Report: Reference Tools Essential to Scientific & Technical Publishers' Customer Strategy

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Reference management tools such as Mendeley and ReadCube only generate 1% to 2% of scientific and technical journal sales, but publishers are betting on them in a big way to build deeper relationships with customers — this according to the most recent report from media and publishing intelligence firm Simba Information.

The report, Global Scientific & Technical Publishing 2015-2019, found that the global scientific and technical publishing market saw very modest growth in 2014 with total sales up only 1.6%. Journal growth has slowed with the difficult library environment while online database services have matured. Even with strong growth from e-books, the book sector has shrunk several years running.

"With the industry undergoing change and experiencing slow growth, publishers are turning to the development and acquisition of reference management tools to pull their customers closer to them, creating an interdependence that can help insulate them though this period of disruption and transformation," said Dan Strempel, senior analyst business and professional, Simba Information.

Thomson Reuters was one of the first to exploit the opportunity of becoming ever more involved in the daily work of scientists. In 2009, they added to their Web of Knowledge by buying InCites, a solution for citation-based research evaluation.

The sector took off in 2012. Springer Science+Business Media acquired Papers, one of the earliest document managers. In the same year, Elsevier acquired Quosa life science software, Atira research management solutions and Aureus Science, provider of database and information tools for pharmaceutical and bioscience companies.

But it was Elsevier's April 2013 purchase of Mendeley, which created the most excitement — and the highest price (estimates ranged as high as $100 million). Mendeley is reference manager as well, but Elsevier coveted its community of more than 2 million users.

More recently, ReadCube from Nature Publishing Group has come on strong and is being kept separate from the Springer Nature merger. ReadCube has been aggressively adding publishers, integrating their journals across ReadCube's reading platforms.

Habits are hard to change. Researchers prefer to read articles in print, but they find articles and share them online. Reference management tools like Mendeley and ReadCube are becoming central to those interactions. Publishers are using these tools to begin shaping the future at the desktops of their customers.

"As researchers use the tools, publishers gain insights into their preferences. They understand them better, and then gain the opportunity to steer them gently to other content and services," said Strempel.

Global Scientific & Technical Publishing 2015-2019 provides detailed market information for scientific and technical publishing, segmented by delivery medium: journals, books, online content, abstracting and indexing, and other activities (audio, video and CD-ROM). It analyzes trends impacting the industry and forecasts market growth to 2019. The report includes an in-depth review of 15 leading scientific and technical publishers, including Reed Elsevier, Thomson Reuters, Springer Science+Business Media, John Wiley & Sons, IHS, American Chemical Society and others. For more information or to purchase the report visit: http://www.simbainformation.com/redirect.asp?progid=87833&productid=9295952.

About Simba Information:
Simba Information is widely recognized as the authority for market intelligence in the media and publishing industries. Its extensive information network delivers top quality, independent perspectives on the people, events and alliances shaping the industry. Simba routinely assists clients and the press with publishing and media industry analysis. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Please direct all media inquiries to:
Dan Strempel
[email protected] 
203-325-8193

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SOURCE Simba Information