(Apr 2025) In the scholarly publishing world, spring brings the annual return of STM Trends, a future-forward look at the entire ecosystem of scholarly communications by members of the STM Association. The ecosystem of scholarly communications is complex and ever-evolving — with new approaches and technologies emerging and existing players adapting to changing circumstances. What can we expect in the next three to five years? What trends, advances and innovations will most strongly influence the course of scholarly communications? What opportunities can we harness, and what challenges can we anticipate and proactively address?
STM Trends 2029 takes forward the key themes from last year’s Trends – Artificial Intelligence, fragmentation, new ways to think about trust – and examines their strategic interplay and socio-technical implications.
Looking at the world around us, we see deepening divisions between and within societies. We also see a growing disconnect between the real and the virtual world, providing fertile ground for fabricated information that sidelines data, facts and evidence. With more information than any individual can possibly process, with powerful actors using this information deluge to further their own interests, and with AI powering next-level, personalised interactions with the world’s knowledge – how do we know what is real and what can be trusted? For many, the information world of the 21st century has become a turbulent, disorienting place.
In the face of these challenges, we predict that stakeholders will come together and forge new collaborations to counter divides and re-establish solid ground – an effort represented by the bridge at the heart of the visual. It will not be easy to build this bridge, but there is reason for hope. We have all the building blocks to work with. We have guidance from tried-and-tested principles. And, now more than ever, an urgent imperative to come together to fortify the foundations of trust in research.
Download Trend 2029 here.
