Serials – 20(1), March 2007 Profile Profile: Michael Mabe

Michael Mabe

Michael Mabe was speed-reading the Gowers Institution, then based in Mayfair (although he report (Gowers Review of Intellectual Property) just nearly ended up at Nature), where he was working before our interview, ready to field journalists’ in mainstream scientific publishing for the first questions and, of course, to brief the members of time. Although he hated the commuting, he was STM (the International Association of Scientific, introduced to the delights of the Proms at the Technical and Medical Publishers) of which he is Albert Hall, and has since had an arena season CEO. Michael took over this high profile position ticket every year. from Pieter Bolman in May of 2006, and is now While looking round for other jobs, Michael was settling into their brand new offices in Oxford. head-hunted by Pergamon Press to manage a small Many will know Michael from his previous team producing scientific encyclopaedias. These positions at Elsevier (latterly as Director of were large-scale, tertiary-level works in systems Academic Relations), where he had worked since and control, mathematics and engineering science 1986, when it was still Pergamon Press. In fact he which later on he also commissioned. In 1988 he has always worked in publishing, starting his had his first (but not last) encounter with Dr Pieter career at OUP in the Oxford English Dictionary Bolman, who was in the process of introducing Department researching the history and writing North-Holland-style active editorial management the definitions of scientific vocabulary. Although to Pergamon. Other notables in Pergamon at that he was originally intending to go to Bath University time include Dr Peter Shepherd (now COUNTER) to do a PhD in new methods of carbon-dating, he and Norman Paskin (now IDF). In 1990 Pergamon needed to pay off his university debts, saw the decided to develop a physical science editorial OED advert in Nature, and was intrigued by the team and Michael was appointed Senior Publising possibilities of using the Bodleian stacks for Editor for Materials Science reporting to Peter research into obscure etymology and philology. Shepherd, managing a programme of 35 journals These interests may sound surprising coming from and over 200 books. Elsevier acquired Pergamon a St Catherine’s College, Oxford chemistry graduate Press in 1991 and Mike Boswood took over as its but, as the founder of the Oxford University Egypt- Managing Director. When Pergamon and the other ological Society, and possibly one of few chemists Elsevier UK companies were brought together in able to read Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Latin, it 1994 under the single moniker of Elsevier Science was a perfect fit. Ltd, Michael was made an Editorial Director of the So started his career in publishing, and 26 years new entity. later he still has no PhD but is in the same Elsevier at that time was very federal in profession. After OUP he left Oxford to take a organization with each separate Elsevier company position as Technical Editor at the British Standards in each country managed semi-autonomously and

