A Marketer’s Take on Navigating Acquisitions

By Stephanie Lovegrove Hansen, VP, Marketing, Silverchair - Silver Sponsor at the ALPSP Conference 2024

In the fast-paced world of scholarly communications, business, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) represent significant events and happen continually. For marketers, supporting an acquisition like the one between Silverchair and ScholarOne can be both thrilling and challenging, and it always involves a lot of work. We want to share what we learned through this process, including things to watch out for, opportunities to uncover, and potential pitfalls to avoid while preparing for a smooth transition.

 

Tips for Success

Acquisitions represent transformative journeys, not merely financial deals. When Silverchair began the process of acquiring ScholarOne, we aimed to broaden our product lineup and strengthen our market position. As a marketer, it’s important to stay in sync with the leadership team and the company’s primary goals during this transition. Your strategies need to align with the bigger picture to ensure that everything flows smoothly.

1. Prepare thoroughly
Don’t underestimate the amount of preparation required before announcing an acquisition. Crafting a comprehensive plan early on allows you to address potential challenges proactively and sets the stage for effective communication across stakeholders.

2. Gather support
Get expert support and help for the heavy lifting of content creation, research, and planning brainstorming with an industry-specific agency that understands your world. Get them involved as early as possible and ensure they are under an NDA. Besides the many actual artifacts, it’s also great to have an outlet to talk through challenges and lessons learned from other acquisition projects they have been involved with. (We worked with The International Bunch and couldn’t have done it without them!)

3. Research the incoming brand
Before the acquisition, conduct thorough research on the incoming brand. Understand their reputation, customer perception, market position, social presence, and competitors to better position your messaging.

4. Brand integration
Merging brands can be tricky, so don’t rush it. Think about how to effectively combine the new brand with the old. Highlight the best of both worlds by crafting a clear message about the value that the merger brings to keep customers engaged. The meat of the brand work may come 6-12 months into the integration, when you’ve had time to deeply understand both brands and what their shared future looks like.

5. Don’t ignore culture
Every organization has its own culture. As you bring brands together, understanding the cultural nuances is vital. Tap influencers on each side and create messages that resonate with both employee bases and customer groups to make everyone feel included and valued in the journey. (Read more about the human aspects of our acquisition from our Chief People Officer, Lily Garcia Walton.)

6. Be persistent with information gathering
As the closing date approaches, things continue to shift, and you may not yet have access to all the artifacts / details / people you need to deliver on your goals. Gathering the necessary information may prove challenging, but remain persistent in your efforts to collect insights about both your company and the one you’re acquiring to inform your communications strategy. Regular check-ins with a variety of stakeholders can help to surface the right information.

7. Segment your communications
Recognize and address the needs of all stakeholder groups, including clients, their end users, staff, the press, and partners. Each group will have different concerns and interests that you must address. Segment your client communications into three categories: yours, theirs, and shared. Tailoring messages for each audience ensures clarity and relevance.

8. Prioritize customer touchpoints
Communication is critical during an acquisition. Make sure your communication plan adequately keeps customers in the loop, proactively addresses their concerns, and showcases the benefits of the change. To the extent possible, make sure it’s a two-way conversation. Being transparent builds trust and minimizes confusion. Still: prepare for every kind of reaction!

9. Prepare comprehensive FAQs
When preparing FAQs, adopt a “belt and braces” approach. Anticipate questions and concerns from various stakeholders to mitigate uncertainty. Though you may not publish all those responses immediately, having them at the ready for reactive use can still help support your teams and ensure ongoing clarity.

10. Be clear in your messaging
Articulate the rationale behind the acquisition, the benefits it brings, how it will affect certain groups, and the anticipated timelines. Clear messaging is essential to reduce uncertainty and foster trust and understanding. If you don’t have an answer to something, share the cadence on which stakeholders can expect updates.

11. Plan your timing and sequence
Strategically consider the timing and sequence of communications events. A well-timed message enhances engagement and minimizes confusion. Send team messaging first, rather than them hearing about it in the press or through the grapevine with customers. Create a seed list and include key personnel like Sales and Client Services in any customer communications so they have transparency of what has been sent.

