STM Week

As part of STM week, I wanted to share 3 personal encounters with STM.

My first encounter with STM was when I joined World Scientific Publishing in 1999; it was a scientific publisher based out of Singapore. Attending the Frankfurt Bookfair became an annual affair and that meant attending the STM Frankfurt Conference prior to the bookfair. It was a formal closed-door meeting where the executives of various STM industries presented and shared new industry policies and trends. There were always lively discussions and networking opportunities with publishers and service providers in STM. It was an eye-opener for someone new to the industry but I learnt much from the sidelines, hearing the views from the “big boys” of the industry and back then, publishers were just starting to embark in the digital transformation for research content and themes around digitization formats, linking policies, digital rights and new business models for print copies and digital content were some of the topics discussed at these STM meetings. It’s been great that the association host the discussions and curates for shares on their website. The STM Association event site eventually became a bookmarked reference site for me.

My second encounter occurred when I moved on to join Wiley back in 2007 and was selected to participate in the inaugural Intensive Course in Journal Publishing organized by the STM Association. It was an intensive 2.5-day course, held at the HK University Campus. I personally found it to be one of the best courses to attend in this industry as you learn about all aspects in publishing for STM: from the editorial and publishing process; marketing; sales and distribution; and legal and financial aspects within the publishing ecosystem. Many years later, I learned that the Asia track has had one of the highest enrolment of the 3 regions as the focus for publishing in the research works grew more prominence in the region.

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton

The above quote summarizes the essence of the STM publishing industry and the collaborative efforts driven by the STM Association in pulling the stakeholders of the industry together. In 2014, I returned to coach on the topic of “Marketing to Channels”. It was a heartfelt experience for me to have the opportunity to share with the participants who were mostly early career publishing professionals. Learning is a virtuous cycle.

Cross-checking back with the website, I realize it is now approaching its 9th batch and the next Intensive Course in Journal Publishing for Asia will happen in Singapore in March 2016. This is recommended to anyone who intends to explore a career in the STM industry.

 Fast-forward fifteen years; my third significant encounter occurred last year when I was invited to join the STM membership committee, which consisted of a small group of representatives from various STM publishers. The goal of the committee was to recruit new members from our respective networks. Aside from our virtual quarterly meetings, some of us also met in person at STM events. We shared ideas, discussed and channeled our efforts in growing membership for the association, e.g. blogging, speaking sessions etc. I learnt and made new acquaintances from this committee and it helped that we had a responsible and inspiring leader for this committee in Darrell Gunter who was always open to new ideas and made things happen for the committee. As in all associations there are benefits for members, and to me this association provided the opportunity to network, learn and evolve together and it is here to support on policy matters trusted by members and the STM organizations. So here’s to STM week 1-3 Dec 2015!