Publishing solutions provider MPS Limited, a Macmillan company, and UK-based academic publisher Maney Publishing are co-developing a production tracking system designed to handle the tracking, information, and reporting elements of the journal production process. The product, which integrates with existing systems such as SagePay, will allow publishers to benefit from streamlined, automated workflows.
Maney, an independent publisher of over a 100 academic journals, issued a tender looking for a system which could introduce efficiencies into their workflow and help them automatically track manuscripts and issues through the production process, as well as measure how time and resources were being used at every stage of the process.
MPS' technology team has designed the system to meet Maney's two principal requirements - reducing the time taken from the acceptance of each article to its publication, and increasing transparency with better reporting and measurement tools for each stakeholder, including authors and editors.
The production tracking system not only automates functions such as metadata capture and storage, tracking, and schedule creation, but also includes issue - make up functionality, supplier turnaround time measuring, and a payment processing facility for non-subscription revenue items, such as open access payments and offprints. It also holds all production-related journal information and specifications, serving as an internal central repository and reference point for all such information.
The production tracking system, which can be customised to meet the needs of any book or journal publisher, is expected to be launched in October 2011.
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