12. Engage with relevant social accounts and events
If the acquisition brings you into new markets and audiences, research which social media accounts to follow and events to attend that relate to the acquisition. This helps build connections and enhances visibility.

13. Harmonize your tech & data
Merging companies often means merging technologies and data. Assess what tools both companies use to ensure smooth integration. It’s better to delay technology transitions but do them smoothly than to hurry and cause disruption for internal teams and clients. Again, communication is critical so keep it flowing without a hitch!

14. Give your team the tools they need to support you
Develop clear positioning messaging for internal teams and ensure that all key staff are aligned and well-versed in it. Conduct training sessions to involve them in crafting the messaging. Your message won’t land if everyone is singing a different tune.

15. Be ready to direct traffic
Having a robust communications plan that defines roles, responsibilities, and timelines helps to share responsibility while ensuring clarity. Use project management tools to keep everyone informed, on track, and engaged in the process. Include key staff in creating the plan and messaging process to ensure buy-in and empower them to communicate effectively with their teams.

 

Pitfalls to avoid

• Underestimating your preparation (it’s a lot)
• Neglecting to carefully stage the timing of communications (like, down to the minute)
• Failing to keep your customers engaged beyond the announcement
• Overcomplicating your messaging (keep it simple)
• Having rigid timelines (it will change so. many. times.)

In a nutshell

The acquisition of ScholarOne by Silverchair was an exciting opportunity that brought a unique set of challenges. By focusing on brand integration, effective communication, cultural alignment, and tapping into growth opportunities, we turned hurdles into stepping stones. With the right mindset, approach, and planning, your merger/acquisition can lead to fantastic results that builds your communities and reach.

About Silverchair

Silverchair is the leading independent platform partner for scholarly and professional publishers, serving our growing community through flexible technology and unparalleled services. We build and host websites, online products, and digital libraries for our clients’ content, enabling researchers and professionals to maximize their contributions to our world. Our vision is to help publishers thrive, evolve, and fulfill their missions.

About the Author

Stephanie is responsible for Silverchair’s brand and product marketing strategy, collaborating with
internal teams, clients, and partners to facilitate clear communications with Silverchair’s growing community. She has worked in the publishing industry for 20 years, including at the University of Virginia Press and Clarivate Analytics.

About the ALPSP Conference

The ALPSP Conference provides a friendly forum in which to share information and knowledge, learn about new initiatives, and engage in open discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing publishing today. With expert speakers and an engaging programme, our annual event is for everyone in the scholarly publishing community. This year, we're returning to the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel, from 10-12 September 2025. Booking is now open.

Insights from London Book Fair 2025: At the Intersection of Education and Technology

By Mark Collins, Director of Academic, Virtusales – Gold Sponsor at University Press Redux Conference 2025

The landscape of academic and scholarly publishing is undergoing significant transformations, driven by technological advancements, economic pressures, and evolving educational demands. These shifts are reshaping how publishers operate, connect, and deliver content. At the London Book Fair's Academic and Professional Publishing Conference this year, industry leaders from Oxford University Press, Elsevier, and Edinburgh University Press joined Virtusales to explore these dynamics; sharing invaluable insights into how their publishing houses’ strategies are adapting to succeed amid rapid industry change and what the future holds.

Edinburgh University Press: Community for Growth and Resilience

Nicola Ramsey, CEO of Edinburgh University Press, highlighted the economic challenges facing mid-sized university presses, outlining the proactive steps being taken to address these obstacles. Despite the precarious state of the UK higher education sector, where 75% of universities may soon be in debt due to declining international student enrolments, Ramsey underscored the importance of innovation for growth and sustainability.

