The future of STM publishing

A new report looks forward to the STM publishing landscape of 2020.


STM (the international association of over 120 scientific, technical, medical and scholarly Publishers) has launched its new Tech Trends report.

This year’s report - The Floodgates of Technology are Open! - looks forward to the STM publishing landscape of 2020.  The key messages are captured visually as a seascape full of opportunities – and challenges.

Increased computer power will combine with digital objects and big data to create new publishing opportunities.  Researchers will increasingly be working in open science and collaborative environments.  New publishing relationships will see the growth in customised and dynamic publishing.

User-centred and dynamic publishing

  • True user-centricity should deliver ‘precision information’
  • Publishers focus on creating solutions not search results
  • Automation of peer review processes
  • Integrating multimedia content

Users/The machine as the new reader

  • Customised solutions
  • Citizen science and lifelong learning
  • Open science platforms

Research/Science as a social machine

  • Automated knowledge creation/Robot labs
  • Open science
  • Free flowing data

Privacy/security

  • The need for a web of trust
  • Reputation and identify management increasingly important
  • Theft, privacy and certification

Big Data meets AI

  • Massive growth in computing capability
  • Outputs born digital
  • Machine learning, machine reading
  • Boost in AI

You can download the visualisation here.