Great Ideas Conference

Evolving to Survive: New Models

for Association Publishing

Matt PriceDirector, MarketingAmerican Chemical Society, Publications DivisionSunday, February 22, 2009

Connecting Great Ideas and Great People

Agenda

“On the Associations” A Brief History of the

American Chemical Society The Process of Accelerating Progress The Transformation of Information A Better Online Experience Measure Success

The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester

“On the Associations”

“No doubt, I think, can be

entertained that the progress of experimental Philosophy, Literature & the Arts had been materially accelerated from one or two centuries past by the establishment of different associations for the promotion of these objects…”

John Dalton Papers, No. 93

John Dalton (1766-1844)– the founder of modern chemistry and the atomic theory of matter

American Chemical Society founded in 1876

The world’s largest scientific society, ACS celebrates its 133rd anniversary in 2009.

Founded in 1876 in New York City, the Society now has 189 local sections in all 50 states, international chapters in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong, and 34 technical divisions.

“Let us deliver unflinchingly to others the truths that Nature has delivered to us.” John W. Draper, inaugural address as the first president of the ACS

Two Centuries of Progress

Various atoms and molecules as depicted in Dalton's A New System of Chemical Philosophy, 1808.

Journal of the American Chemical SocietyCover illustration, February 2009.

Accelerating Progress

In 1900 ACS published only 1,000 pages of research in one journal.

Today, ACS publishes 36 journals and Chemical & Engineering News magazine.

In 2008, ACS published more than a quarter million pages of research.

Every article was first published to the Web.

A Commitment to Excellence

#1 in impact factor and/or citations in 15 of the 26 ISI subject categories in which ACS Journals are indexed includes the 7 core chemistry categories

(Analytical, Applied, Inorganic & Nuclear, Medicinal, Multidisciplinary, Organic, and Physical Chemistry)

as well as eight more categories from Crystallography to Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

JACS reaches new heights with a record 295,465 total citations and its highest impact factor ever of 7.885

A Commitment to Excellence

In 2007, ACS Journals exceeded 1.36 M unique citations* – a 10.3% increase over 2006

15.3% of the 8.9 M unique citations across the 26 ISI® categories listing ACS Journals – with less than 2% of the total titles

35.8% of the 3.06 M unique citations in the 7 core chemistry categories – with just 6% of the total titles

* Most recent data according to the 2007 Journal Citation Reports® published by Thomson Reuters

Measuring Progress: Core Chemistry Total Citations and Median Impact Factor

ACS Core Chemistry Total Citations and Median Impact Factor

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Tota

l Ci

tati

ons

0.000

0.500

1.000

1.500

2.000

2.500

3.000

3.500

4.000

4.500

Med

ian

Impa

ct F

acto

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Total Citations Median Impact Factor

The Process of Accelerating Progress

So where’s the ACS going?

And how are you going to get

there?

The ACS President’s Message We, as a society, are all

in this together! If we don't band together

to further our interests, who will? We cannot rely on others to watch over our discipline.

Plainly put, we are the stewards of chemistry, past, present, and future.

C&EN, Jan. 5th 2009, Vol. 87, No.1Thomas H. Lane, ACS President

2009

Building a better world

"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals." —Marie Curie (1867–1934)

Thomas H. Lane commented “in that simple statement, Madame Curie summarized a prime responsibility for the American Chemical Society:

“to reach out and make sure that those who follow us have the opportunities that we were afforded,

“to actively learn our discipline, “to leverage the power of chemistry to improve

peoples' lives.”

Building a better community

The transformation of information requires a

transformation in how we communicate, how we

publish, how we come together as a community

of association/society members and active

participants

Association/society publishers have a specific

advantage in continuously adding value for

members

By adding value, members move up the loyalty

ladder from (initial) prospects to true advocates

Climbing the loyalty ladder

Prospect – potential members, authors, and community participants

New Member – a participant, new customer Author, Meeting Attendee, Speaker, Long-time

Member – a higher level of participation, engagement and commitment – a “repeat customer”

Reviewer, Editor/Editorial Board Member, Chair, Organizer – an advocate for the association/society, journal, etc. if consumer would buy no other brand (brand insistence)

Objectives of the ACS

To improve people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry.

To encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner the advancement of chemistry in all its branches . . .

By its meetings, professional contacts, reports, papers, discussions, and publications, to promote scientific interests and inquiry.

