As part of its continued commitment to advancing dialogue around research communication and equitable knowledge dissemination, Editage will host a live fireside chat titled “From Access to Impact: Rethinking Open Access for a Global Research Community” on October 23, 2025, at 8:30 PM IST. The session will feature Colleen Campbell (Strategic Advisor & Coordinator), a leading advocate in the open access movement, in candid conversation with Chirag Jay Patel (Head of Sales & Business Development – Americas, Cactus Communications). They will explore how open access is shaping global research practices, and how libraries, consortia, and institutions are driving transformative changes in publishing and open access models.

In the lead-up to the event, Editage will also release two special episodes of its Insights Xchange podcast series hosted by Nikesh Gosalia (Chief Partnership Officer, Global Publishers & Societies at Cactus Communications). The first features Colleen Campbell, discussing libraries’ transition from subscription-based access to supporting open publishing, and the fundamental role that equity, transparency, and author rights play in this shift. The second episode will have Mandy Hill (Managing Director of Academic Publishing at Cambridge University Press), as the special guest, sharing insights into the evolving role of university presses and why equity must be weaved into every step of the open access journey.

Throughout Open Access Week, Editage will also publish a series of articles and interviews featuring key opinion leaders from the scholarly publishing space, including Duncan Nicholas (Development Editor, Reproductive Biomedicine Online), Iva Grabaric Andonovski (Vice President, EASE), Rachel Martin (Global Director of Sustainability, Elsevier), and Roohi Ghosh and Chris Leonard from CACTUS. We explore their perspectives on how open access continues to evolve across the academic publishing ecosystem.

Open Access Week offers an important platform for publishers, journals, researchers, funders, and institutions to engage in critical conversations that shape the future of scholarly communication. As the open access movement continues to gain momentum, and open access practices and policies increasingly influence how research is shared and consumed, understanding these shifts is necessary for keeping up with the evolving publishing landscape and ensuring that the benefits of research reach the widest possible audience.

To be part of Editage’s Open Access Week event, please visit: https://www.editage.com/insights/international-open-access-week

The post Editage joins the global conversation for International Open Access Week 2025 appeared first on CACTUS.

What are mini-programs?

WeChat mini-programs are sub-applications that can be accessed by scanning a QR code or searching within WeChat. This reduces the time of download and installation, thereby meeting the demand for easier, quicker, and smarter applications.

Why mini-programs are popular

WeChat mini-programs have been widely adopted across industries because of six powerful features:

First, the name of the mini-program is unique; it is the same as the domain name and the network real name (whoever registers first owns the name). This feature allows the publisher or society to maintain its brand identity and image.

Second, the “all-in-one” design of mini-programs provides great convenience for users. They do not need to spend time in download and installation, mini-programs are easily searchable, and users can interact with other applications. As academic researchers are typically hard-pressed for time, a mini-program that helps them save time is likely to appeal to this audience.

Third, mini-programs can integrate with online shopping systems seamlessly, both for mobile devices and PCs. Fourth, mini-programs have multiple access pathways, such as by scanning a QR code, searching within WeChat, and hyperlinking in WeChat articles. This makes it comparatively easier for a publisher or society to promote their mini-program. Fifth, mini-programs have strong transmission ability. Finally, mini-programs support various APIs, enabling easier customer service and improving customer communication.

Differences between a WeChat account and mini-program

Several of the world’s leading publishers have started using WeChat accounts for outreach in China, but not many have explored the full potential of WeChat mini-programs. There are some differences between accounts and mini-programs. First, a mini-program is an application: once the function or settings have been changed, the application needs to go through the app approval procedure, and this procedure is more rigid than the procedure for just a WeChat account. Second, mini-programs can be developed only by using the WeChat development tool, while WeChat account functions can be developed using any development tools. However, mini-programs are more powerful than WeChat accounts in supporting user interactions, as described earlier.

How can scientific organizations or publishers use mini-programs?

