CROSS IT OFF YOUR

Regardless of the diverse and extensive requirements of your publishing journey—content creation; editorial; project management; digital accessibility; eLearning; eBooks; XML conversion, typesetting, and print-on-demand services; or anything else—talk to us! Amnet would be delighted to be your preferred partner, as we are well equipped to handle the intricacies of your publishing requirements with finesse.

CROSS IT OFF YOUR

Regardless of the diverse and extensive requirements of your publishing journey—content creation; editorial; project management; digital accessibility; eLearning; eBooks; XML conversion, typesetting, and print-on-demand services; or anything else—talk to us! Amnet would be delighted to be your preferred partner, as we are well equipped to handle the intricacies of your publishing requirements with finesse.

01 Create Your To-Do List

Editorial and Project Management
XML Conversion
Typesetting Services
eBook Services
Content Compliance and Accessibility
eLearning
Others

01 Create Your To-Do List

02 Our Solution

Enhance your content with publishing excellence

Amnet believes that publishing accurate and engaging content is key to customer satisfaction. For instance, our customer-centric editorial services provide our customers with a unique range of skill sets across print, online, and digital formats. Here is a snapshot of our editorial services:

With our comprehensive range of publishing services, coupled with our digital-first, technology-enabled approach, Amnet is committed to ensuring a seamless and high-quality editorial workflow tailored to meet your specific needs.

03 Why Amnet

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Highly Skilled Staff

04 Resources

How Amnet assisted a US-based university press in optimizing its workload and resources during peak and off-peak seasons.

How Amnet helped a leading global STM publisher get one of their best-selling series to market within a challenging time frame

How Amnet's tailored solution resolved workload challenges for a university press​

How Amnet helped a global research and education publisher meet their peer review goals

Navigating the complexities of project management

The advent of OA publishing and the changing landscape of scholarly publishing

It's time to use the modern digital publishing format for your organization's documents

Decoding WCAG 2.1 - Understanding the differences between WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 and its implications

05 What Clients Say

©2023 Copyright: Amnet ContentSource Private Limited | All Rights Reserved

How Amnet Assisted a US-Based University Press in Optimizing Its Workload and Resources during Peak and Off-peak Seasons?

Background

The client is a renowned and long-standing US-based university press whose journals division publishes a diverse range of scholarly journals across various disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, life sciences, and physical sciences.

Scenario

Throughout the year Amnet provides editorial services to multiple annual and quarterly journals from the client. The workload is notably heavier during the peak season, typically between September and January, as both quarterly and annual manuscripts are received around the same time. During the remaining months, the workload from the client is manageable owing to a lesser number of journals and consequently lower page counts.

Challenges

Our freelancers and in-house team comprise expert copyeditors who are regularly engaged with journal articles from the client. However, during peak and holiday seasons, resource allocation becomes challenging due to the volume of work, client deadlines, and concurrent journal due dates. Additionally, project managers need to ensure all
resources are engaged satisfactorily during off-peak months.

Solution Approach

Over the years we have expanded our freelance copyeditor pool and conducted in-house training to ensure competent backup resources during high-volume periods. The backup resources are assigned articles from the client during peak season; during other months, they are assigned projects from other clients on rotation. Project managers continuously monitor journal production schedules and proactively ensure availability of appropriate resources well before the copyediting start date. Completed files are posted in batches on a rolling basis to prevent delays during typesetting.

Benefits

Amnet consistently meets the client’s deadlines for all journals despite varying publication frequency. As a result, in recent years the client has added new journal assignments to Amnet, which underscores their growing confidence in Amnet’s ability to deliver quality work on time.

About Amnet

 With over 20 years of experience, Amnet provides traditional and digital publishing solutions, including eLearning, content development, peer-review management, editorial, project management, production, accessibility, and technology, for clients worldwide

How Amnet helped a leading global STM publisher get one of their best-selling series to market within a challenging time frame

Client Requirements

The client sought editorial support to manage a large and complex two-book set that required extensive editorial work and needed to be ready for printing within four months. Limited manpower capacity and stringent timeline requirements made it difficult for the client to manage the project in-house.

Challenges

The client had a two-book set with a very tight production schedule (800 pages each in 4 months). The client’s in-house staff was under immense pressure due to limited time and in-house resources. The challenges were further compounded by several factors:

  • The manuscript was not complete upon startup.
  • Consistent style had to be applied across both volumes.
  • Heavy corrections occurred at the proofreading stage and changes made to the primary book had to be incorporated into the secondary book.
  • The indexes had to be revised due to significant reflow in the revised proofs.

 

Solution Approach

Amnet evaluated the project requirements and deployed a dedicated editorial team to manage the process from start to finish.

