News

KGL PubFactory becomes the latest platform provider to facilitate access to GetFTR as American Meteorological Society (AMS) becomes the first publisher to join GetFTR in 2023.

Boston, MA—January 20, 2023—GetFTR is designed to improve the journey from discovery to access, and to support publishers in helping their researchers quickly reach published content they are entitled to read via their institutional subscriptions. GetFTR also provides researchers with access to up-to-date open content including articles in hybrid journals.

KGL Pubfactory provides the platform for AMS journals and is the latest platform provider to come onboard. 

Mike Friedman, Senior Manager of Publishing Operations for AMS, said ”We are thrilled to offer GetFTR’s services to our institutionally based readers. The streamlined access directly to our content will save them valuable time, and make the whole discovery and accessing process much more efficient. Thanks to both GetFTR and PubFactory for making this happen so smoothly.”

Tom Beyer, Director of Platform Services for KGL Pubfactory said “We are very excited to add this capability to our platform. GetFTR is a great tool for extending the reach and access to content which is critically important for our publishers.”

“We are delighted to welcome both Pubfactory and AMS to GetFTR,” Dianne Benham, Product Lead for GetFTR, said. “The work we have done with PubFactory to get AMS on board will now ease the way for other publishers who wish to join to provide real-time entitlement checks. We would like to thank both AMS and PubFactory for their support in facilitating this relationship and look forward to working with both organizations.” 

If you would like to find out more about the service, please contact Dianne Benham at dianne@getfulltextresearch.com.

About GetFTR – www.getfulltextresearch.com  

Get Full Text Research (GetFTR) is a free-to-use solution that enables faster access for researchers to the published journal articles they need. Working on and off campus and built on trusted technology, GetFTR is inviting providers of online research services and publishers to be part of its development. 

About the American Meteorological Society  – www.ametsoc.org 

In support of the AMS Mission to advance science for the benefit of society, AMS Publications proudly provides professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts with timely and high-quality weather, water, and climate science information. AMS publishes 12 peer-reviewed scientific journals consistently ranked near the top of their fields, including the highly regarded Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), a long-standing series of meteorological monographs, and the Glossary of Meteorology. 

About KGL Pubfactory – www.pubfactory.com 

KGL PubFactory, the online hosting division of KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL), supports publishers in disseminating research globally and ensuring access when and where it is needed. The platform is content-agnostic, and home to valuable publications across the STM and SSH subject areas including journals, books, databases, and videos. As part of KGL, PubFactory is the only platform provider offering a one-stop solution spanning the beginning of the content lifecycle through to digital publication, with flexible, configurable, and scalable online hosting. 

Brainerd, MN—January 9, 2023—CJK Group, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has completed an agreement to acquire the assets of venerable print and publishing services company Allen Press, located in Lawrence, Kansas. This acquisition is unique for CJK Group in that it will supplement and expand services and capabilities to both the Sheridan print operations in addition to its KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL) content solutions company.

Allen Press originated in 1935 as a family-owned company serving a local print market and grew to incorporate a wide variety of editorial, production, marketing, and digital services tailored to the needs of independent society and association publishers.

The print facility will be renamed Sheridan Kansas, bringing the number of Sheridan’s print locations across the country to a total of ten. Work is produced offset and digitally, with a full complement of finishing equipment; back issue fulfillment, warehousing, and ancillary graphics services also offered. The plant’s central US location affords Sheridan a strategic production option for both Midwest and West Coast publishing communities with more efficient mailing and distribution. The addition of this location further broadens Sheridan’s job-share abilities and raw material procurement strength.

On the content side, Allen Press’s extensive suite of publishing services and technology solutions will be incorporated into the KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. operation, further bolstering KGL’s one-stop content proposition, which includes peer review and editorial office management, business consulting, AI-powered language analysis and copyediting, XML composition and proofing, digital and print production, and online hosting. The addition of Allen Press to the KGL portfolio will add marketing services, advertising sales, and association management to the spectrum of specialized services for scholarly publishers.