To progress; to accelerate progress.

The Process of Accelerating Progress

“What’s past is prologue.” — Shakespeare

“The real purpose of looking back is not, of course, merely to obtain satisfaction from reflecting on past triumphs; rather, it is to discover as many clues as possible to the likely developments of the future.” — Glenn T. Seaborg,1976 ACS President

The Process of Accelerating Progress

All progress depends upon …

… what?

… or who?

The Process of Accelerating Progress

You

The Process of Accelerating Progress

Is there a scientific method for progress? Observation

Investigation

Formulation

(And, of course, Publication)

Or should you be doing something new?

Something more?

The Process of Accelerating Progress

Yes

Adopt a Culture of Innovation

Experiment

Test

Implement

Respond and adapt

Monitor

www.acs.org

Experimentation at ACS – New Web Initiatives

www.acs.org

JACS Beta

ACS Nanotation Chemical Biology

Community

News & Features websites Analytical Chemistry

Environmental Science & Technology

Journal of Proteome Research

Experimentation at ACS – New Web Initiatives

www.acs.org

• “JACS Select” Virtual Issues

• Image Challenge

• Audio Slideshow

Experimentation at ACS – Building the Prototype

www.acs.org

ACS Chemical Biology (2006) ACS Nano (2007) Chemical Research in Toxicology (2008)

User Testing at ACS

www.acs.org

Lessons Learned: TOC Graphics

increasingly important for browsing

ASAP and Current Issue common points of entry

Potential for increasing usefulness of HTML Full Text

Search – users need to search entire field of literature

User Testing at ACS – Opportunities for Improvement

www.acs.org

Addition & Correction links

Citation Downloads

Reference links

Search sorting & filtering problems

Missing images

Size of thumbnail images

A Culture of Innovation at ACS

ExperimentTest

ImplementRespond and adapt

Monitor

www.acs.org

Implementation at ACS – New ACS Web Delivery Platform

www.acs.org

2 Years Entire ACS Publications Division Collaboration across the society

IT Team Membership Chemical Abstracts Service Communications Chemical & Engineering News

Program-wide investment Reengineered IT infrastructure New XML production environment New delivery system Redesigned user interface

Implementation at ACS – Better Searching

www.acs.org

Advanced interface

Filtering tools

Snippet previews

Create RSS feeds

Thumbnail preview

Implementation at ACS – Better Browsing

www.acs.org

Graphical abstract highlights

Complete List of Issues

Most Read and Most Cited lists

View multiple Abstracts simultaneously

Previous/Next scroll option

Implementation at ACS – Better Article Features

www.acs.org

In-line reference displays

Figure browser One-click results to

other ACS papers History section Forward citation

linking SciFinder® Links

Implementation at ACS – Better Discoverability

www.acs.org

Related content links

Filtering options on search interface

Content recommendations

Dashboard approach on journal home page

Monitoring Usage –Don’t forget to measure

www.acs.org

New website launched November 15th, 2008

HTML full-text downloads doubled during 2nd

half of November 2008

Users downloaded over 400,000 PDF w/Links

full-text documents in 2nd half of November

November 2008 a record month for full text

downloads (5.9 M articles downloaded)

Monitoring Usage Statistics Full Text Downloads – PDF & HTML

(2007-2008)

www.acs.org

+18% Dec 08 vs Dec 07

Monitoring Usage Statistics Abstract Views (2007-2008)

www.acs.org

+163% Dec 08 vs Dec 07

Build Your Brand Awareness:“A Better Online Experience” Campaign

Run movie clip

In sum: Get lots of ideas

“The best way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas.”

Linus Pauling

Linus Pauling (1901-1994)Nobel Laureate and ACS Past President

With great appreciation and special thanks to:

Jonathan Morgan, Asst. Director, Web Innovation

and his incomparable Web Innovation

Team;

C&EN and the C&EN editorial staff for use of article

on

ACS President, Thomas H. Lane;

Tanja Bos for her design work on

“A Better Online Experience”; and

Leigh Slayden, President & Fearless Leader

Bigger Better Marketing.

Connecting Great Ideas and Great People

THANK YOU!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Matt PriceDirector, MarketingPhone: 800-227-5558E-mail: m_price@acs.orgWebsites: www.pubs.acs.org

Connecting Great Ideas and Great People