A new browser-based proofing technology developed by a Chennai-based firm and endorsed by Dutch publishing giant Elsevier is set to change the scientific publishing industry.
Publishers of academic literature generally experience time-wasting problems in the proof-reading process. Proofing generally takes place by circulating a PDF of the typeset-manuscript for authors to check, correct and approve. The corrections then have to be transferred manually onto the proof.
However, this method is filled with workflow and process bottlenecks and inaccuracies.
Chennai-based TNQ, a specialist in content-centric technologies, has now come up with a new technology that replaces the traditional method of PDF proofing with a new technology platform.
New platformThis new platform, called Proof Central, now supports over 1,000 science and technology journals of Elsevier, according to a press release.
“We calibrated Proof Central to allow only as much author intervention as can be allowed in a peer-reviewed manuscript,” said Yakov Chandy, CEO, TNQ. “The system sets up a Concious Editing Environment for authors to interact with. Also, all actors work on a single URL, introduce their deltas into it and the full work flow cycle, and the loops therein, is completed on the same page.”
The platform is also set to cover over 1,400 journals in 2014—which will account for more than 25 per cent of all scientific, technological and medical journals (STM) globally.
“As a global leader in STM publishing, we have been examining tools and technologies to transform the proofing process. In October 2012, after an exhaustive search, we decided to pilot two of our journals on Proof Central,” said Johan van Slooten, Director, Reed Elsevier Procurement, in a statement.
After TNQ’s platform was piloted, the publishing giant witnessed an author uptake of over 80 per cent.
According to SK Venkatesan, Chief Technology Officer, TNQ, the underlying technology behind Proof Central can adapt easily to other aspects of scholarly publishing like Peer Review.
In fact, TNQ plans on taking it forward into other domains.
“The underlying technology has the potential to transform more than the proofing process. There is potential beyond scholarly publishing. In legal and commercial domains, and wherever there is a parent document that needs to be altered in a way that changes are completely traceable and transparent,” said Mr. Venkatesan.