  • Amnet held a launch call to alert all relevant stakeholders and subsequently built a chapter-wise schedule to meet the due date and simplify the process.
  • A shared text correction sheet helped the entire production team efficiently sort, track, and implement revisions as per requirements across both books.
  • The Amnet project manager held periodic check-in calls with the team throughout the production process to resolve questions and challenges, and to ensure schedules were followed as planned.
  • Through meticulous planning and extended work hours, our team was able to ramp up the editing and review process to meet the demanding project requirements.

Outcome

Through careful input analysis, meticulous scheduling, efficient planning, and teamwork, we were able to meet the client’s schedule and quality requirements. Our ability to handle this complex project helped strengthen our relationship with the client, who made Amnet their partner of choice.

Appreciation from the client:

“We have decided to change the role of Amnet in our vendor base. We have reassigned Amnet as a tier-1 vendor, to manage main textbooks and larger, more complex, and important projects. Amnet does such a good job of handling our complicated books. Thank you and your team for your consistent great work and support.”

 

How Amnet's tailored solution resolved workload challenges for a university press

Challenge

A prominent university press faced a significant challenge when their reduced production team size resulted in an overwhelming workload for the remaining staff. Coordinating with authors, overseeing editorial teams, editing (including correcting formatting of notes/references), navigating copyright complexities, creating and reviewing proofs, ensuring quality control, and meeting schedules became increasingly challenging, impacting the press’s workflow efficiency and project schedules.

Solution

As a trusted partner, Amnet proactively engaged with the university press to address the challenges. We initiated discussions to understand the scope and identified areas of inefficiency within their internal processes. Leveraging our extensive experience, we offered a comprehensive solution that allowed the university press to off-load responsibilities to our expert team. Through our skilled project management and editorial services, we alleviated the workload burden on their in-house production team, allowing them to focus on strategic planning at the list level.

Conclusion

Amnet’s intervention played a pivotal role in transforming the university press’s book publication process. By addressing their workload challenges, we not only streamlined their operations but also empowered them to focus on academic excellence, thus ensuring them continued success in all their publishing endeavors.

About Amnet

Our track record includes successfully managing over 120 full-service projects for 11 university presses in the year 2022 alone. With 20+ years of experience, Amnet offers end-to-end traditional and digital publishing solutions including editorial, production, accessibility, and technology–for clients in all sectors and around the globe.

 

Navigating the Complexities of Project Management

Have you ever found yourself drowning in projects, with deadlines looming like storm clouds? Or perhaps your in-house team is stretched thin and can’t take on the latest project that just landed on your desk? Rest assured, you’re not alone. Many organizations share these challenges, prompting the need to look for help. Let’s explore the scenarios, challenges, and distinctive solutions that position professional project management as a strategic choice while safeguarding against potential customer repercussions due to delays or poor quality.

Project Management Partnership: Why?

Volume Overload

Imagine a scenario where your team is inundated with tasks and the workload surpasses the capacity of your in-house production editors. It could be a sudden spike in projects, deliberate staff reduction, or temporary gap. Professional project managers come to the rescue!

Time, the Slippery Commodity

The scarcity of time is a pervasive challenge for many organizations. When schedules tighten and the internal staff is already managing multiple responsibilities, orchestrating an accelerated project becomes a herculean task. Professional project managers come to the rescue!

The Cost-Efficiency Conundrum

In an era where efficiency and cost-effectiveness take precedence, professional project management emerges as a strategic move. It enables organizations to leverage external expertise without incurring the overhead costs associated with the recruitment and training of in-house staff. Professional project managers come to the rescue!

The Editorial Network

Quality editorial work is the backbone of polished content. But what if your regular team is unavailable or fully booked? Professional project managers come to the rescue to provide access to a network of skilled professionals, ensuring your content gets the attention it deserves!

Taming the Manuscript Mess

Confronted with a disorderly manuscript that the in-house team lacks the time to rectify? Professional project managers come to the rescue!

Project Management Partnership: Why Amnet?

Let’s explore the elements differentiating Amnet’s professional project management, making it the beacon of reliability in a sea of challenges.

Building Lasting Connections

At the core of Amnet’s project management philosophy lies the art of building enduring relationships. Beyond project management, it entails becoming an integral part of the client’s team. Amnet’s teams immerse themselves in understanding the client’s style, processes, and standards, thus, functioning as an extension of the in-house workforce. This intimacy fosters collaboration beyond transactions—a partnership founded on trust and shared goals.

Seamlessness in Workflow

For Amnet, managing projects is not merely a task; it’s a commitment to ensuring a seamless internal workflow. In comprehensive projects, Amnet’s professional project management assumes center stage. Internal turnaround times are orchestrated, compensating for any delays. The result is liberation from the complexities of coordination, ensuring a smooth journey from concept to completion.

