In the crowded academic publishing landscape, leading publishers know they need to go beyond generic calls for papers to effectively attract high-quality research manuscripts. Authors, like readers, are a diverse group with varied interests, backgrounds, locations, and career stages; a one-size-fits-all marketing approach simply won't stick.

Smart publishers are turning to data and artificial intelligence to power personalized, tailored outreach that resonates with specific segments of potential authors. By leveraging AI capabilities like audience segmentation and natural language processing, they can analyze author behavior and interests to deliver contextually relevant messages at the right moments.

A targeted approach allows publishers to build stronger relationships with authors and maintain connections with their top contributors. In this post, we'll explore three innovative ways that real scholarly publishers are using data and AI to enhance their author marketing strategies with real-world examples.

Target international researchers with personalized resources

As scholarly publishing continues to grow more global, personalized strategies will become increasingly important for publishers seeking to attract and support diverse author communities worldwide. Proactive publishers are using data and AI to remove barriers that can otherwise prevent high-quality international research from reaching publication. 

AIP Publishing offers dedicated author services to its global community of researchers. These resources are dedicated to helping authors become more familiar with the publishing process and enhance the quality of manuscripts, particularly for researchers whose native language is not English. 

To proactively engage with this group of authors and promote this program, AIP Publishing delivered tailored marketing campaigns through Hum. These campaigns target researchers by IP address to reach people from specific regions using inferred geolocation. 

For example, pop-up live engagement ads, delivered in simplified Chinese, promoted manuscript editing and translation services to scholars in China as they were actively accessing AIP Publishing content. The campaign successfully drove more than 3,700 clicks to the dedicated Author Services resource page. 

By tailoring content and outreach in the native language of target researcher populations, and using geotargeting to reach them efficiently, AIP Publishing was able to significantly increase awareness and consideration of its author services program among researchers in China.

Target interdisciplinary researchers by topical interests

Interdisciplinary researchers often navigate multiple fields and consume research that aligns with their diverse interests. This means that it can be more difficult to pin down their preferences across journals, understand what content to recommend next, and often means they’re bombarded by marketing and calls to submit or review papers for multiple journals. As the research landscape continues to grow more interconnected, being able to use data and AI to personalize the experience of these researchers is crucial for scholarly publishers looking to efficiently and effectively build relationships with potential authors. 

Oxford University Press uses Hum to bring a more personalized approach to calls for papers. Using AI-powered audience segmentation to target potential authors based on their content consumption patterns and topical interests across OUP Academic journals, OUP is able to launch contextual, personalized campaigns in real-time, delivering timely pop-up messages that invite specific researchers to learn more about submitting a manuscript. 

These campaigns have garnered higher engagement rates than other marketing activities – in some cases 50% higher than email campaigns. 

By targeting authors based on proven topic interests, OUP effectively reaches the right researchers at the right time with the right message, focusing their marketing efforts for calls for papers and making it easier to surface interest from potential authors. > Explore the full case study.

Target researchers at institutions with read & publish deals

As publishers continue to prioritize relationship building and delivering superior author experiences, many are looking for more effective ways to communicate the unique value of their journals and highlight publishing opportunities. 

Rockefeller University Press (RUP) uses Hum to target and customize campaigns for researchers at specific institutions with read and publish deals that are eligible for free OA publishing in RUP journals.

If a reader is recognized by Hum as a researcher at an R&P institution, those readers are proactively targeted with specific messaging alerting them to the opportunity to publish their research open access without having to pay APCs. Hum's data enrichment capabilities enable RUP to customize the live engagement campaign pop-ups to include the specific name of the corresponding research institution in real-time, and researchers that fill out the form are immediately dropped into an email campaign in Hubspot for additional nurturing.

By tapping into comprehensive user profiles, publishers can ensure researchers affiliated with partner institutions receive hyper-personalized outreach detailing the unique publishing benefits they are eligible for based on institutional agreements.

Data and AI are driving positive author experiences

By leveraging data and AI capabilities like audience segmentation, natural language processing, and contextual targeting, leading publishers are enhancing their author marketing strategies with personalized, tailored outreach that resonates with specific author segments.

Industry leaders are exploring new ways to deliver contextually relevant messages and resources based on authors' interests, locations, and career stages - and these efforts are quickly proving effective in building strong connections with potential contributors.

Whether targeting international researchers with dedicated language resources, surfacing tailored calls for papers aligned with interdisciplinary interests, or guiding early-career researchers with manuscript preparation support, these data-driven, AI-powered strategies are allowing publishers to cut through the noise and focus their marketing efforts more precisely.

Explore other AI use cases for publishers when you download a free copy of our latest whitepaper: The Bright Future of AI