Publishing as an Essential Business

A round-up of how the industry is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

by Mike Groth

In these challenging times, there has been much discussion of what qualifies as an “essential business.” There is the debate around which establishments should be allowed to continue physical operations during a social distancing shutdown (are liquor stores, bike shops and video games as essential as grocery stores and the healthcare supply chain?). Some organizational habits like meeting culture, long commutes and digital red tape have already been exposed as decidedly nonessential for a post-crisis world. But while the majority of us adjust to working from home (a luxury obviously not afforded to many frontline professions), the coronavirus pandemic is unfolding as an occasion for the industry to prove its worth.

With university campuses quickly vacated, libraries shuttered and conferences canceled at least through the summer, one would be forgiven for thinking that the publishing ecosystem is not an essential “life-sustaining” enterprise. But some segments of the industry have begun to argue otherwise, as many bookstores have been successful seeking “essential to life” exemptions for pick-up and delivery; and printers have been granted a reprieve from original shutdown orders as part of the crucial communications sector.

Notably, academic publishers have been opening up access to relevant, peer-reviewed research as nearly all other science has ground to a halt during the health emergency. As we discussed in a recent blog, rapid publication and dissemination of critical findings have been influencing policy and the global response. With experts viewed with suspicion and science denial a considerable force in a large segment of politics and culture, the research process has arguably never been more visible or crucial in life-or-death decisions—from projecting the consequences of not ‘flattening the curve’ to communicating the importance of lengthy clinical trials for vaccines. Although preprint servers and preliminary research have gained new attention, so have the real implications of peer review, meta analyses and data duplication.

For students in elementary and higher education who are now home-schooling en masse, textbook publishers have provided free access to online courses and platforms.  As we have previously reported, major education publishers have already been adopting digital-first strategies to meet changing demand and user expectations—just in time for the largest ever experiment in distance learning. Whether offering supplemental online activities to occupy the youngest learners, core curriculum assessments for secondary students, or immersive experiences and real-world simulations at the university level, publishers have been building critical digital infrastructure that is now delivering in a time of need.

Service providers like KGL have an important role to play as well. Applying emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and natural language processing helps in a crisis by speeding up processes like copyediting, eliminating bottlenecks in production, and greatly reducing time to publication of accepted articles. Digital development of mobile-ready games, animations and online courses equips publishers to deliver desperately needed online learning tools. Others are innovating to facilitate quicker peer review, increase discoverability, and survey the existing literature for important findings applicable to the current situation.

Admittedly we’re not directly mass-producing ventilators, face masks, or bathroom tissue; but the publishing industry remains at the forefront of an essential fight against a real-world threat that adds new meaning to the concept of “publish or perish.” Please stay safe and healthy.

Michael Groth is Director of Marketing at KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (formerly Cenveo Publisher Services) and longtime denizen of the scholarly publishing industry. He can be reached at mike.groth@kwglobal.com.