MPS Ltd

Content Services 2012: Journal Production Services: Changes, Trends and Future Directions – a dated 2012 article by Nishith on Publishers weekly

Selected excerpts. – helps in understanding the scope of work for MPS then, and how its moving. Maybe useful to track developments in these directions – where it has reached today. @manoj – we can look at articles like this to grasp the Journal/Technical Books Production Services market

Automation is key to journal publishing of any discipline. Special tools need to be scripted to reduce processing time and manual intervention while providing good and consistent quality output for on-time delivery. As such, MPS has a group of technologists and software specialists dedicated to developing tools for any process imaginable: file receipt/downloading, metadata extraction, template authoring, XML creation, pre-editing, copyediting, graphics processing (including auto-resizing of images), page composition, proof correction, bibliographic information/issue makeup, index generation and linking, quality control, and even file delivery. “We use an in-house tracking system to monitor each step and manage end-to-end production activities. Extensive reports are available and integrated with other production tools, along with real-time online status reports. And wherever possible, we integrate our tracking system with our client’s system.”

Many publishers these days are moving toward an online-only publishing strategy, thereby eliminating printing and distribution costs, says Arora. “The publishing model has shifted from ‘print then distribute’ to ‘distribute then print if required.’ The increased usage of mobile and handheld devices also means that publishers can get their content across to more readers than before. It is now possible to package rich multimedia and interactive content—something that readers have been looking for—as part of the article or issue. Obviously, for the print version, such content would have to be hosted separately and provided as links to readers.”

But journal publishers are way behind book publishers in moving content to mobile and handheld devices. And one main reason behind this tardiness, says Arora, is the popularity of the traditional subscription model. “As for delivering content over mobile and handheld devices, publishers are adopting different strategies. Some are providing tools for searching content on mobile or handheld devices with full content access available via the host website. Some are using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite to create issue-based rich-media journals that take full advantage of the functionalities offered by such handheld devices as tablets. Others go for native app development for iOS and Android platforms. Then there are those looking for a hybrid iOS and Android compatible app—which supports both images and HTML5-based embedded content—that can be used as a wrapper for a single issue or multiple journals.”