Pre-Media Offshore Outsourcing for Publishers

1. Scientific Publishing Services
SPS is the international leader in typesetting and e-publishing in India with over 1.4 million pages produced each year

2. About SPS
Established in 1995, SPS is an international leader in pre-press services by providing
complete pre-press services to prestigious publishers of books and journals.
Over the last ten years, SPS rapidly expanded to become a dominant typesetting
and e-publishing vendor in the industry. Now, SPS has a workforce of more than
1,500 publishing professionals in India providing full service outsourcing, including
copy editing, technical editing, composition, automated XML workflow, as well as
business process outsourcing to the publishing industry.
SPS has over 10 years of experience in delivering high-quality output with both
journals and books, regardless of the content area. Also, SPS has an especially
strong costumer centric strategy where editorial and production groups are
dedicated to one publisher only. This focus has allowed for rapid growth without
the loss of a single client in over 10 years. Consequently, building and maintaining
long-term relationships with customers is a core-strength of SPS.
Recently, SPS has expanded into the North American market with an office in
Dallas, Texas, aiming to leverage the international, domestic strength with leading
publishers and content developers.
Springer’s collaboration with Scientific Publishing Services (SPS) dated back over a decade ago and this partnership has been
intensified in 2005: the volume for journal production is currently at 500,000 pages annually. All Springer’s journals are processed in
accordance with full service project management system whereby SPS is responsible for composition, communication with authors
and editors, and preparation of final files for printing and e-deliverables. SPS ensures timely deliveries and quality in the product,
services and communication. -Arjan Grootenboer, Executive Vice President, Springer Science+Business Media

3. SPS offers world-class services and solutions to publishers of
What SPS does STM (scientific, technical, and medical) and non-STM books and
journals. SPS can work with any content.
SPS outsourcing solutions improve turnaround times with
enhanced quality and at a dramatic cost savings over in house
publishing. SPS services range from copy editing, language
editing, composition, project management, and XML style sheet
development. SPS processes more than 1.4 million pages per
year with an annual growth rate exceeding 20% over the past ten
years. SPS proprietary automation tools are so effective that we
had a 40% increase in the number of pages in 2006, approximately
400,000 pages, without increasing headcount, a dramatic
statement about the efficiency of the SPS outsourcing operation.
SPS services
• Composition (books and journals)
• Project management (author-to-print solutions)
• Image processing (including multimedia components)
• Editorial services (copy editing and language
editing) with proficiency in French and German
• Market research (both data services and data
administration)
• Finance and accounting (including royalties)
• IT services (including software development and
database development and management)
Please say thank you to the whole team (or teams) for all the good work performed, the great communication, service, cooperation,
feedback, everything! It is much appreciated! - Head Production Control, Journals, Elsevier, The Netherlands

4. SPS copy editors are highly experienced in editing and provide three levels of service:
• Light (correcting spelling errors and improving consistency)
Copy editing • Medium (includes correcting basic grammatical errors as well as light editing)
• Heavy (extensive rewording and rewriting)
SPS has proprietary conversion and automated copy editing tools to convert text to any industry
standard DTD (document type definition). These tools improve the editing process, enhance the
turnaround time, and lower costs.
SPS proprietary copy editing tools have the following special features:
• Differentiating US/UK spelling as needed
• Checking redundant words and references
• Cross-checking references, figures and tables
• Listing uncited and unlisted references
SPS is always rated as one of the preferred vendors with customers because of our
copy editing skills.
“This is the best-typeset paper I have ever received.
Great job!” - a customer from The Netherlands

5. Composition and XML coding
Our composition technology supports SGML, XML, TeX, and MathML. Our workflow is fully automated and can be easily customized to
fit the specific needs of any client. The XML workflow can be modified easily to meet a client’s requirements. XML can be supplied at
various stages for online hosting and archiving as well.
SPS offers a full range of composition services and expertise in the following:
• 3B2 (Arbortext)
• LaTeX
Graphics
• InDesign
SPS has high-quality scanners and calibrated monitors
• Quark
to scan mono and color halftones. SPS also handles
graphic origination for line art, fine line art, half-tones,
and line and tones, which may involve substantial re-
labeling and redrawing. SPS has an especially strong
track record of redrawing sophisticated charts and
illustrations in the life sciences and medical fields that
require high levels of precision.
I think I should write to say how excellent the SPS proofs are for the forthcoming issues of SHPS (Studies in History and Philosophy of
Science). We have not had such good proofs for many years. SPS’s editorial work makes my life as an editor, responsible for checking
proofs, immensely easier. Instead of checking minor editorial details, I can focus on bigger issues such as accuracy of references, foreign
language spellings, etc., which is what I am supposed to be doing. Congratulations! SPS, thank you for your help with these proofs.
- The Journal Manager, Elsevier, UK

6. Production tracking
SPS has a proprietary production tracking system that allows
the publisher and the author to see status on any content,
anytime, anywhere. In short, outsourcing does not mean that
the publisher loses control over the editorial or production
process. In fact, many SPS customers find that our production
tracking system provides more control than their in house
system.
SPS has an outstanding tracking mechanism for production
monitoring and control. As soon as an article or a book is
downloaded from the customer’s site, an entry will be made
automatically in the tracking database, and will continue the
tracking process until completion.
Project management
Every stage in the outsourcing
process can be viewed by the SPS provides extensive project management services managing
publisher or author. content from origination from authors to print ready. SPS provides
full service project management for content developers, especially
SPS can customize the functionality
journals and books. including the following activities:
of the tracking system for any client.
1. Timely follow up on any missing items
Publishers can change their priorities
based on any urgent requirements, 2. Emphasis on turnaround time and meeting schedules at
and they can generate and view each stage
customized reports. SPS integrates
3. Interfacing with authors both domestic and international
this production tool with a tracking
4. Handling author corrections
database, allowing for current status
reports on any content, anywhere in 5. 24 hour follow up on all queries and questions from authors or
the world. publishers
6. Approval of corrected pages
7. Ensuring the timely completion of an issue
8. Creating an issue planner
9. Publishing content online

