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Maverick Publishing Services are delighted to work in partnership with Research Consulting to bring their research and knowledge management consultancy services to a global audience and to supplement our global network of associates serving the publishing industry.

Research Consulting is a UK-based, mission-driven research and scholarly communication consultancy, with unmatched expertise and deep knowledge of all aspects of the research process. With the highest levels of evidence-based insight and business understanding, Research Consulting works with national and international organisations to help them make the most of their research processes and findings. Their work covers all aspects of the research life-cycle – including policy, funding, management, publishing, and knowledge exchange. They work with organisations who do research, who fund research, who publish or disseminate research and increasingly those who benefit from research.

Insight | Strategy | Impact

Research Consulting’s services focus on three core areas:

Insight – based on their expertise, understanding and track record, they bring new insights on clients’ internal and external environments, producing clarity from complexity.

Strategy – they work with organisations to improve their strategies for research, responding with agility to changes in policy, practice and funding.

Impact – they support organisations to review and maximise the impact and reach of their research, knowledge exchange and scholarly communication activities.

Why Research Consulting?

Research specialists - They are specialists in all aspects of the research process with a breadth of knowledge and expertise that is unmatched in the UK – and now available worldwide.

In-depth insights - They combine a range of research approaches with professional rigour to bring clarity and deliver practical ‘next step’ solutions.

Globally networked - They are globally networked and understand the issues affecting your organisation – their support will save you time and money and help enhance your reputation.

Maverick and Research Consulting – a formidable team

Our two companies have jointly developed a series of co-branded product and service packages that maximise our respective market knowledge and expert resources (see boxes below). We can also leverage our combined resources and expertise to deliver bespoke solutions to the challenges faced by publishers, societies and intermediaries and service providers worldwide.

The first three service packages are now available!
See below for more details or to download the associated Service Sheet. We would be delighted to talk to you about any of them.

Key Issue Briefs

The scholarly communication and publishing landscape can change rapidly and unexpectedly. With the wealth of players and initiatives across the board, it can be challenging to keep up with emerging trends, while also focusing on what is particularly important to your strategic objectives.

In this context, it can be helpful to commission targeted reviews that concentrate only on the specific issues or topics that are central to your organisational strategy - for example, areas where you might have identified growing risks or new market opportunities. (Consider, for instance, the recent growth in preprints usage, or the introduction of open access discovery tools?).

Our “Key Issue Briefs” are short, focused documents averaging 4-6 pages that are structured around your individual research questions or areas of interest. The turnaround time for Issue Briefs is swift, and the project also typically includes a final client briefing to discuss the materials covered in the document to answer any additional questions you might have.

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Qualitative Research Services

Qualitative research is our tool of choice when we help publishers and vendors form a detailed understanding of stakeholder views and feelings. In practice, this means exploring how people perceive or understand a trend, event, or intervention around scholarly publishing – or the services you provide. Our Qualitative Research Services can be crafted around virtually any requirement or research question, ranging from the deployment of a new author-facing workflow to the design of an open access publishing strategy.

In qualitative research projects, we actively engage with your chosen audience(s) and produce highly targeted insights in the form of presentations, reports, executive summaries, or a mix of these. Our findings typically harness a range of methodologies, including interviews, workshops, and focus groups based on a project’s specific requirements. As we discuss the scope of work, we will expertly advise you on the best approaches to achieve your objectives.

Our qualitative research services can be easily tailored to your needs: from a small, ten-person interview campaign to a large, mixed-method research project (for example, a 60-strong set of interviews complemented by quantitative methods, such as online surveys).

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Value Proposition Design

Publishers and vendors need to continually innovate to remain competitive in the ever-changing scholarly communication landscape. Consider, for example, the rate of growth of preprint posting services, or the introduction of artificial intelligence in article review or peer-reviewer selection processes?

With our Value Proposition Design consultancy, we can help you ensure that your products or services are appropriately positioned around the needs of your key stakeholders. Our approach is based on the application of the Value Proposition Canvas – a management tool used to map the jobs, pains, and gains of your customer base to your product and service offering.

This type of consultancy can take a variety of different forms, from brief projects based on desk research, to more detailed investigations incorporating qualitative research - such as interviews, focus groups - quantitative research, or a tailor-made mix of some or all of these. The typical output of these projects will be a slide deck or report, based on your individual requirements, in addition to a graphical overview of the value proposition canvas.

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