CEO of CJK Group Chris Kurtzman remarked, “Allen Press has long held a unique and highly respected place in the print and publishing market, offering exceptional front-end capabilities as well as creative and marketing solutions, in addition to high-quality print and distribution. We see this as a perfect fit for both our Sheridan and KGL families. The entrepreneurial customer-centric culture at Allen Press is a mirror reflection of our own, something we look for and place a very high value on when we bring companies such as Allen Press into the fold. We are looking forward to bringing streamlined performance and additional capabilities to both our existing and new customers.”

CJK Group, Inc. represents one of the largest printing and publishing services organizations in the country, continuing to grow both organically and through acquisitions. At the core of the CJK Group strategy is investment in employees, equipment, technologies, and thoughtful acquisitions that mirror the same principles and values that all CJK Group companies possess. 

About CJK Group, Inc.
Headquartered in Brainerd, MN, CJK Group, Inc. is an international portfolio of print, publishing service, and technology/information solutions companies.

The Sheridan family of print companies provides a wide array of full-service solutions for books, magazines, journals, catalogs, and commercial print. Sheridan print facilities are located in Brainerd, MN, Brimfield, OH, Chelsea, MI, Grand Rapids, MI, Hanover, NH, Hanover, PA, Lawrence, KS, Madison, WI, Random Lake, WI, and Versailles, KY.

KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. offers content services such as editorial, peer review, management consulting, learning solutions, and online hosting to the journal, educational publishing, and eLearning markets. KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. content service facilities are located in Lawrence, KS and Richmond, VA in the US; Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and New Delhi in India; and London in the United Kingdom.

Tweddle Group serves the OEM industry with custom support solutions and is headquartered in Clinton Township, MI, with European and Asian headquarters in Italy, Belgium, and China. For more information, visit www.cjkgroup.com

Media Contact: Susan Parente, CJK Group Publications Marketing Manager, susan.parente@cjkgroup.com

Project Manager Job Description

Location: Remote, must live in US or UK

KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL) is the industry leader in transformative publishing solutions. KGL provides specialized content services and innovative technology solutions that drive revenue growth, streamline operations, and ensure editorial excellence. Largely based in the Boston area, the KGL PubFactory team comprises the best and brightest from the leading tech innovation hub outside of Silicon Valley. We develop powerful, growth-enabling online hosting platforms for scholarly publishers.

KGL PubFactory is currently recruiting for a Project Manager to work with our prestigious publishing clients and industry-leading developers and consultants to develop, enhance and maintain the world’s best online publishing websites. Manage both internal and external projects to agreed budgets and timelines, and deliver the highest quality results for our stakeholders, clients and our clients’ customers. This is a work-from-home position associated with KGL’s Richmond, VA headquarters.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The following reflects management’s definition of essential functions for this position but does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned. Management may assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time due to reasonable accommodations or other purposes.

• Act as project manager for our largest accounts, developing strong, consultative, and productive relationships with key stakeholders
• Review, edit, and contribute to product and enhancement specifications
• Prepare, maintain and communicate project schedules, documentation, and project status to internal stakeholders and external clients
• Identify opportunities to improve and refine the PubFactory team’s processes, and implement those improvements
• Manage regular platform upgrade deployments 
• Motivate and manage teams consisting of on site, remote, and contractor software engineers, as well as client team members
• Coordinate QA testing on assigned clients with dedicated QA team
• Accurately forecast and manage to approved budget all project finances, including client billing, revenue recognition, and contractor payments

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Required:

• Experience in account management and developing supplier/client relationships
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• 3+ years of software or web development project management experience
• Knowledge of project management tools and techniques, including budget, schedule preparation, reporting and issue ticketing systems
• Willingness and ability to learn platform functionality, problem solve, and train clients and colleagues
• Working experience of the Atlassian suite of tools
• Experience with Agile methodology
• Ability to manage deadlines for multiple projects simultaneously
• Experience with digital management of books, journals, or training materials publishing

