Wiley, a global scientific research publisher, has been at the forefront of the transformation of scientific research publishing from print to digital, and Jay Flynn, as their executive vice president and general manager of Research & Learning, has been a front-row spectator and participant in that.

In a recent interview with Science and Technology Daily, he shared his experience, his views on open science, and his insights into the Chinese research community.

A front-row witness

Flynn's career is closely intertwined with the digital transformation of scientific research publishing. Since joining Engineering Information (later merged into Elsevier) in 1997, he has witnessed the migration of scientific research content from CD-ROMs to online platforms.

This early digital experiment laid a solid foundation for his career. During his 14 years at Wiley, he transformed his experience into the driving force behind the company's transition to open access publishing. "The transition to open access is not just a change in business model but a paradigm shift," Flynn said. Through collaborations with over 900 academic societies worldwide, Wiley publishes more than 1,900 academic journals and last year alone, published over 200,000 open access research papers.

Flynn thinks that treating authors as customers and considering how to improve their publishing experience is key to Wiley's success in open access publishing.

Open access for global collaboration

"It's not easy to promote open access. One of the biggest challenges is how to maintain research integrity while improving publishing efficiency and author experience," Flynn said. To address this, Wiley invested heavily in optimizing the publishing process, introducing new research integrity safeguards, and exploring new technologies such as artificial intelligence in publishing.

He believes that AI can not only improve publishing efficiency, but also help researchers better write and publish papers. However, ethical and moral considerations must also be taken into account.

Wiley has signed over 100 open access transition agreements with research institutions worldwide to provide what Flynn calls "global, equitable, and interdisciplinary publishing opportunities." These agreements aim to simplify the publishing process and provide researchers with more convenient publishing pathways.

Rise of Chinese research community

Having engaged with the Chinese research community for many years, Wiley has witnessed the rapid development of Chinese scientific research.

Flynn noted that the number of papers published by Chinese authors in Wiley journals has been increasing annually, and the rise of Chinese research has positively impacted global technological development.

Wiley seeks to promote scientific exchange between China and the international academic community. Wiley has continued to increase its investment in The Advanced Portfolio series of journals, which has now expanded to 24 journal titles.

This series of journals have wide authorships and readerships in China, with more than 30,000 articles published by Chinese researchers over the past three years. These research outputs have been downloaded globally over 69 million times and cited over 630,000 times, playing a significant role in advancing global scientific progress.

More than 20 percent of the editorial board members of the Advanced series journals are from China, and Wiley is actively recruiting top talent in China to join the editorial boards of these journals.

By helping Chinese research institutions to publish academic journals and providing platform support services, it has been assisting Chinese research to go international.

Flynn is confident about future growth opportunities in the Chinese market. He said as China's research capabilities continue to improve, it will make breakthroughs in more technological fields and contribute high-quality results to the global research community.