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Social Media in STM Part 2: Social Publishing – Usage and Abusage

Image of Daniel Pollock

Author: Daniel Pollock, Vice President & Lead Analyst

This report focuses on social publishing behaviors and tools, such as wikis and blogs, which empower all STM professionals to create and share content free and without publisher input. It follows on from Outsell’s report “Social Media in STM Part 1: Social Networking” (December 16, 2008), which examined the social networking, community sites, and venues for social media in STM. This report – Part 2 – offers a comprehensive study of the usage patterns of social publishing tools. It looks at the new workflow practices that are beginning to emerge and provides essential insight and recommendations about the opportunities and challenges social publishing creates for scholarly and commercial publishers in STM. The report includes:

- Definition of key concepts related to social publishing;
- Analysis of the use of social publishing mechanisms by end-users to consume content, and its use to disseminate content;
- Implications and key trends in social publishing;
- Detailed lists including name, weblink, intended audience, contributors, and editors of selected medical wikis and selected scientific & technical wikis;
- A list of featured wikibooks and whether they are also available in PDF;
- Essential actions for information providers.



We provide a link to download a PDF at the end of the purchase process.

Pub Date: March 5, 2009
Type: Market Report
Segments: Segments: B2B MRRS STM
Keywords: Collaboration, Communities, STM Publishing, Web 2.0
Pages: 39
Format: PDF Application_pdf

Table of Contents

  • Why This Topic?
  • Market Definitions
    1. The Rise and Rise of Social Publishing
    2. Social Networking or Social Publishing?
    3. Methodology
  • Key Concepts
    1. Democratising the World Wide Web
    2. Wikis and Blogs – Weapons of Mass Production
  • Market Drivers - Social Publishing Activities in STM
    1. Use of Social Publishing for Content Dissemination
    2. Wikis as STM Publishing Vehicles
    3. Closing the Loop on Content and Community
  • Implications and Key Trends
    1. Implications
    2. Key Trends
  • Essential Actions
  • Related Research
  • Appendix

    • Tables & Figures

  • Table 1. Information Users Survey Sample Sizes
  • Figure 1. Use of Interactive Media by Job Function
  • Figure 2. Executive Management: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 3. R&D and Science: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 4. Engineering: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 5. Manufacturing: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 6. IT: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 7. MD and DDS: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 8. Nursing: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 9. Allied Health: Use of Interactive Media
  • Figure 10. Respondents Who Contribute to Blogs
  • Figure 11. Impact of Social Publishing Tools on the Life Cycle of Scholarly Information
  • Figure 12. Comparative Traffic of STM Sites, January 2008 – January 2009
  • Table 2. Selected Medical Wikis, January 2009
  • Table 3. Selected Scientific and Technical Wikis, January 2009
  • Table 4. Featured Wikibooks, January 2009

Companies Mentioned

  1. Elsevier
  2. Knewco, Inc.
  3. Nature Publishing Group
  4. Pluck Corporation
  5. Seed Media Group LLC
  6. Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP)
  7. Technorati, Inc.
  8. Wikia, Inc.
  9. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.