Emphasizing the vital importance of community, both within EUP and across the academic publishing sector, Ramsey noted how initiatives such as ECR advisory boards and industry collaborations like Even UP and Open UP are creating a cooperative environment for shared learning, advice and resource pooling. EUP’s strategic expansion into growing educational markets like Asia and the Middle East also helps to sustain growth and enhance reach, even as budget cuts impact libraries in the US and UK.

Although the transition from print to digital remains challenging—particularly due to reliance on third-party platforms for minimal ebook returns and the scalability issues of Open Access models—EUP is innovating and actively adapting to meet evolving industry demands.

Elsevier: Embracing Technological Change in Medical Education

As the pace of technological advancement accelerates, Madelene Hyde, Vice President of Global Medical Education and Local English Language Content at Elsevier, outlined how technology is reshaping the education landscape. With medical information doubling approximately every 73 days, Elsevier’s focus is on the creation of personalized learning and interactive resources, and leveraging AI to improve content delivery, workflow efficiency, and content accessibility. Stressing that publishers need to adapt swiftly to technological changes to future-proof their businesses, Hyde expressed optimism about AI’s potential both in helping students to find the answers they are seeking and broadening language translations while paying heed to the ethical challenges and risks associated with generative AI.

Highlighting increasing competition from major players in spatial computing, Hyde explained how Elsevier is employing the latest innovations such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Reality (AR) to remain at the forefront of the industry, ensuring legacy content evolves to meet students’ demand for engaging, efficient formats. This tech-driven approach keeps Elsevier competitive amidst the rise of digital education start-ups, emphasizing the need for trusted, quality content that guarantees accuracy.

Oxford University Press: Core Principles and Technological Partnerships

John Campbell, Product Strategy Director of the Academic Division at Oxford University Press emphasized the importance of grounding technological innovations in core principles—trust, impact, and value. With digital revenues now making up 80% of OUP’s income, Campbell highlighted AI’s strategic role in enhancing human expertise, streamlining processes, boosting product engagement and feedback loops, and developing new services.

Balancing budget constraints with its core values and stakeholder expectations, OUP is partnering with big tech companies and integrating its content into third-party digital platforms from smartphones to search engines like Google and Bing. Additionally, AI-overlay technologies enhance its high-trust, high-engagement platforms and improve user experiences; all while maintaining rigorous standards for content accuracy that align with its commitment to transparency and data privacy.

Conclusion: Adapting Through Innovation

The London Book Fair’s Academic & Professional Publishing Conference provided a vivid snapshot of how publishers are navigating significant change. Our speakers emphasized the fundamental importance of innovation, community, and technological advancements amid mounting economic pressures and evolving educational demands. Each institution is leveraging its strengths to adapt and thrive, underscoring the potential of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies as assistive allies in enhancing delivery, accessibility and engagement. In this way, publishers are embracing innovation to both tackle current complexities and prepare for the future, demonstrating the resilience and adaptability we are all capable of.

If you’d like to explore these insights further, sign up to read the full article, Navigating the Future of Publishing on our website which offers more insights on the discussions and strategies shared, and the key takeaways for publishers.

Our academic and scholarly community continues to grow. Visit the Virtusales website to find out why BiblioSuite is the chosen system for university presses, or contact us today to find out how it can support your publishing challenges and goals.

About Virtusales

Virtusales is a trusted partner in publishing technology, renowned for its industry-leading BiblioSuite software. Our solutions transform workflows and optimize business processes for respected academic and scholarly publishers like Elsevier, Oxford University Press, Sage, Harvard University Press, the MIT Press, and Princeton University Press. Our intuitive, cloud-based system is developed through continuous improvement and close collaboration with our customers. We regularly add new features to keep pace with the industry, ensuring our users are equipped with innovative tools and insights to thrive both now and in the future. Discover why you should join our growing community and hear what our clients say about BiblioSuite on our website. Visit Publishing Software for University Presses for more information or request a demo today to discover how Virtusales can elevate your publishing potential.