Accountability and Quality Assurance

In the face of accelerated schedules and demanding timelines, accountability serves as the cornerstone of Amnet’s professional project management. The commitment to delivering excellent quality on time is unwavering—a guarantee that client satisfaction is not merely a goal but a constant priority. Amnet’s dedication to certainty is evident through the meticulously monitored Certainty Index, which evaluates crucial metrics like quality, communication, and timeliness. This tool ensures our services consistently surpass standards, reinforcing our commitment to client satisfaction.

A Network of Editorial Experts

Excellence is not a solitary endeavor; it embodies a symphony of expertise. Amnet’s project management extends beyond individual capabilities, offering access to a network of editorial and subject matter experts. With a network of reliable and high-quality content developers, copyeditors, proofreaders, indexers, and a specialized subgroup in scholarly editing, partnering with Amnet ensures that your work is handled by seasoned professionals with a wealth of experience. The outcome is elevated content quality.

The Art of Project Management Excellence

In essence, Amnet’s professional project management is an art form—a fusion of meeting fundamental requirements for on-time, in-budget outcomes, with a value-add: turning challenges into opportunities and overcoming obstacles with finesse. It’s the assurance that even when the weight of projects threatens to pull clients under, Amnet’s project management serves as the life buoy that keeps them afloat. It’s not merely about managing projects; it’s about crafting an experience as intricate as it is seamless. In the tapestry of project management, Amnet weaves a story of excellence that withstands the test of time.

The Advent of OA Publishing and the Changing Landscape of Scholarly Publishing

For millennia, research articles have remained behind paywalls or in the hands of the elite. arXiv.org, the first repository used by researchers to self-archive articles, marks the beginning of the open access (OA) movement. Later, in 1994, with the advent of the internet, Dr. Stevan Harnard encouraged authors to publish articles with OA. The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) coined the term “open access, and slowly OA journals came into the picture. OA has come a long way, and now we have governments of various nations mandating OA laws and supporting cOAlition S.

Social Implications

A report issued by the National Institute of Health confirms the rising cost of traditional publishing. These high costs make the dissemination of information difficult. When researchers take advantage of OA publishing, the general public will have access to information that can be used for personal and professional requirements.

Research Implications

Attracting grants is highly competitive, and researchers must prove the relevance of their research to funders. In 2022, 142 OA policies were adopted by funders, depicting a change in the increasing worldwide support for OA. Many policies also mention metadata and/or research data. An increasing number of institutions are starting to set up their policies to accommodate funder requirements and simplify their workflows.

Organizational Implications

University libraries have the means to pay for expensive subscriptions. Transformative agreements that provided open access to the research outputs of the UK’s elite institutions show how major publishers continue to remain significant although some aspects of power are shifting toward libraries. However, inequity prevails in institutions that cannot afford a decent agreement and in small society publishers whose publishing revenue supports their other activities. Prestigious closed-access journals with high impact factors still have a good influx of high-quality articles, removing the necessity of an OA business model.

The goal of transitioning to OA may be global, but each country has its own pace. The United States, China, and the UK lead the world in OA publications, while countries with lower socioeconomic statuses are falling behind.

Researcher Implications

More than 60 percent of authors do not have a clear understanding of the OA model and continue to prefer subscription journals. The publisher often retains the copyright to their work, preventing the use of such information elsewhere. Researchers who prefer to have full control of their work can opt for OA publishing.

According to a research conducted in 2020, 56.86 percent of journals have some form of OA: green, gold, or hybrid.

Navigating changes in the publishing industry can present new challenges for the scholarly community. Preprint servers continue to grow in popularity. Collaborative research is on the rise and helps solve issues that require immediate attention and expertise in multiple fields. Technological innovations enable the streamlining of workflows and digital preservationArtificial intelligence has a high scope in the automation of manual processes.

Nvcleus and OA Publishing

Nvcleus’s unified content framework offers a one-stop solution for every stage of publishing, enabling scalable and highly collaborative content workflows and eliminating unnecessary production costs and delays. Built on a fully open source platform, Nvcleus optimizes author, editor, and peer reviewer experiences. Get in touch with our expert for a demo.

Sources

  1. https://blog.cabells.com/2023/02/08/strongopen-access-history-20-year-trends-and-projected-future-for-scholarly-publishing-strong/.
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1525322/.
  3. https://www.digital-science.com/blog/2022/10/the-changing-landscape-of-open-access-compliance/.
  4. https://www.researchinformation.info/feature/open-access-scholarly-publishing-where-are-we-now.
  5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362200898X.
  6. https://www.stm-assoc.org/cast-report/.
  7. https://wordsrated.com/open-access-publishing-statistics/.
  8. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-journal-publishing-trends-innovations-watch/.
https://nvcleus.com/.

It’s Time to Use the Modern Digital Publishing Format for Your Organization’s Documents

There is a growing appreciation that laws and social commitment require documents, books and corporate publications that everyone can access, including persons with disabilities. The publishing industry has embraced EPUB 3 as their format of choice.

