Mar 75 min read

What was hot in February 2024? A look back at the latest news

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Discover the latest in marketing and scholarly communications

Can you believe it’s already March? It feels like 2024 only started yesterday! With spring emerging here in the UK, it’s a season of newness – new life (and plenty of lambs roaming the hills near our Welsh HQ!), and of course, new updates in our ever-evolving industry.

Get ready for more changes to social, with platforms like YouTube launching new collab features, growing social platform Bluesky opening up sign-ups for everyone, and X launching video spaces. Meanwhile, Google is also testing out a ‘most read articles’ carousel feature that may soon be making its way into your search results, providing more opportunities for search engine optimization.

It’s also London Book Fair this upcoming month – we’re thrilled to have a stand of our own this year, so why not stop by and say hi to our team and stay updated on social media to check out what we’re up to. If you’ve ever wondered what you may look like as a cartoon, you’re also in luck – we’ve got a caricaturist joining us on Wednesday, 13 March on our stand.

Without further ado, here’s what’s been happening over the past month, alongside some things to look forward to in the month ahead.

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Scholarly communications

What’s happening in the ever-changing world of scholarly communications? We’ve done the news trawl, so you don’t have to:

An image of Megan Taylor, Director of Content and Research at The International Bunch

What support is out there for new university presses? Discover insights from our very own Director of Content and Research, Megan Taylor, in her editorial for UKSG eNews.
The 2024 international journal Early Warning List, which includes four journals from MDPI, has been released.
MDPI has launched an investigation into alleged misconduct in its peer review process, and has released an interim report with the findings. 84 papers across 23 journals may have been affected by this issue.
Clarivate has announced changes to Impact Factor category rankings.

We will move from edition-specific category JIF rankings to unified rankings for each of our 229 science and social science categories.

Clarivate

2024 Journal Citation Reports: Changes in Journal Impact Factor category rankings to enhance transparency and inclusivity

2024

Registration is now open for the Society of Scholarly Publishing's (SSP) 46th annual meeting, which is due to take place from May 29–31 in Boston, Massachusetts.
A new campaign has been launched by the Publishers Association, which will ‘focus on three short videos about impactful scientific research developed in the UK and disseminated by publishers.’ The Research Impact campaign will be key in showcasing the UK’s research prowess.
A new AI platform has been created by Research Solutions. The tool will be helpful in alleviating the time constraints on researchers as it ‘revolutionize(s) the process of generating Technology Landscape Reports.
The University Press Redux Conference programme for 2024 has been revealed, with a focus on ‘connecting people and ideas.’ Participants can join in person in Edinburgh this May.
The Publishers Association has praised the House of Lords Committee report on AI infringement, which has encourages the government to take action to protect from infringement by Artificial Intelligence Large Language Models.
Jisc has released its new open access for books tool, which will help interested parties better understand the available open access options.

Marketing

From AI to career insights – find out what everyone in marketing is talking about this month:

Credits: @bluesky, https://twitter.com/bluesky

Bluesky experienced some of the highest growth in engagement for one platform in scholarly publishing last year. Good news for those interested in joining the platform – it’s now open for anyone to join.
YouTube has launched its new ‘collab' tool, rivalling TikTok’s duet feature. For those interested in exploring shorts, they can now create split screen videos featuring content from other creators.
X has now launched a video spaces tool.
Google is introducing a new feature to its algorithm. Popular articles may now be featured in Google's most-read articles’ carousel, providing new opportunities for search engine marketers.
Elevate your Instagram marketing with the help of a handy new guide from SocialInsider into the metrics you should be looking out for.
The Marketing Week 2024 Career & Salary survey has identified a lack of data and analytics skills as one of the biggest gaps in marketing teams, with 36.9% of respondents citing this as a major skills gap in their business. The same survey also revealed that 46.5% of marketers went through workplace restructures in 2023.

The percentage of teams changing their setups has grown, according to Marketing Week’s 2024 Career & Salary Survey, which reveals the flux teams find themselves in. Last year’s survey found 41.1% of teams restructured in the previous 12 months – reflecting a five percentage point increase this year.

Molly Innes

Almost half of marketing teams restructured in 2023, survey reveals

2024

Consumer confidence has fallen again, following a rise in the previous two months.
There are now over five billion social media users worldwide.
Looking to brush up on your AI skills? The Digital Marketing Institute has launched its Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing course.

Did you know?

Our monthly pick of unusual and surprising research to tickle your brainbox!

An image of a mountain with three unidentified flying objects around it

Scientists have grown mini organs, known as organoids, in unborn babies for the very first time.
Ever wanted to spot a UFO, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)? Research has found that you may best spot them in the American West.
Is your cousin actually a sea monster? Research has found that the brain development of the 500 million year old sea lamprey is startlingly akin to humans.

"There's more technology in the sky than ever before so the question is: What are people actually seeing? It's a tough question to answer, and it is an important one because any uncertainty can be a potential threat to national security."

Richard Medina

The West is best to spot UFOS

2024

Apparently, exotic cats can tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar voices. That doesn’t mean it’s time to bring a tiger into your house, though…
Are there zombies in space? Recent research seems to prove so, with one white dwarf star resorting to cannibalism. Harsh!