Preferred:

• Experience preparing technical specifications and documentation
• Experience with Scrum mastering
• Experience with leveraging QA capabilities
• Bachelor’s degree

Physical Requirements

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is routinely required to do the following:

• Use a computer, telephone, and video conferencing equipment
• Provision will be made for candidates who require specially-adapted equipment

Work Environment

• KGL offers a remarkable package of benefits and fully remote work culture
• Occasional travel for client site visits
• This is a US/UK based position only

Reporting Relationships

• This employee will report to the Platform Operations Manager
• This employee’s peer(s) will be Developers and Project Managers

KGL offers a competitive and comprehensive compensation and benefits package, remote work, and a friendly work culture.  Interested candidates should submit a confidential cover letter and resume to careers.kgl@kwglobal.com.

KGL is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Boston, MA—November 29, 2022—KGL PubFactory, the online hosting division of KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL), has announced another longstanding customer contract renewal, this time with international social science publisher, Brill. Having doubled its web business over the past six years, Brill will continue to take advantage of the latest enhancements of the PubFactory platform in an extended relationship.

Brill publishes more than 2,000 books and reference works per year, in addition to almost 600 journals—including 42 fully Open Access titles—mainly in the humanities, social sciences, and international law. Brill has expanded in recent years through acquisitions of Dutch biological sciences publisher, Wageningen Academic Publishers, and German humanities publisher, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage.

As a flagship PubFactory customer hosting both its books and journals, Brill has doubled its online sales on brill.com over the course of the partnership, integrated its business intelligence with PubFactory’s IntelWorks reporting and analytics service, and been a leading user of the PubGen module—migrating the Brill #HumanitiesMatter Blog onto the platform as formatted and searchable content to enhance the user experience. The next phase will see Brill moving its reference works and primary source materials to the PubFactory platform.

Bas Baas, VP of Technology at Brill, commented: “As an independent HSS publisher of both books and journals, we appreciate the great fit with the PubFactory platform and community, along with the high quality of service we’ve received. The team have eagerly supported Brill’s ambitious business growth with new opportunities to enrich our site and advanced tools to analyze our market. We look forward to this next chapter of innovation and expansion in our nearly 340-year history.”

José Fossi, VP of Client Services for KGL PubFactory added: “Brill is one of our largest and most pioneering publishers, with a willingness to experiment with new technologies and business models. We are pleased to provide a best-in-class customer and user experience, and are excited to continue growing together.”

KGL’s end-to-end proposition for scholarly publishers includes business consulting, editorial and peer review solutions, AI-powered language analysis and copyediting, XML composition and proofing, digital and print production, and online hosting. The PubFactory platform hosts over 1,300 journals and 300,000 books, numerous databases, and reference works.

About Brill
Founded in 1683, Brill is a publishing house with a rich history and a strong international focus. Headquartered in the Netherlands, with offices in Germany, Austria, the USA and Asia, Brill’s publications focus on the Humanities and Social Sciences, International Law and selected areas in the Sciences. Brill publications also include several major imprints with a distinguished history of publishing high quality and successful titles. Brill publishes more than 2,000 books and reference works per year in both print and electronic format, in addition to almost 600 journal titles—including 42 fully Open Access titles. For more information, please visit brill.com.

About KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL) is the premier industry provider of editorial, peer review, production, management consulting, online hosting, and transformative solutions for every stage of the content lifecycle. KGL serves the journal, educational publishing, and eLearning markets from content creation through distribution of print and digital products. A division of CJK Group, Inc., KGL unites the content and technology expertise of Cenveo Publisher Services and Cenveo Learning with Sheridan Journal Services, Sheridan PubFactory and now KWF Consulting and KWF Editorial. The combined company brings over 200 years of experience serving the publishing market and is powered by state-of-the-art, intelligent automated solutions and delivery platforms including Smart Suite and PubFactory. For more information, please visit www.kwglobal.com.

