Consultancy can be your Shock Absorber
Next to our home here in rural France, there is a rough track which acts as a short-cut to the next hamlet. It’s used regularly by locals, delivery drivers and farmers moving their tractors and heavy machinery between fields. A few weeks ago, I managed to cause sufficient damage to our car on this track that it was off the road for over a month, costing a substantial amount in repairs. We were insured of course but, as a one-vehicle household and no replacement car forthcoming from our insurers, the inconvenience was huge. And the insurance excess was painful.
So, we have our analogy. The scholarly community – researchers, institutions, publishers, service providers – is trying to navigate increasingly bumpy terrain in 2026. AI is having a transformative and disruptive impact, not least in potentially undermining the longstanding journal-based delivery model of scholarly publishing. Of course, some will argue this isn’t necessarily a bad thing!
The capabilities of GenAI to enable bad actors to perpetrate fraud at scale has been at the forefront of debate in scholarly communications for the last couple of years. And as GEO (GenAI optimisation) starts to displace traditional SEO for content discoverability, how do we maintain trust in AI-delivered content through accurate citations and attribution of scholarly works?
In recent weeks, as the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic start to make plays into specific domains such as legal and scholarly authoring tools, the market values of some of the largest commercial players in scholarly publishing have taken a substantial hit. Amongst all these pitfalls, how do medium and smaller-sized entities, such as society publishers, navigate this perilous road and keep the engine running?
Ask most leaders the greatest strength of their organisation, and most (I hope!) would say it’s their people and their wider communities of interest, be these society members, readership or clients. Economic headwinds and disruptive AI don’t change this.
There is perhaps a misconception on the part of some business leaders that embedding AI tools into internal processes and service delivery is a means by which organisations facing these challenges can replace FTE headcount, reduce the associated staffing costs and restore their margins – and market value. At least for this financial reporting year.
This is a short-sighted view. AI tools don’t necessarily reduce workload. For instance, improved detection of research malpractice at scale by AI tools often means more content needs deeper analysis by skilled research integrity teams. And experienced, highly trained staff are incredibly hard to replace once they have gone.
Consultancy can sometimes conjure up the same perception. Engaging an external resource on a fixed-term contract could be seen as a transition away from relatively expensive in-house FTEs. Why bother with the on-costs of salaried staff when you can just pay a daily rate for a consultant, for instance? Again, this is a short-sighted view. Of course, as a consultant I have a vested interest in how we are perceived!
Back to the analogy. Think of a consultant as your shock absorber to help your organisation flex and adapt to an increasingly bumpy and treacherous road. Your in-house teams are the engine and gearbox of your organisation, the driving force. AI technologies can help tune this engine and improve performance. A more efficient drivetrain means that some in-house team members can help drive the business in other areas, in ways that add value not just to your organisation but to their working lives as well. With all these components synchronised, your organisation doesn’t just stay on track but is in a better position to adapt and thrive.
One thing which has struck me since I moved into consultancy back in 2023 is how many of us consultants there now are in scholarly communications! Some of us may be here by choice, some of us may be here through necessity – victims of the increasingly bumpy road. What all of us offer is invaluable experience in distinct fields of expertise. My value is in commercial strategy, business development and customer engagement. My colleagues can support your organisation with strategic marketing expertise, thought leadership writing, executive assistant services, editorial office services, accelerating product development, conducting rigorous in-depth research… and so on.
So do please think of industry consultants, in whatever guise and in whichever domain of expertise, as your shock absorbers. You might need us for a few weeks or for a few years – the choice is yours. But above all else, think of us as adding to your organisation’s capabilities and resources, and not replacing them.