Aries Systems Corporation

Since the turn of the millennium, the publishing ecosystem has experienced significant growth and transformation due to emerging discoveries and technological advancements. The shift from mail-based publications to online (and later, cloud-based) platforms, introduction of new business models, prioritization of quality and inclusionary standards, and surge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) opportunities have greatly shaped the digital scholarly publishing world today. As the industry continues to progress in this sphere, it is key to recognize and consider the risks, rewards, and realities of this movement. Facilitating discussions on this theme, The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) hosted their virtual Autumn Symposium last week dedicated to recent trends and innovations in digital publishing and AI.

Aries Systems was honored to be invited by EASE to participate in the event held on Tuesday, November 26. Ryan Walther, Senior Director of Client Services, and Kate Horgan, Director of Product Management, were featured as panelists in session 2B – Digital Tools and Platforms for Peer Review. They were joined by Draženko Celjak, Head of Data Management at University of Zagreb, Stuart Cooper, Global Business Development Director of ScienceOpen, and Teodor Georgiev, Technical Director at Pensoft Publishing.

Ryan Walther kicked off the presentation by sharing what Aries is currently hearing from our global EM/PM user community regarding AI in our systems and the wider publishing industry, with particular interest in Generative AI (GenAI). While our end users (Authors, Editors, and Reviewers) demonstrate eagerness and enthusiastic support for AI use in publishing, our core customer base (the publishers) tend to express cautious optimism for the future while focusing on gatekeeping concerns such as data privacy/security and scientific integrity/ethics. Based on this client feedback, Ryan Walther details Aries’ perspective of splitting these concerns into two categories – publisher-provided guidelines for end-user AI usage, and principles for responsible AI use and development.

Kate Horgan highlighted how Aries, and our parent company Elsevier by extension, manages product discovery and development for AI-based technologies. After providing a snapshot of our traditional product development journey with problem identification stages at the forefront, Kate Horgan showcased how this process can differ when AI solutions are pre-determined and the important considerations that must be analyzed. To learn more about how Aries navigates these approaches while following our Responsible AI framework for mindful innovation, check out our recent blog post from Peer Review Week 2024. As Aries continues our work exploring and experimenting with the potentials of our own AI-based solutions, we are pleased to recently integrate Editorial Manager® (EM) and ProduXion Manager® (PM) with third-party tools such as CACTUS’ Paperpal Preflight and Clear Skies’ Papermill Alarm through our ecosystem of connected technologies.