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About the Author

Mark Collins, Director of Academic, Virtusales

Director of Academic at Virtusales, Mark Collins has worked in the publishing industry for over 25 years. He has worked with a number of global publishers, respected independents, and academic and scholarly publishers implementing our BiblioSuite publishing software. Prior to Virtusales, Mark worked in a range of roles for prominent publishers including Wiley, implementing and delivering global technology solutions to their businesses.

 

About University Press Redux 2025

The 6th ALPSP University Press Redux returns as an in-person event on 3 & 4 April 2025, in partnership with Oxford University Press.

 

 

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A Preview of the 2025 AUPresses Virtual Annual Meeting, June 9-12

By David Famiano and Ana Maria Jimenez-Moreno, Program Committee Co-Chairs

- Association of University Presses (AUPresses) are Drinks Reception Sponsor at University Press REDUX Conference 2025

Having both previously been members of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) Annual Meeting Program Committee, we were delighted when AUPresses President Anthony Cond (Liverpool University Press) asked if we would like to co-chair this year’s committee. Our first goal was to assemble a committee that represents the full spectrum of university press functions, ensuring a balanced and inclusive program that reflects the diversity of voices within our community.

The AUPresses Annual Meeting has long been an important (and enjoyable!) forum for university press professionals, scholars, and industry leaders to engage in critical discussions, share best practices, explore emerging opportunities, and more. This year marks the fourth time the meeting will be conducted virtually, an approach that our Program Committee believes offers unique advantages in terms of accessibility and engagement.

A virtual meeting provides a great opportunity for wider staff engagement as many university press budgets are limited or restrictive, meaning only a select few from each organization are likely able to attend in-person meetings. This is particularly true of members of our community outside of North America as the Annual Meeting has traditionally been held in the United States or Canada. Additionally, most of this year’s sessions will be recorded, meaning that an even larger group of registrants will have access to this year’s programming.

The absence of travel or lodging expenses associated with in-person meetings provided our session organizers more opportunity to secure moderators and speakers for their sessions who otherwise may not have been able to participate in person.

Those of us in the university press community regularly work and engage with people and organizations outside our own presses such as authors and editors, freelancers and vendors, societies and publishing partners, among others. As a committee we feel these voices are important to incorporate into Annual Meetings whenever possible but it can be difficult to convince someone to travel to an AUPresses meeting to serve on a single panel. There are, of course, various ways to overcome these challenges for in-person meetings but a virtual meeting format makes it much easier to involve these individuals and organizations.

As a committee, we emphasized these benefits in our initial call for proposals and our work with each session planner. The result is a 2025 AUPresses Virtual Annual Meeting Program that is rich with a diversity of participants. In addition to the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, we are pleased to welcome moderators and speakers from around the world, including China, Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, and Tanzania. We were also pleased to see panels come together that include representatives from both large and small presses, vendors, and sessions that were intentional about representing both books and journals.

Panels will discuss the big and small transitions within academic publishing. From addressing changes in printing strategies--whether print-to-digital or born-digital and Open Access (OA)--to considering trends in journal publishing, this Annual Meeting seeks to index how decisions of any size impact all constituents. Given that change is not just felt by one sector of the scholarly ecosystem, the Annual Meeting emphasizes the collaborations between presses and libraries, library publishers, independent bookstores, historically Black university and colleges (HBCUs), the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC), and Adventures in Digital Publishing groups, among many others. As all the final details fall into place, we believe this year’s program pursues intelligent, intentional, and international publishing, blending sessions that confront big-picture challenges with panels that dive into the nuts and bolts of the day-to-day.

In these times of chaos and uncertainty, when so many core democratic and humanitarian values are under direct threat, the Program Committee reaffirms AUPresses’s commitments to inclusivity and collaboration, the creation and dissemination of knowledge, and the freedom of expression. We hope that this year’s program will demonstrate that AUPresses stands with its members, partners, and others to reaffirm the value and complexity of this shared scholarly work and also will affirm that our organization seeks to innovate and grow, to find meaningful change in good times and, perhaps even more importantly, in bad times.

