How is information disseminated? How is our research knowledge expanded upon? How do we keep improving the world we live in?
As university students, we are voracious consumers of academic research. Whether it is to conduct literature reviews of a paper we are writing or just reading up on an issue we care about, we rely heavily on the insights of the groundbreaking research conducted by our predecessors as we continue to build on their knowledge. Yet, in spite of our frequent interaction with academic research, we rarely think about the work that goes into validating and publishing the content, which is a critical service provided by the academic publishing industry.
It is easy to confuse the work of the academic publishing industry with that of any regular publisher. After all, the end product is similar - content that is wrapped into either a physical book or an electronic book. The crucial difference lies in the fact that not all content submitted to academic publishers is considered “knowledge”. Since the 17th Century, academic publishers have created a structured method of identifying knowledge through a process of peer reviews by other experts. For example, for an important journal like the Lancet, only 5% of submissions would pass the rigorous peer review process.
As such, academic publishers help to define and shape knowledge across all fields and serve as gatekeepers for their readers. However, there are times when academic publishers have gone against conventional wisdom and have been successful in nurturing new talent that break new grounds in research. For example, Charles Darwin, who is one of the most recognised scientists in history, tried to submit his seminal work, “On the Origin of Species”, to several academic publishers. However, as his work on the theory of evolution faced significant criticism and scepticism, he was initially rejected by major publishing houses. Finally, the book was published by the relatively unknown publisher, John Murray, and became the groundbreaking work it is till today, in the fields of biology, geology, and anthropology. Therefore, publishing houses have great power - they can delay or even prevent certain areas of knowledge from being expanded upon.
Some top firms in the academic publishing industry include Pearson Education, Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. These firms dominate the academic market with its extensive catalogues and global reach. However, as the industry remains very fragmented, there are also many niche academic publishers across the world that focus on narrower fields.
With the rapid technological advancements over the past few years, academic publishers have a golden opportunity to transform how their readers consume their content. For instance, instead of relying on physical books that are standardised for all types of readers, academic publishers have started to create tools to help repackage knowledge in a way that is more customised to the individual. As such, while copy editing and typesetting remain important basic skills for the industry, programming skills and data science analytics are becoming more crucial in helping academic publishers understand how their data is being consumed by each reader. As academic publishers also need to work very closely with academic content creators like university professors, many soft skills like communication, critical thinking and time management are just as crucial for success.
In order to assess these skills over an interview, I would consider the following questions:
As an icebreaker that helps one assess the candidate’s basic interest, “What do you know about our company and the type of books/content we publish?
To assess the interviewee’s interest in conducting research about our company and how it fits into an understanding of the overall industry “What do you think sets our company apart from other publishers?”
To understand if the interviewee has developed the appropriate skills to succeed in this role “What do you think are the key skills that you have developed that you think is necessary for success in this role?”
To assess if the interviewee has the ability to quickly figure things out for themselves, “If you are going to a meeting where you are trying to persuade a nuclear scientist to work with us on a book about the technical aspects of small modular nuclear reactors, how would you prepare for the discussion?”
In order to assess one’s ability to handle conflicts with more experienced researchers, I would ask “How would you handle a situation where an author disagrees with your editorial suggestions?”
Author: Elizabeth Ling
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