Connecting Publishing Strategy, Technology, & Implementation

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A publishing program should advance an organization’s mission, meet the needs of its communities, and provide a sustainable foundation for the future. Yet many publishers have not had the opportunity to evaluate their programs as a whole.

SPS works with scholarly societies, associations, and other publishing organizations to assess their current publishing arrangements and identify opportunities for improvement. We examine the connections among strategy, editorial operations, technology, commercial agreements, finances, governance, and organizational capacity.

Depending on the engagement, our reviews may include:

• Publishing strategy, objectives,      and performance
• Journal and portfolio development      opportunities
• Editorial, peer-review,      production, and publication workflows
• Publishing platforms and the      broader technology stack
• Current publisher, vendor, and      service-provider agreements
• Roles, responsibilities,      governance, and decision-making
• Financial arrangements, service      levels, and performance measures
• Research-integrity and      quality-assurance processes
• Data ownership, reporting,      integrations, and interoperability
• Opportunities to use automation      and AI responsibly
• Organizational readiness for      operational or technological change

We help clients distinguish between issues that can be addressed within an existing arrangement and those that may require a broader change in strategy, technology, services, or partnerships.

When a competitive selection process is appropriate, SPS can support the full RFP lifecycle. This includes stakeholder discovery, requirements definition, RFP development, evaluation criteria, bidder communications, proposal analysis, demonstrations, reference checks, and contract or service-level considerations. Our goal is to give organizational leaders the structure and evidence they need to make a confident, informed decision.

  Developing a strong technology solution requires more than technical capability. It requires a practical understanding of scholarly publishing, the people who perform the work, the systems already in place, and the organizational realities that influence adoption.

SPS works with emerging and established technology organizations developing solutions for scholarly communication. 

These may include tools supporting:

• Manuscript submission and      editorial workflow
• Peer review and reviewer      identification
• Research-integrity screening and      case management
• Quality assurance and content      validation
• Artificial intelligence and      workflow automation
• Taxonomy, metadata, and semantic      enrichment
• Article enhancement and content      discovery
• Production, publication, and      distribution
• Analytics, reporting, and      decision support
• Interoperability among publishing      platforms and services

We help technology organizations understand the needs, priorities, constraints, and purchasing processes of scholarly publishers. This can include market analysis, product-positioning support, workflow assessment, user and stakeholder discovery, requirements validation, use-case development, and feedback on product strategy.

Because SPS understands both publishing operations and technology, we can help translate between product teams and potential users. We identify where a solution addresses a genuine operational need, where assumptions may need to be tested, and what changes could make a product easier to adopt, integrate, and scale.

The result is a clearer view of the market and a more practical path from promising technology to meaningful publishing outcomes.

Selecting the right technology is only the beginning. Successful implementation requires clearly defined workflows, thoughtful integration, appropriate configuration, stakeholder alignment, documentation, training, and ongoing oversight.

SPS works with publishers and technology providers as an independent third party to support implementation and integration. We help ensure that the selected solution works not only in principle, but also within the day-to-day realities of editorial and publishing operations.

Our implementation services may include:

• Current-state and future-state      workflow design
• Business and functional      requirements
• Platform and tool configuration
• Integration planning and      coordination
• Roles, responsibilities, and      governance
• Standard operating procedures and      process documentation
• Editorial, staff, and      administrator training
• Change-management planning and      communications
• Testing, quality assurance, and      launch readiness
• Performance measures and      post-launch evaluation
• Vendor and stakeholder      coordination
• Ongoing program, workflow, or      service management

Our independent position allows us to focus on the shared objectives of the engagement. We help publishers communicate their operational needs, help technology providers understand implementation requirements, and create the structure needed to keep all parties aligned.

This bridge between strategy and execution is especially valuable when an organization has selected a promising tool but lacks the internal capacity or specialized expertise to implement it effectively.