Scientific, Technical & Medical Content: Market Trends and Changing Patterns of Usage

Author: David Bousfield, Affilate Analyst

This report represents the results of Outsell’s tenth Information Markets and Users Survey. It reviews evidence for changes in the information consumption habits of STM content users across the academic, industrial, and medical markets, and seeks broader insight by comparing and contrasting the trends across these different areas. Our most recent survey, fielded in January 2011, garnered 1,780 responses from US knowledge workers in 17 key functional areas. The STM sample used in this report covers the industrial, academic, and healthcare sectors, specifically manufacturing, engineering, and R&D specialties within industry; faculty and students within academe; and physicians within healthcare. Over 50% of the industrial respondents were from the biotech, pharmaceutical, high tech, and manufacturing industries.

The report contains:
- An overview profile of the driving forces shaping the end-users’ relationship with content in the STM market;
- Data and analysis of the information habits and unmet needs of academic researchers and their students, physicians, and corporate knowledge workers associated with research, development, and manufacturing process;
- A detailed look at each group’s use of interactive media;
- Data and analysis of scientists’, physicians’, and engineers’ information spending and purchasing habits; - Essential actions for publishers and information providers serving scientists, physicians, and engineers.