A Physicist in Scientific Publishing: From Quark Dynamics to Database Publishing Stefan Scherer

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | From Quark Dynamics to Database Publishing

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | ≠

4 A few Facts about Springer Source: In 1842, Julius Springer founded what is now Springer Science+Business Media in Berlin. Merged with Kluwer Academic Publishers (KAP) in Leading global scientific publisher, … provider of local-language professional publications in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands Around 55 publishing houses in about 20 countries in Europe, Asia and the USA Consolidated turnover in 2010: EUR 866 million More than 5,500 employees around the world – about 500 in Heidelberg Springer eBook Collection with more than 45,000 titles available on Product range across all media: books, journals, newsletters, CD-ROMs, online platforms, protocols, databases … Some 2,000 journals and more than 7,000 new book titles every year in the STM (science, technology, and medicine) and B2B (business to business) main publishing fields: science, technology, medicine, business, transport and architecture

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | Physics at Springer Physics & Astronomy is just a part of the global company About 20 Physicists working for Springer world-wide, half of them in Heidelberg Journals Textbooks and Monographs Reference Works Zeitschrift für Physik The European Physical Journal from Gerthsen Physik to The CBM Physics Book Landolt-Börnstein

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | “Managing Editor“ organizing peer review assisting editorial boards overseeing production schedules „Commissioning Editor“ looking for new titles, organize editorial boards No active participation in peer review! In Publishing, everyone is an Editor … Editor for Journals Editor for Textbooks and Monographs Editor for Reference Works But what you are actually doing depends on the product you are “editing” … or a Product Manager “Commissioning Editor“, “Planer” looking for new titles and new authors, organizing review of book proposals keeping contact with authors, assisting authors polishing/improving manuscripts can be part of the job “Commissioning Editor“, “Planer” “Development Editor” keeping contact with scientific editors and authors, assisting authors, organizing production, polishing/improving manuscripts (“copy editing”) “Market analysis” “Sales Representative” There are actually physicists doing this!

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | German-Language Publishers in Physics CompanyLocationComment Springer Heidelberg Berlin Wiesbaden Spektrum, Vieweg, Teubner, and Birkhäuser are part of Springer Wiley-VCHWeinheim Halliday-Resnick, Physik-Journal De GruyterBerlinJackson OldenbourgMünchenFeynman Harri Deutsch Frankfurt am Main Landau, Greiner, Bronstein HanserMünchenKuchling

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | Publishers in Physics World-Wide (not exhaustive ….) TypePublisherComment CommercialElsevierMainly Journals Taylor & FrancisBooks & Journals World ScientificBooks & Journals NatureJournals McGraw-HillMainly Books … University PressesCambridge UPMainly Books Oxford UPMainly Books Princeton UPMainly Books … Academic SocietiesAPSJournals IOPBooks & Journals Royal SocietyJournals …

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | My path to where I am in Publishing… For example, there was the classic (and, in my experience, largely useless) question about how we each found our current jobs. … The students really wanted to hear stories about how we noticed a posting on Science Careers or Monster.com, answered an ad, and survived competition with 200 random applicants -- …. Instead, each of the panel members talked about how we found our own careers through serendipitous meetings, friends-of-friends, and good old blatant nepotism.

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | Saarbrücken, 1995 … was a bit serendipitous Frankfurt, 1997 Darmstadt, 2006 Heidelberg, 2008

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | Albert Einstein: Die Plancksche Theorie der Strahlung und die Theorie der spezifischen Wärme Annalen der Physik 22 (1907) DOI: /andp

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | pages | figures | online documents chemical substances | references to original publications systematic and comprehensive critical evaluation of data by renowned authors and editors ( … since 1883) What is Landolt-Börnstein?

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | Landolt-Börnstein is now SpringerMaterials

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | How do I profit from my PhD background? Knowing „How physicists tick“ Experience of teamwork and cooperation with people from all over the world Experience in giving presentations Practical skills: Working with computer, and computer, and computer … (Perl, HTML, CSS, XML, LaTeX, mySQL, but even bash and vi …)

Stefan Scherer: A Physicist in Scientific Publishing | What are „essential skills“ in Publishing? You have to communicate a lot: with authors and editors, vendors, colleagues from other departments, people from other companies in publishing, with customers and users … You should develop an understanding of what topics are profitable and worth the effort – they might not be your pet topics, but in the end, it should pay your salary! You should have a broad knowledge and overview of physics, and curiosity and openness to learn new things Stop worrying and learn to love phyllosilicates !