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) WeChat account has a mini-program named Periodical Division Table of the Center for Documentation and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This mini-program provides three main services: searching for journal rankings, institutional account login, and information navigation. In a WeChat account, this level of user interaction and information exchange is not possible. Mini-programs enable publishers and research societies to increase user stickiness, reduce application development and operation costs, improve the accuracy of user data statistics, and facilitate multi-channel sharing for better publicity and to reach more end users. Through mini-programs, publishers can offer specific services or solutions to meet the needs of their WeChat audiences.

Below are some screenshots for how CAS uses WeChat mini-programs.

How to set up a mini-program

Setting up a mini-program is not as complex as it seems, if you follow the below steps.

• Ascertain what functions of mini-programs you need.
• Scan the QR code in the screenshot below and register the name of your mini-program.
• Ask your experts in HTML+CSS+JS to develop the mini-program by following the developer framework. Check the developer forum for details.
• Submit the code of your mini-program to the WeChat approval panel for approval.

Conclusion

As journals, publishers, and scientific societies attempt to engage more and more with the Chinese research community, it will become increasingly necessary for them to not just adopt but also fully optimize their use of local communication channels like WeChat. Mini-programs are a valuable feature that can complement and enhance a publisher’s or society’s WeChat strategy by making it easier, faster, and more convenient for users to obtain the information they want.

The post WeChat for Academia: Mini-programs and how to use them appeared first on CACTUS.

1. Segmenting and targeting members

Research societies already apply some form of strategic segmentation (such as special prices and programs for students, early career researchers, etc.). Societies can drill down to find further segments within the broader groups of members, such as by geographical location, subfield, or even type of workplace (e.g., university vs. hospital). As part of this process, it’s important to also acquire detailed knowledge about the targeted segment(s)—not just their research-related needs but also their overall lives, especially challenges. Information  behaviors are influenced by a variety of factors, including demographic, job-related, and psychological.

2. Collecting and analyzing data

With societies offering more and more online resources and communication channels, analytics are a powerful tool for identifying how exactly members engage with these resources and what generates maximum engagement. For example, are webinars more popular than podcasts for continuing education? Does making a page mobile friendly increase its views, and by how much? All these questions and more can be answered by regularly collating analytics for the society’s web properties. In addition, focus group discussions can be a valuable source of information, enabling societies to understand what underlies the numerical data that analytics provides.

3. Refining offerings to cater to the target segment(s) content consumption pattern

Using the insights gained from the first two steps, societies can optimize the content they provide each segment. In other words, the insights collected should form the basis for decisions such as whether to provide career advice and support beyond a jobs board, whether training programs for early career researchers should focus on writing skills or more specifically grant application skills, etc. Further, knowing whether a target segment, such as practitioners, uses a smartphone or computer to stay updated can allow the society to optimize the content format used to deliver research updates (e.g., podcast vs. email newsletter). Similarly, if a particular segment doesn’t have a stable, high-speed Internet connection (e.g., because they are doing fieldwork in remote areas), they would probably prefer downloadable PDF handbooks to livestreamed webinars. Knowing how many members don’t attend webinars because they are in the wrong time zone can enable societies to set up online libraries for accessing webinar content. These are some ways that existing offerings can be customized if the segments are targeted and their consumption patterns are clear.

See also: How synthesizing multiple papers into single infographics helped the American Society of Clinical Oncology ensure clinicians received critical updates

4. Employing a multichannel approach for promotion

It’s necessary to communicate offerings to the target segments through multiple channels, based on their communication preferences. Relying on a single communication channel like email limits a society’s reach and visibility. Promote your content offerings in multiple places, such as your newsletter, direct emailers, on your conference website, on your society website, and on multiple social media platforms, based on how your target segment searches for and accesses information.

Conclusion

Societies are investing significant time and effort in diversifying their revenue streams, particularly by leveraging their rich content resources and position as thought leaders in their fields. For a content plan to have maximum effectiveness, it needs to be based on strategic understanding of their members and what drives their uptake of society offerings.

Early career researchers can play a significant role in revitalizing your society. Download this whitepaper to learn more about engaging and retaining these members.

The post Maximizing Member Uptake of Your Society Offerings: A Four-Step Approach appeared first on CACTUS.