71 Profile Serials – 20(1), March 2007 having its own (often overlapping) publishing involving sending out over 180,000 questionnaires programmes. By 1996, and as part of the develop- and analysis of 65,000 returns each year, allowing ment of Elsevier’s ScienceDirect platform, there the development of internal objective setting tools was a movement to bring these groups together and quality benchmarks. under one roof, and in the globalization Michael His research studies brought him into contact was appointed as International Publishing Director with Carol Tenopir, Don King and David Nicholas, for Materials Science. He says that this was like and he got involved in teaching information running a “mini-multi-national company” with science at University College London (where he offices and staff in many countries: good experi- has close links to the Centre for Publishing ence for the future. Studies), City University and at the University of Materials Science was one of the fastest growing Tennessee Graduate Summer School Program. The programmes in Elsevier. During his tenure as its latter is an intensive semester course in the history, Director, Michael became interested in how the philosophy and business of scholarly publishing evolution of journals matched the evolution of taught over two weeks and involving over scholars in a field, and how this could be measured 45 hours of class time. The preparation for (and and analysed. He began looking at growth curves teaching of!) this course is gruelling and he has and became interested in bibliometrics, the study been trying to encapsulate the course into a book of the science system through the relationship (but it is still only an incomplete manuscript). between references, authors and journals. It was at After 20 years at Elsevier, with a different job this time that he first read Derek J de Solla Price’s nearly every four years, Michael was ready for a classic, Little Science, Big Science, and was hooked. change. After the Elsevier/Harcourt merger, Pieter The globalization of Elsevier had coincided with Bolman had re-joined Michael as a colleague at two other momentous events: the completion of Elsevier, and then became the CEO of STM. Pieter the ScienceDirect electronic platform and Elsevier’s and Michael remained in touch, so Michael was transformation into a fully electronic publisher in familiar with the work and issues that STM’s CEO terms of all its publishing processes as well as its faced. It came as no surprise that when Pieter products. These revolutionary changes had dis- decided to retire, the head-hunters contacted rupted almost every department, changing the Michael about the STM job. Michael liked the idea ways each interacted with the other and with the of being in charge of his own show, and his outside world. In 1998 Derk Haank became CEO of lobbying and communications experience made Elsevier and recognised that it was essential that him an ideal candidate. It was like going back to the electronically born-again company reconnect his ‘mini-multi-national’ and being able to make a with its academic authors and editors, rediscover- visible difference. ing its publishing DNA. Part of this renaissance STM is the only global scientific, technical and was to be an entirely new department focusing on medical publishing trade association; it is open to understanding the author as a customer and all types of publisher (university presses, learned reflecting that learning back into the management societies and commercials), who have an equal role of the company. Derk encouraged Michael to take in its governance and seats on its board. Its on this new dual-facing role which in 1999 led him members collectively publish over 55% of all STM to become Elsevier’s Director of Academic journals and over 65% of all STM papers. Michael’s Relations and a spokesperson for the company. focus is very much on the public affairs part of his As head of Academic Relations, Michael spoke brief: to articulate the value and worth of the regularly around the world on the scholarly publisher, the added value they bring to the publishing system, directed research into the process and to make sure this is understood by information behaviour of scholars, and authored a governments and other agencies worldwide. The number of major papers with Mayur Amin on lobbying is important; recently he has spent a lot of journal growth, on the abuse of impact factors, time talking to the EU in Brussels trying to get on quality and its measurement, and in scholarly them to understand that publishing is about so publishing more generally. His department much more than just ‘distributing’ information. developed unique tools to measure the satisfaction The biggest value that the publisher brings to the of authors and editors with the journals they table is that the journal exists at all; and that the were involved in, continuous survey processes publisher maintains the image and reputation of

72 Serials – 20(1), March 2007 Profile the journal (brand creation and management in move further into books with another Book 2.0 at marketing speak). Anyone can produce and the London Book Fair and STM’s financing and distribute content, as the Internet so clearly shows, involvement with the access enabling projects, but only a publisher creates, nurtures, manages PatientINFORM, HINARI, AGORA and OARE, and supports brands through time and makes will continue. Michael is determined to dispel the changes to match those occurring in the scholarly old image of a “Head of House Club” and create a environment. place for all the STM publishing industry to come Michael believes that STM publishers have to meet and learn from each other. made a huge difference, transforming the industry When Michael is not travelling, he lives in a from a declining paper-based subscription small Oxfordshire village and really enjoys village universe to one with the vibrancy of electronic life, especially when there is peace and quiet to access, enabling extraordinary expansion in the read and listen to music. His tastes in music are nature and availability of electronic content. In the eclectic – anything from Mahler and Sibelius to UK alone it is estimated that through deals like Peter Gabriel and Rufus Wainwright. He is also NESLI and other electronic licensing programmes interested in the history of science (especially about 90% of researchers have access to virtually 1640–1680) and his hero is Henry Oldenburg, who all important scientific publications. At a recent single-handedly invented the journal and was the session at the Charleston Library Conference, first commercial journal publisher. Michael pointed out that there may be new tools, Michael’s favourite place in the world is Rome. but that they are new tools for old purposes, and He admits to being a ‘Rome Nut’, reading anything the scholarly purposes have not changed. about the city from ancient Roman history to Michael has ambitions for STM. He wants contemporary travel books [a special plea here for to recruit more members, and has already intro- a new edition of Amanda Claridge’s Rome: An duced a new lower subscription category for Archaeological Guide (OUP)!]. Having taught him- small organizations with a turnover of less than self Italian so he can read the newspaper – and, of EUR 1 million. He feels that a key role for STM is course, the menus – it looks like Michael has a in technology transfer and the pre-competitive fantastic perspective, with the ability to look back cross-fertilization and sharing of experience. The into history at the great Egyptian and Roman meetings, courses and seminars, such as the STM empires while taking STM forward with confidence Intensive Journal Course and Master Classes, will into the future. be expanded into new locations. STM will start to

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