May 103 min read

What was hot in April 2024? A look back at the latest marketing and scholcomms news

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May has snuck up on us like a bad cold. Seriously, where has all the time gone? In my case, I’m preparing to stockpile hay fever medication to ward off the evil pollen invading my house over the next few months!

So, what’s been going on in our ever-evolving ecosystem? The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) will soon be introducing their new CEO. Publisherspeak UK 2024 – an unconference-style event for scholarly publishers from Kriyadocs – will also be taking place this May. In addition, the newest iteration of the LDN publishing apprenticeship programme has launched.

Meanwhile, third-party cookies – are they out or are they in? Better prepare either way.

We’ve got some news of our own to share:

Hannah Baldwin, who headed up global marketing at the Royal Society of Chemistry, has joined us as our new Director of Marketing Success! You can learn more about Hannah in her welcome blog
Nuree Gulshanara, who has worked with Lou for the past few years, sadly died last week. We'll miss her immensely and we'll be making a tribute to her soon. For those who would like to can donate to help support her legacy.

Without further ado, let's uncover insightful new studies, updates across our industry, fun facts, and hot events in this month's update to keep you on your toes.

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:

F1000 is collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a new verified preprint platform, VeriXiv. It will be crucial in enabling researchers to comply with the Gates Foundation's refreshed open access policy.
CILIP has a new CEO. Louis Coiffait-Gunn will be taking over from 8 May 2024.
cOAlition S has shown support for the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information.
Publisherspeak UK 2024 – a scholarly publishing conclave sponsored by Kriyadocs – will be taking place on 21 May 2024.
Scholarly Kitchen shared some insights from the Publisherspeak 2023 US conclave.
The newest LDN Publishing Apprenticeship programme has launched. Enrolment is now open for the Level 4 Publishing Professional Apprenticeship.

Marketing

From AI to influencer marketing – find out what everyone in marketing was talking about in April:

A new AI-powered digital advertising platform has been launched: Online Self Service Advertising (OSSA). It could be a major boon to small businesses looking to grow.
The death of third party cookies has been postponed once more. Google is now hoping for it to take place during 2025.
Canva has acquired Affinity, an award-winning creative software suite.
A study from Bynder has shown that 50% of consumers are able to identify when content has been written by AI.
Google's recent Search Off The Record podcast episode highlighted the importance of checking for factual issues across AI-generated content.
A report from Axios has shown that Gen Z still favours Google over other search engines. 46% of internet users between 18 and 24 use Google for their searches. Social media is also a popular way of conducting searches for this age group.
Is it time for marketers to look into gaming as a marketing medium? Members of IAB UK’s Gaming Group share their thoughts for The Drum.

Did you know?

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

An image of Shamrock, a key lime green golden retriever puppy, next to her siblings. — Image credits: https://people.com/green-golden-retriever-puppy-named-shamrock-8635491

A golden retriever has given birth to a key-lime-green puppy. She’s been named Shamrock by her very proud new owners. Sadly, her colour has faded since then!
How do we identify bitter flavours? New research has revealed more information about the detailed protein structure of the TAS2R14 taste receptor. The findings may be instrumental in future drug development involving taste receptors.
Have you ever seen your pet count to ten? It turns out it may not be totally out of the realm of possibility. New research has shown that rats have discrete number sense.
Mushroom circles have long been associated with the world of fantasy and fairies, but is it really something supernatural that causes this phenomenon? Science Focus dived into what causes ‘fairy circles’ in their article, exploring the science behind the magic.