Executive Summary

There is a growing appreciation that laws and social commitment require documents, books and corporate publications that everyone can access, including persons with disabilities. The publishing industry has embraced EPUB 3 as their format of choice. 1 Now it is time for other corporations and organizations to do the same for their publications,unlocking benefits for themselves and their audiences. EPUB 3 provides the best digital reading experience for everybody on the devices we use today, for both online and offline reading. EPUB 3 can be produced using your existing document processes. EPUB 3 is better, less expensive, and faster. This white paper is licensed under a creative commons license and we would be delighted to assist in the development and promotion of other versions, outside the United States, in other jurisdictions. 

The Business Case for Born Accessible EPUB 3

Time and Cost

Authoring EPUB 3 files is both a quicker and cheaper route for your organization to accessible content. By taking advantage of the built-in mechanisms within your authoring tools, your process will benefit from improved efficiency. Once the workflow is in place it becomes part of the building blocks of your digital content supply chain, allowing all readers to access content at the same time as everybody else – there is no remediation delay or cost in supplying accessible materials. Your content is Born Accessible with tools and solutions available to you (such as Ace by DAISY) to help you speed up the process and give you confidence. Most companies that tag documents, to make them usable by persons with print disabilities, spend enormous amounts of time and money to do so. Many lack the internal resources to make this conversion internally and must incur the expense of a third-party vendor specializing in remediation. There is a Legal Requirement for your Business to Produce Accessible Documents EPUB 3 is the most direct route to compliance with the requirements to produce accessible documents. EPUB 3 meets the legal requirements for accessibility which are explored in more detail in the section on Legal Requirements further on in this document. By embracing Born Accessible EPUB 3 for document output, organizations can gain comfort in the knowledge that they have complied with the law and provided one of the most accessible documents for their readers. 

Decoding WCAG 2.1 - Understanding the differences between WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 and its implication

Executive Summary

Approximately 17% of the world’s population is visually challenged, 2.6% has an intellectual disability, and 1% require a wheelchair for mobility. Plus, the world’s aging population of 80 years and over will nearly triple from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million by 2050. Considering the growing importance of web accessibility vis-à-vis the increasing population with varying degrees of disabilities, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to provide an actionable framework. The first version was published almost two decades ago. A revised and enhanced version (2.0) was published in 2008. WCAG 2.0 was the gold standard and served as a foundation for international accessibility laws. However, since its release, rapid advances in digital and smart technologies have reshaped our world in an unprecedented manner, transforming the way we communicate and access information. The older version needed an upgrade to accommodate the new and evolved accessibility requirements. As a result, WCAG 2.1 was published as an extension or advanced version of WCAG 2.0. With the addition of new success criteria, the guideline accommodates various accessibility dynamics and covers a wide range of barriers and web technologies to maximize accessibility.

A Sneak Peek into the Emergence of WCAG

 WCAG was developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) group of the W3C. The idea was to create a shared comprehensive web content accessibility guideline that could be used globally to ensure that digital content is accessible to every user with varying degrees of abilities. The first draft—WCAG 1.0—was published in May 1999 and comprised 14 guidelines and 65 associated checkpoints that form the basis to determine conformance with the guidelines.
Fast forward to December 2008, when W3C published WCAG 2.0 to make content accessible to a wider range of people with cognitive, physical, and learning limitations. WCAG 2.0 remains a widely accepted standard for accessibility that was recognized as such by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in 2012 (ISO/IEC 40500:2012). WCAG 2.0 is a highly stable, viable, and informative standard for accessibility, but with rapid and pervasive digitization of information gaps in WCAG 2.0 had to be bridged to make it relevant and comprehensive. This resulted in WCAG 2.1, released in June 2018. The new version does not replace WCAG 2.0, rather it is an evolved resource that includes an extensive range of testable success criteria to ensure greater digital accessibility.

The Shift from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0

Given the pace of technological advancements and use of the internet worldwide, it should come as no surprise that W3C developed an updated version (WCAG 2.0) with a wider scope almost a decade after the first standard (WCAG 1.0) was published. While WCAG served as a reliable guideline until 2008, it then started to fall short of meeting the growing and evolving digital content accessibility requirements. Moreover, the scope of WCAG was also somewhat restrictive, making a few checkpoints redundant in meeting accessibility needs of users with advanced or different disabilities. At the same time, other checkpoints became incompatible with newer operating systems. These issues prompted a fundamental shift in the way accessibility guidelines were developed. Unlike WCAG 1.0, WCAG 2.0 does not concentrate on techniques to ensure digital accessibility. Instead, it focuses on fundamental challenges of accessibility for people with cognitive, learning, and physical limitations. WCAG 2.0 focuses on four guiding principles to make web content more accessible to users with disabilities as well as older people with changing abilities due to aging. Web content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.5