As co-chairs we are so grateful to the members of our committee for volunteering their time and expertise. And we are thankful for the incredible enthusiasm and support of the AUPresses community in proposing sessions and volunteering to serve as chairs and speakers. We hope that you will find these sessions inspiring and insightful, and we look forward to seeing you online June 9th through June 12th!

About Association of University Presses

The Association of University Presses represents a global community of more than 160 nonprofit publishers whose shared mission is to ensure academic excellence and cultivate knowledge. AUPresses members are active across many scholarly disciplines in the humanities, arts, and sciences, publish significant regional and literary work, and are innovators in the world of digital publishing. The Association holds intellectual freedom, integrity, stewardship, and equity and inclusion as core values.

About the Authors

David Famiano is Journals Director at the University of California Press.

Ana Maria Jimenez-Moreno is an Acquisitions Editor at The Ohio State University Press.

About University Press Redux 2025

The 6th ALPSP University Press Redux returns as an in-person event on 3 & 4 April 2025, in partnership with Oxford University Press.

MDPI Self-citations study highlights industry alignment and integrity

By Dr Giulia Stefenelli, Scientific Communications Lead, MDPI and Dr Enric Sayas, Business Analyst, MDPI– Silver Sponsor at University Press REDUX Conference 2025

 

The context of self-citation scrutiny

Self-citations are a key topic in academic publishing. While self-citations can naturally reflect a journal’s specialization and research depth, concerns arise when they artificially inflate metrics like the Impact Factor (IF) and CiteScore, potentially distorting a journal’s perceived value.

This topic garnered significant attention following the release of Clarivate’s 2024 Journal Citation Report (JCR), which included the suppression of 17 journals from a range of publishers for excessive self-citation patterns (see, Clarivate Suppression List 2023). This prompted MDPI to analyze the citation patterns of its 237 JCR-indexed journals, ensuring alignment with industry norms and reinforcing our commitment to transparency, improvement, and integrity.

Methodology

As part of this assessment, we compared MDPI journals to others found in the same JCR category. Using data from Web of Science (WoS), which aligns with the data impacting JCR scores and is independently accessible, enabled an accurate and open comparison with other publishers’ datasets.

The original data and python scripts used can be found here: 10.5281/zenodo.14844342

Key Findings: Alignment with industry norms

Findings reveal MDPI’s citation practices are sound, consistent, and comparable to prevailing industry trends and established norms.

The evaluation includes 237 MDPI journals indexed in the JCR and analyzed their Impact Factor (IF) both with and without self-citations for the latest available year, 2024. Self-citations rates (SCRs) were also examined relative to category averages and assess how self-citations influence their overall ranking within their respective categories.

Findings show some variability in self-citation. Overall, however, MDPI journals align to industry norms and the limits established by WoS. MDPI has very few journals with high SCRs in their category compared to other leading publishers.

In 2024, MDPI’s average SCR was 14.85%, positioning the publisher 6th among the top ten publishers by SCR and 4th by publication volume (Figure 1).

 

SCRs across MDPI’s journals were calculated individually and compared to the average rates within their respective JCR categories. For journals indexed in multiple categories, the first category was selected.

Beyond Citations: Emphasizing broader research impact

We also examined the overall distribution of SCRs across all JCR journals and compared them to MDPI journals. Figure 2 shows SCRs are not normally distributed but exhibit a right-skewed distribution. This indicates that while most journals have relatively low SCRs, some exhibit significantly higher rates.

 

Based on this distribution, we analysed SCRs using percentile rankings, defining outlier journals as those exceeding the 95th percentile (top 5%). The median self-citation rate of all JCR journals was 0.12 while the median for MDPI-only journals was 0.14. This difference was shown to be not significative using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test (P-value 0.33374); there is no statistically significant difference in SCRs between MDPI journals and all journals in the dataset. Any observed difference in medians is due to random variation rather than a true difference in behaviour.

A similar approach can be applied within each JCR category, identifying outliers based solely on SCRs within their respective categories.

This was performed by grouping journals by their primary JCR category and generating SCR distributions within each. This allows for identifying outliers at the category level based on SCRs within the same field.

