From STM, Trends 2025 Goes Upstream to Reach Open Science

A voyage around a page takes us on an engrossing metaphorical journey from the Sea of Syndication to the Lake of Knowledge, passing Woods of Truth and Scholarly Fields – forever, of course.

At the STM Spring Conference Innovations Day, April 29, 2021, STM launched Trends 2025, Let’s Go Upstream, the latest edition of its highly acclaimed publishing technology forecast.

Let’s Go Upstream, as Eefke Smit outlined, leads scholarly publishing to where Open Science happens.

“For several years now, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to follow Eefke Smit’s summary of STM’s Future Lab committee annual brainstorming sessions with a roundtable discussion. Each time, I have marveled at the ingenuity that goes into creating the SDM trends graphic or infographic,” CCC’s Chris Kenneally notes.

“The latest example is especially creative,” he continues. “A voyage around a page takes us on an engrossing metaphorical journey from the Sea of Syndication to the Lake of Knowledge, passing Woods of Truth and Scholarly Fields – forever, of course.

“Surely, a touchstone for this fully realized yet imaginary world of equally engrossing maps of Middle Earth created by J.R.R. Tolkien to lay out for readers the sometimes-mystifying topography of the setting for the Lord of the Rings.

“Thankfully, though, the place names are given in English and not in Sindarin or any other Elvish language. The Rings trilogy, the narrator explains, is largely concerned with hobbits. Our own story is equally a quest, seeking the source of trust and truth.

A panel of Future Lab members shared with Kenneally insights for where publishers can showcase their value for scholarly communications.

• Anita de Waard is VP, Research Collaborations, at Elsevier. She works on bridging the gap between science publishing and computational and information technologies, collaborating with different academic groups in Europe and the US.
• Prof Lynda Hardman teaches and researches at CWI, an independent national research institute at the University of Utrecht. She is also Director of Amsterdam Data Science.
• John Sack is co-founder of HighWire Press. John considers himself a ‘futurist’ or ‘trend-spotter.” He looks for patterns emerging in consumer and scholarly services so that publishers and editors might prepare for changes or take advantage of them.
• Heather Stainesis Director of Community Engagement and Senior Consultant at Delta Think. Her prior roles include Head of Partnerships for Knowledge Futures Group and Director of Business Development at Hypothesis.