Are You Ready for the Future
What challenges do you foresee for your segment of the industry?
Shaw: Some of the challenges STM publishing faces for the future also represent important growth opportunities for publishers like Elsevier. For example, the integration of reference and research content into information tools that support the workflow of both scientists/researchers and health-care practitioners to improve productivity and efficiency. Two examples of our product development that are designed to respond to these needs are Engineering Village, [which] incorporates and integrates professional content from 300 books in a reference library known as REFEREX. The other is MDConsult, which has 275,000 registered users, includes 40-plus key reference texts covering 27 major specialties, 1,000 practice guidelines, and patient education materials. One-hundred percent of physicians surveyed said MDConsult improves patient care and helps answer clinical questions more quickly.