Per Figure 3, outlier SCRs vary widely, from 20% to nearly 100%. For MDPI journals, however, the range is more contained, between 20% and 40%. Notably, some MDPI journals with relatively high SCRs are not classified as outliers, suggesting they belong to JCR categories with inherently high SCRs. This highlights the need for category-specific assessments rather than a universal threshold.

Overall, we found that among the top 10 publishers (excluding MDPI), 4.7% of journals were classified as outliers based on their SCRs, whereas for MDPI, this figure was 2.3%.

Minimal impact on Rankings

We also examined whether excluding self-citations from the IF calculation significantly affects journal rankings within their categories. To do this, we ranked all the journals per category based on their IF both with and without self-citations, then observed the changes in ranking and quartile distribution. The analysis revealed that any category ranking changes were modest, with shifts averaging 7% based on 2024 data.

Key findings from the 237 MDPI journals analyzed reveal:

• 105 journals (44%) saw a ranking change between 10% and -10%, when self-citations were excluded.
• 74 journals saw a ranking decrease, and 49 journals saw a ranking increase when not counting self-citations.
• Six journals had a ranking decrease higher than 20%, while eight journals had a ranking increase higher than 20%.

The analysis also looked at whether any MDPI journals experienced changes in quartile rankings due to self-citations. As Table 2 shows, 14 journals decreased quartile when self-citations were removed: five journals from Q1 to Q2 and nine journals from Q2 to Q3. However, we also observed seven journals that increased their quartile when self-citations were removed: one journal from Q4 to Q3, three journals from Q3 to Q2, and three journals from Q2 to Q1.  Removing self-citations from MDPI journal IFs left 91% of journals in their original quartile. While some moved out of Q1, others moved in, with 97% of MDPI’s indexed portfolio unaffected by these shifts.

The results reinforce that self-citations have minimal influence on MDPI journal rankings, emphasizing the integrity of editorial practices and the absence of any deliberate efforts to manipulate impact.

Reinforcing transparency and integrity

As part of our continued commitment to integrity, transparency and protecting the scientific record, we welcome further scrutiny of the data used. We believe research impact goes beyond metrics to advancing knowledge, addressing societal challenges, and creating meaningful academic conversations. Broader indicators, such as research quality, societal relevance, and overall scholarly influence are equally important.

We invite our authors, editors, and readers to explore this analysis further and engage with us in conversations about responsible publishing. Together, we can continue to uphold the high standards of scholarly communication.

About MDPI

Headquartered in Switzerland, MDPI is an Open Access publisher with a portfolio of more than 440 journals across all scientific disciplines. To date, MDPI has published the works of over 3.7 million researchers, collaborating with an extensive network of academic institutions and scientific societies worldwide. Above all, MDPI is committed to ensuring that high-quality research is freely accessible to readers across the globe.

About the Authors

Dr. Giulia Stefenelli, Scientific Communications Lead, leverages her expertise in science communication, editorial processes, and Open Access (OA) promotion to address both institutional and country-specific challenges. She collaborates with teams across PR, Editorial Procedures, Institutional Partnerships, Research Integrity, AI and more, developing strategies to engage stakeholders, including policymakers, academics, and industry leaders. Her responsibilities include enhancing MDPI’s scientific network and promoting OA initiatives at events worldwide supporting different departments efforts, and ensuring effective communication to both specialist and broader audiences.

Dr. Enric Sayas is a Business Analyst specializing in the integration of AI and Machine Learning in scientific publishing. Within MDPI’s AI team, he combines his editorial expertise with his passion for AI to support the development of AI-driven solutions tailored to editorial needs, enhancing efficiency and decision-making. His interests extend to data science methodologies applied to scientific publishing, as well as the broader impact of AI on open science, peer review, and the future of scientific publishing.

About University Press Redux 2025

The 6th ALPSP University Press Redux returns as an in-person event on 3 & 4 April 2025, in partnership with Oxford University Press. Book your place.