Contact: Mike Groth, Director of Marketing, KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd., mike.groth@kwglobal.com

by Tom Beyer and Stuart Maxwell

Recently at the Society for Scholarly Publishing Annual Meeting, KGL PubFactory’s Director of Platform Services, Tom Beyer, together with longtime platform partner, Stuart Maxwell, COO of Scholarly iQ, presented a poster on the advanced analytics available to publishers that many are still not using for their editorial, sales, and Plan S strategies. For those that are struggling with analysis paralysis trying to identify Open Access usage or meet reporting requirements for transformative journals, we recap the highlights of the findings and discussion here.

Usage and Performance

Historically, providing COUNTER Title reports and a SUSHI API have been the absolute standard—the minimum bar that scholarly publishers have needed to achieve across the board for usage reporting. It’s very important for academic libraries, but it turns out that this repository of usage data holds a trusted trove of incredibly important information that publishers should want to delve into.

The change to COUNTER Release 5 offers new opportunities for a higher level of granularity with new Item Level Reports. While not mandatory, many publishers have opted to provide these for the increased transparency and accountability that accompanies industry agreed metrics and standards for individual articles, chapters, books, multimedia, etc.

The Item Master Reports provide the largest number of component parts—varying from Item, to Platform and Author, to YOP as standard, and with flexibility to extend further parameters enabling both librarians and publishers to dive even deeper into understanding usage with trusted data at this atomic level. This was simply not available for COUNTER 4 and Title level reports as the metrics were aggregated and rolled up to Journals or Books.

Business Opportunities

Now there are some obvious business opportunities embedded in that item level data to be mined from global and regional usage. When compared with actual subscribing institutions, this data of course provides pointers for where to focus sales efforts. Subscribing institutions can also be matched against turnaway data for another clear upsell opportunity, where users at existing customers and proven subscribers are still trying to download content that they don’t have access to. Low-usage institutions should be managed closely, because of the potential for them to not renew in the next cycle.

Editorial Opportunities

Similarly, there is a lot of useful information for editorial staff when the metadata associated with individual content items is surfaced in coordination with usage data. Identifying trends in the item data (and not by journal subject for example) by keyword, subject, collection, and content type can reveal which content is trending within identifiable segments, which can then be fed back to the editorial side of the business.

Transformative Journals

Then of course, there is Open Access content. On the surface, it seems like this should be much easier. There are no subscribers; it’s just out there and there are no pay walls. But of course, things are never quite so easy. If you’re a journal publisher and you’re entering into transformative agreements, there are reporting requirements that you must adhere to. In general, publishers of transformative journals need to monitor and show that the percentage increase of OA content is growing at least 5% in absolute terms and 15% in relative terms, year over year. And this information needs to be reported to cOAlition S and also shown on the publisher’s website.

Funder Requirements

Publishers should also be looking very carefully at funder mandates and put operations in place to manage those various reporting requisites. For authors that receive funding, what metrics are required? Oftentimes, publishers are asked to combine usage data with production and editorial data, and then assemble reports in one format or another and again, make this available.

Open Access Usage

The whole impetus for the OA movement was to increase the impact of content, and one way to do that is to trace usage. It may largely be unauthenticated usage, but publishers can trace it back to the institutions with newly available tools that track known IP addresses. They can also compare the distribution, regionally or in other ways, of OA usage compared to subscription usage to demonstrate which content is being accessed more broadly. Trusted performance data at the item level supports and provides evidence of meeting mandated criteria for OA content—the standard is moving in that direction and publishers or their partners not meeting these requirements will soon be found to be behind the times.