7. Electronic proofing (e-Proofing) & Delta PDF
e-Proofing is one of the unique services that SPS
offers to publishers and authors by creating a secured
website for articles or chapters. This web-based
e-proofing feature mirrors the publisher’s website.
Authors can view, download, and send corrections of
their proofs online. SPS finds that this process reduces
turnaround time of author corrections by as much as
40%, improving publication schedules and sales cycles
of published content.
In addition to this service, SPS also provides a unique Delta PDF file which
The SPS e-Proofing system also automatically sends shows the changes that are made in the author text by copyeditors during
email reminders to authors if they have not downloaded the editorial process. By using these files, publishers or authors need not
the proof. Again, using the publisher’s web interface, proof read the entire article. They can simply view the changes made to the
authors can see the status of the outsourcing process document which, again, reduces the correction process and turnaround time
with SPS. to publication. The Delta PDF automation tool is one of the most innovative
automation tools from SPS.

8. SPS today
People Process
• 1500+ publishing professionals in editing, • Following customer specific workflow
production, and XML • Quality management system isolating
• Content development specialty, many problems and complaints by department
with PhD’s for quick resolution
Infrastructure
• 24x7 operations making US customer service
convenient
• Highly reliable networks with no down time
• State of the art communication facilities with reliable
backup
• Robust security and business continuity in place
with history of no data loss in SPS history with any
customers

9. Case study 1 Customer profile
The client is one of the most established international technical publishers in the world publishing 2600 journals and
2000 books per year.
Business profile
The client is interested in outsourcing all the pre-press activities of a particular high profile and fast track journal,
including copy editing services, without compromising quality. The particular journal requires rapid dissemination of
timely experimental research in diverse fields of biology. The journal has been published weekly for the past 40 years
without interruption. The turnaround time, author submission to print publication, are very short, requiring a very short
and efficient outsourcing workflow from a vendor.
The challenges:
• Very short turnaround time considering the weekly publication schedule
• The client expects first proofs within three days of receipt of content and revised corrections and finals within
24 hours
Time zone:
Accurate and timely communication and customer service is the key issue since the client is in the United States
Workflow:
1. The project is thoroughly analyzed to understand the delivery requirements and schedule
2. A dedicated production team comprising skills from all SPS departments is formed and briefed about the project-
specific requirements
3. Night-shift operations are introduced to overcome the time zone problem, and customer relations are anticipated
and managed effectively
4. Workflow is modified to ensure that the articles are processed immediately upon receipt without any delay in any
of the departments
5. A flexible team is formed to absorb the additional volume and tasks at any point in time
Client Benefits:
Because of the effective review of the clients publishing process, turnaround time is reduced by two days for first proof
and one day for revision and finals. The first proof is generated in three working days, revisions and finals are turned
around in a day.
Composition costs are reduced by 30% from on shore, in house costs, a significant improvement in profitability for
the client.
SPS Benefits:
This major technical publisher is so impressed with the improvement in turnaround time for this key journal with
outsourcing to SPS that the customer decides to transfer all of the major fast track journals to SPS within 18 months of
the initial work.

10. Case study 2
The publisher is the world’s second largest publisher of STM journals and the largest publisher of STM books in the
German language. The client has about 60 international offices in Europe, Asia, and the USA. The publisher also has over
5,000 employees and publishes more than 1700 journals and 5500 books per year.
Business Situation:
Rapidly rising costs for qualified technical personnel and reduced margins have driven the publisher to outsource
the conference and workshop publishing division with more than 2500 products per year. For over 30 years these
publications were managed by the publisher’s in-house staff and freelancers in Germany.
The Challenges:
• Quick turnaround time
• Pre-conference proceedings have to be completed within 10 days including approval from authors and
production editors
• Uneven in house publishing work flow
• Most importantly, the unpredictable volume has an impact on capacity planning. Often, many projects need
to be handled simultaneously with volume twice that of capacity so manpower planning is critical to meet
publication deadlines
• Input is received through multiple formats: Word, Tex, and FrameMaker
SPS Solution:
SPS performs a thorough analysis of workflow and capacity planning for each project, and creates a workflow to meet
the requirements of the project.
Workflow:
1. A flexible team is developed to handle all pagination programs
2. To meet short deadlines, SPS staff is trained in all editorial and production activities such as composition and
technical editing in order to handle the project independently
3. Macros and style sheets are developed to automate the majority of the manual pagination tasks to improve
turnaround time
Benefits:
The publisher realizes a 35% reduction in typesetting costs and a substantial improvement in quality over in house
work. Project turnaround time is reduced from 30 to 15 days, improving schedules and sales cycles. Outsourcing
this publishing division to SPS helps the client to focus on their core activity of holding and managing international
conferences resulting in a more manageable and profitable conference publications program. Beginning with 20 books
in 2004, SPS now process over 450 books per year and is the only supplier for the client in this division.

11. Would you like to...
• improve your turnaround time with content development?
• reduce your overhead costs?
• reuse or customize your content for increased sales
in other platforms or other sales channels?
• re-purpose existing content in other markets or platforms?
• increase the value of the investment in that content?
Then you should contact
Scientific Publishing Services
for a meeting to review the automated XML content development services
For more information contact
Jim Hill
Business Development Manager
Scientific Publishing Services
4202, English Ivy Drive • McKinney, TX 75070
214-684-9356 (Mobile) • 972-548-7209 (Work & Fax)
jhill@sps.co.in
www.sps.co.in