Penny Freedman

The Future of Academic Books

By: John Cody For those wondering what the future of academic publishing might look like, the Springer Handbook of Robotics might point the way. The team behind it took a different approach from standard handbooks. The innovation, collaboration, and marketing that went into it has undoubtedly contributed to its success. The strength of the publication is reflected in the diversity of its audience that ranges from roboticists to ethicists exploring the future of robotics’ impact on humanity, to members of the European Commission looking to understand developments in the robotics community. Bruno Siciliano and Oussama Khatib, co-editors, and Torsten Kroeger, multimedia … Read more…

Open access compliance: supporting Springer Nature authors

  By: Jessica Monaghan Meeting the open access requirements of research funders and institutions can prove a real challenge for authors. As the increase in records in the registry of OA repository mandates and policies (ROARMAP) demonstrates, the number of organisations with OA requirements is increasing every year, meaning more and more researchers are subject to such policies. OA policies can also vary widely in their requirements, leaving authors unsure or unaware of the steps required to achieve compliance. In a 2016 survey of Springer Nature authors who had published via the gold open access route, we found that 40% … Read more…

Author Profile: Carol Smart CBE on her Work in the Social Sciences

Having recently been awarded a CBE for services to the Social Sciences in the 2017 New Year’s Honours list, we spoke to Professor Carol Smart about her career in academia, the impact of the social sciences, and why they’re so important as we appear to enter a post-truth period of ‘alternative facts’. Can you give us an overview of your work in academia to date? My first degree was in sociology but my master’s degree was in criminology and my PhD was in the field of socio-legal studies. This means that throughout my academic career I’ve been able to shift … Read more…

Researching the News with SharedIt

Interested in learning more about the facts behind the stories you read from the media? Each month we’re pulling some of the major headlines from the news, and pairing them with research articles related to the topic. With the power of SharedIt, you’ll be able to read full journal articles and share them with others! On 4 April a tragic terrorist attack took place in St. Petersburg, Russia inside a metro train. Learn more about the threat of terrorist attacks targeting rail bound traffic in this article from the Journal of Transportation Security: Rail bound traffic—a prime target for contemporary terrorist attacks? The … Read more…

Springer Author Snapshot

Who are our Springer authors? We took a closer look at the data in 2016 to pull together an overview of what it means to be a Springer author. What we found spans 351,000 journal articles and 12,000 books. Our authors bring research from over 21 disciplines to the scientific community. See more below in our 2016 Author Snapshot infographic. View and print the PDF Interested in learning more about being a Springer author? Visit our author page to learn more about the benefits and services we provide.

Service Spotlight: The Transfer Desk

This month’s spotlight is on our Transfer Desk Service. One journal’s rejection may be another’s discovery. Find out how the service works and benefits both authors and editors. As an author when a paper you’ve spent time and effort researching and writing gets rejected from a journal, it can be hard not to take it to heart. As an editor it can be discouraging to have to reject a great paper that might be a better fit for another journal that is just too interdisciplinary or a poor fit for the scope of your journal. At Springer we want to ensure … Read more…

Behind the Scenes at Springer Nature: Editorial

What does it take to get your journal article from submission to publication? How does your book go from a manuscript to a title available at your university library? When your journal partners with Springer Nature for distribution, what steps are taking place to ensure all goes smoothly? We’re answering these questions and more in our new series “Behind the Scenes at Springer Nature.” Learn about the work being done across the company by our dedicated employees from around the world. Today we’re chatting with Nathalie Jacobs  from our Springer editorial team. What is your position at Springer/which office do … Read more…

Blogging 101 for Academics

Have you thought about starting a blog, but are unsure where to start? There are plenty of blog posts from academic bloggers that cover the many benefits of blogging, but if you’ve already made the decision to start – what now? Create your blog. There are many free services available that make it easy and fun to create a blog or website. There are often options to upgrade to paid services, but when you’re just starting out there is plenty of free content to choose from in terms of design and layout. WordPress is a popular option – and what we … Read more…

Service Spotlight: Recommended

This month’s service spotlight is on our latest offering for researchers, Recommended. Keeping up with the latest research in your field just got easier than ever before. A closer look at Recommended There are over 4,000 new primary research papers published every day. In a survey of nature.com users from 2015, we learned that regardless of their field of study, most researchers feel that staying up-to-date with the latest research takes a lot of hard work. Despite their best efforts to keep-up by combining journal table of contents alerts, PubMed, Twitter, and suggestions from lab peers, most researchers felt that in a … Read more…

Finding New Ways to Network in Academia: An Excerpt

With content spanning several publishers including Springer, Nature, Palgrave Macmillan, BioMed Central and more, we’re positioned to offer you some of the best content in the research community. Our content includes the type of material that will not only help you with your specific research needs as an academic, but with information that is useful for all researchers regardless of their discipline focus. This week we’re sharing an excerpt from Being “In and Out”: Providing Voice to Early Career Women in Academia edited by Narelle Lemon and Susanne Garvis. In this excerpt, Narelle Lemon discusses the importance of Twitter on her academic … Read more…