Finally, there is potential in the future for taking this content and using it as a predictive tool—comparing new content with historic trends for associated content that are embedded in the data to try to predict how new content would perform within certain defined parameters. Providers capable of the highest level of compliant OA reporting are pushing forward the testing of predictive models, ready for supporting the next wave of innovation in OA publishing.

Since the SSP Annual Meeting at the beginning of June, Project COUNTER has opened a Community Consultation for Release 5.1, designed to better facilitate Open Access reporting. One of the most significant changes is a new focus on Item as the primary unit of reporting, further supporting the use cases discussed in this poster session.

If you would also like to discuss these upcoming COUNTER changes and how to unlock the potential in your usage data—particularly if your current provider is not compliant with the Item level reporting standard—please contact Tom Beyer or Stuart Maxwell.

Boston, MA—June 8, 2022—KGL PubFactory, a division of KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL), is pleased to announce that Edward Elgar Publishing has extended its longstanding hosting relationship, which started in 2011, by another five years. The contract renewal is marked by the launch of an upgraded Elgar portal, using the latest version and enhancements of the PubFactory platform.

Edward Elgar Publishing is a leading independent academic and professional publisher with a strong focus on the social sciences and legal fields. It publishes 500 book and journal titles annually and has successfully created a prestigious list of over 10,000 titles.

Over the course of the 11 year-long relationship with PubFactory, Elgar has doubled the number of books and more than doubled the number of journals it publishes on www.elgaronline.com, while expanding its offering by launching a range of new sites in new geographical areas and across different disciplines.

The company has also added IntelWorks, the PubFactory platform’s reporting and analytics integration, which will provide the publisher with a range of usage trends to help it make informed editorial and business decisions, in addition to maintaining COUNTER compliance.  

Tim Williams, Managing Director at Edward Elgar Publishing, commented: “We are delighted to renew our valued relationship with KGL PubFactory. Elgar and PubFactory have grown together over the last decade which has seen us double our publication output, launch a specialized site in China, and introduce our successful Advanced Introductions book series. It was high time to take advantage of the platform’s latest features, especially new functionality to support our ambitious Open Access publishing plans and the business intelligence module that will enable us to analyze and maintain our momentum in the market.”

José Fossi, VP of Client Services for KGL PubFactory added: “Edward Elgar Publishing is one of our most loyal and pioneering customers that integrated both books and journals on a single delivery platform before many other publishers. We are thrilled to expand the relationship and help steer Elgar into its next period of impressive growth.”

KGL’s end-to-end proposition for scholarly publishers includes business consulting, editorial solutions, AI-powered language analysis and copyediting, XML composition and proofing, digital and print production, and online hosting. The PubFactory platform hosts over 1,300 journals and 300,000 books, numerous databases, and reference works.

About Edward Elgar Publishing
Edward Elgar Publishing is a leading independent academic and professional publisher with a strong focus on the social sciences and legal fields. We publish 500 book and journal titles annually and have successfully created a prestigious list of over 10,000 titles. The company was founded by our current Chairman, Edward Elgar, as an international scholarly press and remains an independent family business. With offices in the UK and the US, we maintain a global author base and focus on topics of global interest. Elgar titles are, on average, some of the most highly cited books in their respective subject fields. For more information, please visit www.e-elgar.com.

About KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL) is the premier industry provider of editorial, peer review, production, management consulting, online hosting, and transformative solutions for every stage of the content lifecycle. KGL serves the journal, educational publishing, and eLearning markets from content creation through distribution of print and digital products. A division of CJK Group, Inc., KGL unites the content and technology expertise of Cenveo Publisher Services and Cenveo Learning with Sheridan Journal Services, Sheridan PubFactory and now KWF Consulting and KWF Editorial. The combined company brings over 200 years of experience serving the publishing market and is powered by state-of-the-art, intelligent automated solutions and delivery platforms including Smart Suite and PubFactory. For more information, please visit www.kwglobal.com.

Contact: Mike Groth, Director of Marketing, KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd., mike.groth@kwglobal.com