1. Communication gap between authors and journals

Authors often face difficulty in complying with journal submission guidelines. Correspondingly, a common problem encountered by publishers is authors’ failure to adhere to their specific guidelines, leading to desk rejections and delays in the overall publishing process. A study that delved into common reasons for manuscript rejection reported that 9% of the papers they analyzed were rejected because of non-adherence to the journal’s formatting guidelines. This shows a disconnect that exists between authors and journals. In 2018, Editage published a large-scale global survey exploring the problems authors face in academic publishing. Almost 7,000 respondents from over 100 countries took part in this survey, with the top 10 countries corresponding to the top research producing countries in the world. In the survey, 49% of the respondents indicated that they hesitate to contact journal editors for pre- and post-submission inquiries. They perceive the journal editors as unapproachable or are uninformed about the means available for communicating with journals. Non-native English speakers especially found manuscript preparation to be challenging. They also tend to lack confidence in their English language skills and hesitate to contact journal editors, fearing repercussions for their submissions. This presents the need for journals to make it easier for authors to find and use available communication channels on their websites.

2. Problems with peer review feedback and process delays

Peer review is one of the most time-consuming parts of the publishing process. A study reported the average time taken for the first response is 13 weeks, which can vary based on the field of research. The time-taken is further extended with multiple rounds of peer review and extensive revisions required by authors. About 47% of the Editage survey respondents expressed conflicting comments from different reviewers as a pain point and 46% felt that reviewers at times requested authors for additional research to be done, which may not often be feasible. Publishers and editors can play a crucial role in making this process more efficient. Some suggestions include diversifying the reviewer pool by inviting more reviewers from across the globe and involving more ECRs, and acknowledging and crediting reviewers. Initiatives such as setting guidelines or providing training for peer review focusing on objectivity, scope, transparency, and accountability can also help in alleviating some peer review-related challenges. Offering systems for authors to provide feedback regarding their experience and the quality of peer review may also help publishers gain more insights into improving this process.

3. Lack of clarity on publication timelines

The survey showed longer turnaround time for publishing as one of the most urgent concerns that needs to be addressed. Timely publication of research is crucial for dissemination of information; in some cases, delays can also cause the final published article to be outdated. Prolonged publishing timelines can also affect scholarship applications, further burdening authors’ academic careers. “Scooping” by competitors is another concern that plagues authors. While the time taken to publication can depend on a variety of factors, journals and publishers can identify gaps in their processes and take steps to mitigate delays. Journals can not only regularly check the efficiency of their processes but also maintain transparency in informing authors about the time it will take to get published in the journal. This will set the right expectations and help authors plan better. Publishers can also provide regular updates about changes in manuscript status, thereby keeping the author in the loop during the publishing process. To further assist authors, journals can provide information about common queries around publishing delays and timelines.

4. Issues related to submission requirements

Preparing manuscripts for submission can be an arduous task, notably for non-native English speakers. Providing comprehensive, simplified guidelines and explainer videos may help in making this step easier. Typically, every journal has its own set of author guidelines and authors must often rework on their manuscript to comply with them. This process can be repetitive, redundant, and eventually time-consuming while resubmitting the same manuscript to a new journal. A suggestion would be for publishers to standardize submission guidelines across journals to make the resubmission process easier for authors. Simplifying journal requirements and guidelines can go a long way in improving authors’ experience with the publishing process. Authors are important stakeholders in the publishing system and an author-friendly attitude can better represent their interests

The post Four Author Concerns Publishers Should Know appeared first on CACTUS.

What is social listening?

Social listening is all about monitoring various social media platforms for mentions of your conference as well as conversations around it, and then analyzing the data while paying attention to mood and sentiment. In simple terms, you’re not just tracking how many times your conference hashtag has appeared on Twitter, but what users are actually saying and feeling about the conference.

Why is social listening crucial in 2022?

The 2022 conference arena is rapidly changing. Towards the end of 2021, many societies were optimistic about resuming in-person conferences in the following year. The emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19—and subsequent travel bans and lockdowns—has thrown a spanner into the works. Conferences scheduled for the first quarter of 2022 are likely the most vulnerable, with organizers grappling with the possibility of last-minute venue cancellations and even speaker/panelist no-shows. In this scenario, societies need to keep an ear to the ground and provide timely and sensitive responses to members’ and attendees’ concerns.

