A new year is upon us, brimming with journal development opportunities!

At Scholastica, we know many editorial and publishing teams are focused on maximizing the efficiency of their operations, reaching new readers, and expanding the impact of their content. So, we’ve launched “Grow your scholarly journals in 2026,” a start-of-year webinar series to help you kick off initiatives toward each of those goals.

The series will consist of the following webinars:

  • January 30th at 3 PM UTC: How Can Smaller-Sized Journal Publishers Get More Out of Software?: New Report Roundtable
  • February 26th at 3 PM UTC: How to Get a Journal Indexed in PMC: What You Need to Know
  • March 19th at 3:30 PM UTC: Demonstrating Broader Journal Impact: New Opportunities With Altmetrics

You can sign up to attend any or all of the webinars in the series here.

Quick breakdown of the events

Below we overview what to expect during the webinar presentations. Each webinar will feature expert panelists and time for Q&A, so you can join the conversation. We’ll also send you the recordings of the sessions you register for!

How Can Smaller-Sized Journal Publishers Get More Out of Software?: New Report Roundtable (January 30th at 3 PM UTC)

Last year, Scholastica and Maverick Publishing Consultants surveyed individuals working with small and mid-sized journal programs to learn about their technical priorities over the next two to five years. The results, published in a new report, reveal that smaller publishers are focusing on finding ways to leverage software to increase operational efficiency.

During this webinar, members of Scholastica and Maverick’s teams will sit down with two survey participants to discuss near-term and long-term strategies to help smaller publishers achieve the primary goals identified in the survey report, including increasing automation for research integrity checks and integrating with external service providers, while realistically addressing resource constraints. We’ll also discuss ethical and logistical considerations when exploring emerging AI solutions, particularly to support editorial triage.

The discussion will be software-agnostic and feature the following speakers:

  • Nancy Roberts, Chief Operating Officer, Maverick Publishing Consultants
  • Cory Schires, Chief Technology Officer, Scholastica
  • Lily Simmons, Digital Operations Manager, University of Pennsylvania Press
  • Meredith Weinhold, Peer Review Program Manager, Canadian Medical Association

How to Get a Journal Indexed in PMC: What You Need to Know (February 26th at 3 PM UTC)

If you publish a journal in the biomedical and life sciences that’s not yet searchable via PubMed, you’re likely eager to add it to the database to expand its discoverability. Applying to PubMed Central (PMC) is the fastest route — but where to begin?

Whether you’re new to the PMC application process or looking to brush up on PMC indexing requirements, this webinar is for you!

Members of the Scholastica team will walk through a step-by-step guide to PMC indexing, including the best time to apply to add a journal to PMC, how to ensure your content meets PMC’s technical criteria, what to expect during the content review period, and tips to help those admitted to PMC submit optimal XML deposits. The presenters will then be joined by editors of journals that successfully applied to PMC for a panel-style discussion on their experiences and lessons learned.

The webinar will feature the following speakers:

  • Brian Cody, CEO and Co-Founder, Scholastica
  • Carly McCuaig, Managing Editor, Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy
  • Dr. Arkadiy Finn, Senior Founding Editor, Journal of Brown Hospital Medicine
  • Dr. Vijairam Selvaraj, Senior Founding Editor, Journal of Brown Hospital Medicine

Demonstrating Broader Journal Impact: New Opportunities With Altmetrics (March 19th at 3:30 PM UTC)

In the early 2000s, altmetrics emerged as a new means of demonstrating research impact beyond traditional bibliometric citations. Since then, they’ve come a long way!

Today, altmetrics tracking spans more channels than ever before, and altmetrics can be combined with other data sources to map a publication’s entire influence, from immediate online attention to later citations.

During this webinar, Kathryn Weber-Boer, Director of Scientometric Researcher Engagement at Digital Science, will cover the latest ways journal publishers can leverage altmetrics data, including:

  • An overview of how journals can use altmetrics to interpret and showcase the online attention surrounding their content
  • New tracking options from Altmetric, including Bluesky and podcast mentions, and expanded coverage of references in policy documents
  • Examples of ways journals can use altmetrics to compare their portfolio’s performance to others and make more informed publication development plans

Save your spot

We invite you to sign up for any or all of the webinars in the series here.

We’ll send you the recordings of the sessions you register for, so you can tune in later if you’re unable to attend the live event.

We also invite you to join the webinar conversations by sharing your thoughts and questions with us on social media. You can find Scholastica on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Many thanks to all of the webinar speakers!