. Cote, of United States District Court in Manhattan, ruled against Apple in the United States vs. Apple Inc., et. al. ebook case. Anyone who thinks this isn’t a terrible outcome for publishers, authors, and readers, isn’t paying attention. Continue reading

An Interview With Keith Collier, Co-Founder of Rubriq

With the creation of Rubriq, co-founders Shashi Mudunuri and Keith Collier have broken new ground. Rubriq is an attempt to provide peer-review independent from journals. Continue reading

What Can Publishers Learn from Indie Rock?

While the recording industry generally gets a bad rap for managing the transition to online distribution, there is one niche that has flipped the model and uses old distribution techniques to sell music across multiple formats. That niche is indie rock and there are some lessons for publishers. Continue reading

Springer Establishes a Beachhead on the Desktop with Acquisition of Papers

Springer’s acquisition of Papers shifts the publisher into the workflow, and provides a unique opportunity to become a unifying resource. Continue reading

Why E-book Distribution Is Completely and Utterly Broken (and How to Fix It)

A recent incident involving Amazon and a Norwegian reader has highlighted the sad state of ebook distribution on many levels. Continue reading

Responsive Web Design Comes to Scholarly Publishing

JSTOR recently announced that it has reconfigured its user interface using responsive design techniques. While nascent in STM and scholarly publishing, the user interface design world has been abuzz with the potential of responsive web design for some time and a number of sites using responsive web design techniques are now appearing. Continue reading

The Risks of Risk Aversion

Leadership at organizations of all kinds often justifies inaction with the statement, “We’re risk averse.” But is being risk-averse itself courting a set of risks? Is there any risk-free choice? Continue reading

The Costs of Print

The question of when print will end is often framed as if it is a natural occurrence, an evolutionary question, or the likely outcome of a sporting event, rather than a business decision that publishers may revisit on a regular basis. Continue reading

The Qwikflip 780: Netflix Trails Only HP in the New Olympic Sport of Corporate Strategy Flipping

The way Netflix unbundled DVD-by-mail and streaming video services, flipped branding strategies, and made it all a public show created a focus on strategic inflection points and betting for the long-term. Continue reading

Post-Mortem of a Book Empire — Borders, and the Mismanagement of the Future

The demise of Borders is a lesson in management pitfalls. Are STM publishers up to the challenges they’ll be facing soon? Continue reading

The Tablet Wars Are On, With Big Stakes for Publishers

The tablet wars are on, with special significance for STM publishers. Continue reading

Michael’s Pick for 2010: The Disruption (or Not) of Scientific Publishing

Why hasn’t scientific publishing been disrupted? The question created one of the year’s most-read posts. Continue reading

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