Does social listening really work for academic conferences?

Conference organizers may assume that most people are excited and delighted to attend a conference, especially in-person. After all, isn’t that what people have been hoping for since 2020? Social listening data can show that attendees’ feelings toward in-person events are much more complex and nuanced. When the American Historical Association declared that its January 2022 conference in New Orleans would continue to be held in-person, despite surging Omicron case numbers, the society drew flak on Twitter, and some tweets opposing the in-person event were even covered in news portals.

Social listening can also provide conference organizers insights on barriers or challenges faced by attendees, such as acceptance emails going to junk mail, time zone difficulties for virtual events, or the annoyance of cancelled flights and hotel registrations.

How can societies ace social listening?

Here are some tips to make your social listening more effective and translate into practical results.

Identify your audience

Is it just researchers or does it include undergrad and graduate students, practitioners, non-profit bodies, etc.? Is it confined to one country or is it global? What platforms do they use? Once you figure these out, your social listening becomes more purposeful and practical.

Form relationships

Rather than firing off a series of announcements about your conference at your followers on social media, take time to engage with them on a personal level. For example, congratulate a PhD student who’s excited about their first conference presentation (and respond to their plea for advice on how to present!). Have two-way conversations with your followers, which will ultimately lead you to uncover new insights and pain points for your potential attendees.

Respond to criticism appropriately

No matter how well a conference is planned, there will be hiccups. Perhaps a supplier has failed to deliver, or critical equipment has malfunctioned. Timely and empathetic responses to negative comments are a way of showing all your attendees that you care about their comfort and convenience.

Don’t underestimate the effort involved

Effective social listening is not the same as mindlessly scrolling through various social media platforms. You’ll need to pick a tool(s) that meet your society’s needs and budget and ensure that those responsible for creating and responding to posts are appropriately trained. Finally, you need to formulate a plan for handling and analyzing the data you collect, so that you obtain actionable insights.

Pro tip: Partnering with a trusted agency like Impact Science can help you up your social listening game, while saving your employees’ and volunteers’ time and effort.

Conclusion

Whether your 2022 conference is in-person, virtual, or hybrid, your society cannot afford to disregard the power of social media. The conference landscape has not only turned upside down but is constantly changing and evolving. Social listening is one of the simplest and most effective ways in which you can engage with attendee

The post Social Listening: Why You Need it for Your 2022 Conference appeared first on CACTUS.

1. When planning the event, consider international holidays and workweeks. The workweek in the Middle East is Sunday-Thursday, so an event scheduled on Friday may not find many takers from this area. Similarly, an event during the Lunar New Year is highly inconvenient for researchers from countries like China, Singapore, and Malaysia, as it infringes on one of their culture’s most important festivals. 

2. Choose time slots that work for a majority of the audience. Slots between 10 AM and 6 PM EST fall into the normal sleeping hours for attendees from much of Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Choose a time slot that allows maximum participation, such as 8.30 AM or 8 PM EST.

3. Test your platform to make sure it works across different countries and bandwidths. For instance, Facebook is banned in China, so if you expect a significant number of China-based attendees, don’t use Facebook Live for your event.

4. Avoid food- or beverage-based events. In countries like Japan or South Korea, eating at your workstation is not the norm. In other cultures, talking while eating is considered rude. Further, your event may be at a time when some attendees don’t normally eat or consume tea, coffee, or alcohol. Finally, attendees may feel embarrassed to eat in front of a camera or to eat foods that are drastically different from what their Western counterparts are eating.

5. Encourage attendees to state upfront what they would like to be called. “Charles Davis, PhD” shouldn’t be “Charlie” or “Charles” to some attendees and “Dr. Davis” or even “Sir” to others.

6. Make sure the moderator understands cultural differences and is experienced in intercultural communication. Moderating an international networking event calls for an understanding of different cultural norms around conversation, be it who should keep silent and when, who can interrupt whom and how, or whether looking downwards is a sign of respect or boredom.

