Funding autonomy critical to scientific research, says Springer chief

Springer Nature, a global scientific research publishing leader with brands including Springer, Nature Portfolio, BMC, Palgrave Macmillan and Scientific American, has about 25% of its workforce based in India.

oIndependent funding is crucial in optimising the impact of scientific research, Frank Vrancken Peeters, CEO of Springer Nature Group, said on Monday.

In an interaction with DH, Peeters said an independent research fund is progressive in principle but its returns will also depend on how the idea complements the existing funding structures that are country-specific. “Research requires a long-term commitment. Its agenda cannot be influenced too much by short-term political developments. An independent fund will be a positive step because science needs to be independent of politics, religion, even geographies to an extent,” Peeters said.

In August, India’s Parliament passed the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act with a Rs-50,000 crore budget earmarked for five years. About 70 per cent of the funding is expected from non-governmental sources.

Springer Nature, a global scientific research publishing leader with brands including Springer, Nature Portfolio, BMC, Palgrave Macmillan and Scientific American, has about 25 per cent of its workforce based in India.

In terms of research papers pitched to the publishing group, India has been a strong contributor in applied sciences. A “rapidly growing” publishing market, India has also seen its research funding climate improve over the past couple of years. Peeters sees potential for growth in space research following India’s recent space missions. “The real benefit (from space research) will be in the spin-offs in other industries. Space research in the US and Europe has led to discoveries that found applications in other areas,” Peeters said.

The AI future

Springer Nature publishes over 4,00,000 articles and releases more than 13,000 books every year. It has made significant investments in talent and technology to further strengthen its publication processes and ensure reliability in the published research.

Peeters noted the “two sides” of Artificial Intelligence, poised to change the ways the industry functions. “We cannot have people use AI to create fake research papers. At the same time, we believe that AI can be a very powerful tool in our industry because it helps make the publication process a lot easier, in finding the right peer reviewers, for instance. We have invested quite a lot this year in building capabilities around AI,” he said.

Springer Nature is collaborating with India’s Ministry of Education for National Research Tour, a project that is aimed at fostering research, innovation, and knowledge-sharing across the country. The tour comprises 15 research summits across 10 states and features workshops, panel discussions, and field activities.