Dr Maria Bellantone
Senior Publishing Editor in Physics, Springer

How can you increase your chances of success in scholarly publishing? The spectrum of scientific literature extends from journals to books and further to encyclopedias and databases. This talk will cover the many different flavors of books and journals that are available. It will include a range of practical advice, examples and tips for authors. It will reveal how things work within Springer and what are the future directions where the publisher is headed.

Publishers are there to enable scientists to certify (through peer-review), record and disseminate their results to their community spread across the world. While the core aim of publishing hasn’t changed much, the digitization of the literature and the widespread availability of digital networked devices has brought about important changes and new challenges to the way publishers do their job. The formats that are now required have multiplied and the methods by which contents are distributed have evolved, with repercussions also on the authors.

Moreover, just like the authors, publishers have to adapt to comply with new policies, such as the Open Access mandates put in place by numerous funding agencies, among these the ARC. This talk will address the solutions that Springer is offering to scientists and their institutions to facilitate the implementation of these policies.

Dr Maria Bellantone is Senior Publishing Editor in Physics at Springer since 2007. She chose the publishing world shortly after obtaining her PhD in Materials Science from Imperial College London in 2001. Her first scientific publishing achievement was the launch of Nature Materials in 2002. Since joining Springer she has been responsible for various journals in disciplines spanning from biophysics to nanotechnology, and she runs a highly multidisciplinary book program. Her latest endeavors have been: the launch of a new portal which hosts 14 journals, a new Open Access journal and developing the social media dimension in scholarly publishing.

She will be around after the seminar and would like to talk to any members of staff who have published or are interested in publishing with Springer.