7. Your moderator also needs to explain icebreakers and games fully. Not everyone has done a scavenger hunt before, so don’t assume that all attendees will immediately know what has to be done. Also, avoid games that rely on English-language skills, such as Pictionary. Make sure your games are culturally relevant or at least applicable across cultures (e.g., in Human Bingo, use “drinks coffee everyday” rather than “has Starbucks everyday”). 

8.Include a chat option. Because everyone is not blessed with stable, high-speed Internet connections, the option to post a quick message can help attendees whose Internet fails or fluctuates mid-event. Also, it can be helpful to sort out misunderstandings due to accents, cadence, etc.

9. Avoid pre- and post-event gift packages and giveaways. Unless all attendees are equally able to receive them, regardless of where they’re located, don’t include any kind of gift package or giveaway. Nobody wants to get gift cards only to find that they can be used only in the continental US. Discount coupons for online resources (e.g., free entry to another virtual event) will be appreciated.          

Virtual events are accessible to researchers across the globe and are much easier on the pocket for those from low-to-middle income economies. International participation increases the diversity of ideas and viewpoints under discussion, which benefits all participants. Therefore, organizers of online networking events need to focus on making these events inclusive for international researchers, which will ultimately improve the quality of scientific exchange.

The post Make Your Research Society’s Virtual Networking Event More Inclusive for International Attendees appeared first on CACTUS.

1.      Host Virtual Events

By and large, the biggest advantage of virtual events is how accessible they are. Travel, accommodation, and visa costs—all of which can be prohibitive for researchers from low- and middle-income countries—are eliminated. Keeping some events online-only and having a virtual component to offline events (i.e., hybrid events) makes society activities much more accessible to international researchers. It’s also a good idea to repeat sessions or webinars at different times and days, to cater to multiple time zones.

Pro tip: In emailers, notices, etc. about virtual events or webinars, use the 24-hour clock and specify multiple time zones in the description (e.g., 09:00 EDT, 13:00 GMT, 22:00 JST).

2.      Actively Increase Diversity

Audiences identify with and engage with speakers of their own ethnicity or cultural background more easily. Virtual conferences make it easier for societies to recruit speakers from a variety of countries, and several societies also include  an “international” component to their governance structures, such as an international councilor or international committees. In all this, however, it’s important to avoid token diversity (e.g., having just one member or speaker outside the dominant country or region).

3.      Exploit Social Media

Judicious social media use can help societies reach out to and engage with members from a variety of countries. For instance, the European Molecular Biology Organization used the hashtag #ScienceSolidarity to promote its online list of resources for US researchers stranded by Trump’s 2017 immigration ban on 7 Muslim-majority countries. As a result of social media publicity, researchers outside the US made new contributions to the list as frequently as every 3-4 minutes. To cater to an international audience, Societies need to use multiple platforms and repost announcements strategically. For instance, a tweet posted at 11 AM ET might not be seen by an East Asian audience, for whom it is midnight or nearly so.

Read more: How The BMJ boosted engagement in China by leveraging local social media platforms

4.      Translate Judiciously

For a society targeting a specific country or region, translating research content owned by the society into the local language is expensive and time-consuming. Many non-native English-speaking researchers, though capable of reading and following scientific information in English, would be comfortable if webpages related to registration, payments, etc. were in their native language. This allows them to navigate society websites and resources more easily, while reducing translation overheads for the society.

5.      Price Equitably

Membership dues, conference registration fees, etc. can be prohibitive for researchers in the Global South, especially low- and middle-income countries. Societies need to explore various alternative pricing models, such as tiered pricing, travel grants, or support-a-delegate schemes. Providing society benefits to such researchers can also prevent colonialization of science.

Conclusion

Societies in the Global North can tap into the growing body of researchers in non-English-speaking countries (for instance, China now has more researchers than the US). Looking beyond one’s borders is a smart move for societies aiming to grow their membership base in 2022. International members can bring in new perspectives, thereby enriching and advancing research worldwide.

The post Five Ways Research Societies Can Boost International Membership appeared first on CACTUS.

