At the STM Spring Conference Innovations Day, April 29, 2021, STM launched Trends 2025, Let’s Go Upstream, the latest edition of its highly acclaimed publishing technology forecast.

Let’s Go Upstream, as Eefke Smit outlined, leads scholarly publishing to where Open Science happens.

“For several years now, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to follow Eefke Smit’s summary of STM’s Future Lab committee annual brainstorming sessions with a roundtable discussion. Each time, I have marveled at the ingenuity that goes into creating the SDM trends graphic or infographic,” CCC’s Chris Kenneally notes.

“The latest example is especially creative,” he continues. “A voyage around a page takes us on an engrossing metaphorical journey from the Sea of Syndication to the Lake of Knowledge, passing Woods of Truth and Scholarly Fields – forever, of course.

“Surely, a touchstone for this fully realized yet imaginary world of equally engrossing maps of Middle Earth created by J.R.R. Tolkien to lay out for readers the sometimes-mystifying topography of the setting for the Lord of the Ring.

“Thankfully, though, the place names are given in English and not in Sindarin or any other Elvish language. The Rings trilogy, the narrator explains, is largely concerned with hobbits. Our own story is equally a quest, seeking the source of trust and truth.