Is TikTok a waste of time? Something for bored teens? The numbers say otherwise. Let’s look at what makes TikTok such a powerful communication tool.

What is TikTok?

With 60% of the user base belonging to GenZ, TikTok is primarily video-based like YouTube. The maximum length of a video that can be uploaded to the platform is 60 seconds. Videos created by other users, known as tiktoks, appear on a user’s “For You” page according to TikTok’s algorithms. Users have the option of recording themselves alongside an audio clip. Tiktoks can be reposted on other social media platforms, but some like Instagram actively discourage this practice.

TikTok v/s. Other Social Media Apps

Facebook: Long considered the preferred social media platform, Facebook lost out to TikTok in 2021 in terms of time spent per user. Despite the erstwhile social media giant being able to host all kinds of content, including video stories, the platform has declining growth among younger users in the US, its oldest market.

Twitter: Twitter is primarily considered the go-to platform for news and updates as well as discussions and commentaries on public affairs despite having multimedia upload features. This gives Twitter an edge over TikTok, especially in terms of grabbing the attention of journalists, policymakers, and public officials.

Instagram: Both TikTok and Instagram work best on smartphones. Instagram has been around longer than TikTok and allows sharing of images and GIFs in addition to videos (though the time limit on Instagram reels is 30 seconds). Instagram wins over TikTok in terms of being more business-friendly, offering users the option of creating a professional account and also offers a Business Tools feature, which makes content promotion easier.

YouTube: Before the rise of TikTok, YouTube was the undisputed leader of video and video marketing. It still retains a key advantage over TikTok: there is no time limit on YouTube videos. This enables the creation of more in-depth videos as well as more opportunities to build brand awareness or gain audience trust. 

TikTok for Science Communication

Considering TikTok’s younger user base, it’s not surprising that the platform has been used to inform and educate high school and undergraduate students. There are tiktoks explaining chemistry concepts, generating excitement around marine biology, and helping engineers upskill. Universities like the University of Victoria  and Syracuse University have used TikTok for virtual campus tours and online wellness kits. In the US, Black creators have used TikTok to spread awareness of Black history (but TikTok has also been criticized for devaluing Black creators and unfairly censoring material related to the #BlackLivesMatter movement).

TikTok has also been useful in public health education. Individual doctors have created tiktoks explaining topics as diverse as the dangers of vaping and ways to improve gut health. Further, TikTok has had some success in destigmatizing mental health among men. Team Halo, a group of scientists and healthcare professionals working to combat Covid-related misinformation, have successfully used TikTok to combat vaccine misinformation, encourage minority communities to participate in vaccine trials, and reassure the public about vaccine side effects. The US government has followed suit, enlisting TikTok influencers in campaigns to get Gen Zers vaccinated. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of TikTok for Science Communication

Here are some factors to consider when choosing to include TikTok in science communication initiatives.

1. Engagement: The amount of time users spend on TikTok, particularly in the US, is increasing. For example, the average time per month spent on Tiktok was 442.9 minutes in October 2019, which increased to 858 minutes by March 2020.
2. Audience reach: Most TikTok users are Gen Z. In the US, around 30% of its users are 10-19 years old. TikTok is available in 75 languages across >150 countries including China (where platforms like Facebook and Twitter are banned).
3. Content format: TikTok primarily caters to smartphone users; hence, videos in the vertical format perform better than videos shot horizontally. The ideal aspect ratio (i.e., the relation between width and height) is 9:16, as for a standard smartphone screen. The time limit for videos is 60 seconds, though TikTok is experimenting currently with a 3-minute length.
4. Legal constraints: TikTok is currently banned in India and Pakistan. It has also been intermittently blocked in Indonesia and Bangladesh. While the Trump administration attempted to ban TikTok in the US in June 2020, President Biden revoked this order in June 2021.

Conclusion

Like it or not, TikTok has a large and growing audience in the US market. While it definitely shouldn’t be the sole (or even predominant) social channel for your digital content strategy, don’t overlook it when determining your social media mix or when it comes to social listening. Tiktok could be a useful platform for campaigns targeting younger members and early career researchers.

The post Should Your Society Take TikTok Seriously? appeared first on CACTUS.

1. Video recordings of events

If an event is solely livestreamed, it is accessible mostly to those in the right time zone, with good Internet connectivity, or with highly flexible schedules. Posting video recordings after the livestreamed event increases access for people in other time zones and countries, those who can’t afford time off during the workday to attend the event, those caring for young children during the day, etc.

2. Pre-recorded speeches

Lack of diversity in panels has been an ongoing concern. In-person conferences are often marked by “manels”: panels with heavy male representation. Having speeches pre-recorded, rather than livestreamed, opens up opportunities on panels for researchers around the world, especially those with poor Internet connectivity as well as those who can’t take time off from other responsibilities (e.g., teaching, childcare) to livestream. In other words, by allowing panelists to record their speeches beforehand, conference organizers can ensure that diverse backgrounds and perspectives are represented in every panel. 

3. Subtitles and transcripts

Adding subtitles, captions, and transcripts to videos makes the material more accessible to not just disabled people but also non-native English speakers, who could be unfamiliar with the speaker’s accent.

4. Chat rooms and forums

In offline conferences, men are known to take the lead in asking questions of speakers and general interactions. A lot of networking at conventional in-person conferences happens at events like happy hours in a local pub or an evening banquet. The informal social groups that form at these events are often inaccessible to female researchers and those from racial minorities. Virtual chat rooms and forums devoted to specific topics are one way of levelling the playing field. When commenters know that their comments could be saved (and scrutinized later), they are less likely to be overtly sexist, misogynist, or racist.

5. Plain language summaries

Climate science, ecology, management, gender studies, and even medicine are fields that interest a wide section of the population, not just those with PhDs. To make research findings accessible to non-specialist audiences—including patient advocacy groups, civil society groups, journalists, and even undergraduate students—conference organizers could prepare and disseminate plain language summaries (PLS). A PLS is a brief summary of a research paper, written in language that is easily accessible to non-specialists.

6. Flexible payment options

Conventional conferences typically had a standard registration fee (and perhaps separate fees for additional pre-conference sessions). This resulted in researchers paying for sessions or events that they weren’t actually interested in, besides also bearing costs of travel, accommodation, visas and foreign exchange, etc. Hence, conference attendance was harder for early career researchers or those from the Global South, who had limited funding and grants. The online format enables individual purchase of specific content pieces or access to chat rooms and other virtual events. Thus, this option is more cost-effective and accessible.  

Conclusion

The year 2020 saw not only a meteoric rise in the number of virtual-only academic conferences, but also a renewed interest in diversity and inclusion, especially in the US. With continuing travel bans and fears of further waves of Covid-19, virtual conferences are likely to remain mainstream in the immediate future, and hybrid (online + offline) models are likely to become popular even after the world returns to “normal.” Hence, conference organizers will find it worthwhile to invest in means to promote diversity and inclusion at virtual or hybrid conferences, especially through content.

Need help transitioning to new content formats? Impact Science offers a wide range of content and marketing solutions for your virtual conference. Contact us: request@impact.science

The post Not Just the “Old Boys Club”: Cater to the Content Needs of a Diverse Audience for Your Virtual Academic Conference appeared first on CACTUS.

Some pragmatic publishers have realized the value of innovating content workflows to stay relevant and to pre-empt growth stagnation. Through a host of tools, publishing giants like Elsevier and Springer are adopting products and features that can “hook” researchers, ideally whole institutions, and embed them into a workflow from start to finish. Elsevier exemplifies a diversified portfolio to this end: an electronic laboratory notebook (Hivebench), a reference manager academic social network service (Mendeley), a preprint service (SSRN), and scientometrics (CiteScore and Plum Analytics).

Author-facing services to maneuver manuscript submission—from identifying suitable journals, formatting manuscripts, to navigating peer review—can be a good way to establish long-term linkages with individual researchers and universities. Elsevier has even filed for a patent for an “Online Peer Review System and Method.” Meanwhile, R Pubsure by CACTUS is an AI-powered manuscript assessment tool that helps researchers optimize their manuscript before they submit it to a journal. A detour in the workflow in the form of Registered Reports (e.g., in Nature Human Behaviour) allows peer review and the decision to publish before data collection and analysis. Around 200 journals now accept Registered Reports, as this approach is believed to reduce publication bias.

Placing a focus on the researcher when modifying content flows is mutually beneficial to the publisher and end user. Some add-ons in the submission and dissemination phase of the workflow involve multimedia.

Continuing our discussion from the previous blog, here are the next 4 publishers that are adopting visual content formats to stand out amongst their peers.

1. Research at a glance: NEUROSURGERY®

NEUROSURGERY® by Oxford University Press has started featuring visual abstracts to complement text abstracts and provide authors and journals with an additional tool by which articles can be promoted via social media

2. Making one’s research stand out: SAGE

At SAGE Publications, another leading academic publisher, pre-publication and high-impact research dissemination services are offered to authors. These support services include interactive video summaries and easy-to-consume infographics for impactful science communication and to influence decision-makers, funding agencies, media, and the public at large.

3. Chemistry in pictures: Nature Research and others

Among Nature journals, so far only Nature Chemical Biology and Nature Chemistry have adopted the graphical abstract. This is not surprising, given that the graphical abstract on a journal’s table of contents (TOC) has been a feature in many chemistry journals. Moreover, the need for pictorial depiction of organic and inorganic molecules lends itself to a visual format. Structures and pathways are key across various sub-disciplines of chemistry. For instance, the depiction of product synthesis can be done more coherently and succinctly via an infographic than through a verbal description.

Graphical abstracts can enhance online browsing, enabled by the availability of bite-sized graphics to glance through. While visual abstracts are relatively well established in chemistry, journals in other fields are now increasingly adopting this feature.

4. Optimizing the design: The BMJ

The BMJ too has recently started making visual abstracts to summarize published studies. A survey assessed readers’ reactions to visual abstracts created for two separate randomized controlled trials. Social media statistics for the first visual abstract posted (March 2018) were promising. Tweets with the visual abstract had more impressions, likes, and retweets than average for tweets containing other infographics. The authors also aimed to ascertain what readers thought about the design of the visual abstract format.

Readers favored moving the study overview to the top of the abstract and inclusion of details about statistical significance. The BMJ incorporated the suggestions obtained from the survey and further revised the template by adding color coding for positive and negative findings (turquoise and pink, respectively) and a clear indication of the type of study (top left corner) for better clarity.

This is an example of using end-user feedback to improve a feature. This journal has now made visual abstracts a regular feature.

Looking ahead

Considerable groundwork has been done by several pioneering journals to explore and deploy multimedia in content workflows. The first visual abstract for social media appeared in 2016, and since then, over 70 journals and institutions have adopted this element to disseminate scientific research. The model has been tested, scrutinized, and streamlined, and will likely continue to adapt to changing scenarios in academic publishing. Studies have examined the impact of visual abstracts in terms of views and citations. In one study, tweets containing a visual abstract had over twice as many views as citation-only tweets. Visual abstract tweets had 5 times the engagement of citation-only tweets. Visual abstract tweets were also associated with greater increases in Altmetric scores than those of citation-only tweets.

The number of Twitter followers of medical journals hugely exceeds the number of print subscribers, and therein lies an opportunity to reach out to wide audiences beyond the medium of traditional journals. Thus, infographics and video summaries might become ubiquitous in future. The integration of a suite of technology innovations by scholarly publishers into their journal workflows will secure and advance their progress in a competitive publishing industry. The success stories provided above drive home the role of Impact Science in fueling these efforts.

To assert their presence in a post-text world, publishers should harness new tools for manuscript submission and management. For publishers that are yet to join the bandwagon, there should no longer be much hesitation: the writing (or shall we say, the infographic) is on the wall!

Reach out to our science communicators at Impact Science to discuss how you can introduce visuals into your content workflow. Write to request@impact.science or fill out the form below.

The post Get Visual, Get Visible: Part 2- Content workflows and prominent innovations appeared first on CACTUS.