Practical AI-era Solutions

Helping scholarly publishers, societies and research organizations make practical decisions about AI-era access, licensing, pilots and new product, while protecting rights, customer relationships, platform value and future revenue.

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AI access on terms you control.
Durable value for what comes next.

Research discovery is moving beyond the traditional publisher ‘front door’.

Scholarly content is increasingly being found, interpreted and used inside AI tools, enterprise assistants, RAG workflows, and MCP-enabled services.

Publishers cannot simply wish that shift away. The immediate question is how to participate without losing control of content value, customer relationships, platform strategy, or future revenue.

STEM Knowledge Partners helps leadership teams define permitted uses, assess licensing and access options, compare vendors, design controlled pilots and turn the results into practical commercial decisions.

But controlled access is only the first stage. As content retrieval becomes routine, societies and other mission-driven research organizations possess a community advantage commercial aggregators cannot easily replicate: connected expertise, participation, and accountable judgment.

We help organizations move from basic content licensing to building durable value by connecting publishing, meetings and membership to create recurring value built on context, trust and domain authority.

Why Steve?

AI access questions rarely sit neatly in one box.

A request may begin with licensing, but it quickly touches product strategy, platform value, pricing, customer entitlements, technology burden, sales workflow, legal review, and leadership risk.

Steve helps publishers connect those pieces.

He brings more than 25 years of senior publishing experience across books, journals, society and commercial publishing, open access and open science, digital products and portfolio strategy. His recent work focuses on AI licensing frameworks, MCP and RAG access models, vendor and pilot assessment, pricing and entitlement logic, operating workflows and leadership recommendations.

Independent of any vendor or platform, Steve helps editorial, product, sales, licensing, technology, legal and leadership teams work from the same decision map. His value lies in connecting the pieces, making the trade-offs explicit and turning complexity into practical options and decision-ready recommendations.

Selected Recent Engagements

Recent engagements have addressed the full arc of AI-era access: licensing frameworks, MCP and vendor assessment, content scope and APIs, pricing and entitlements, controlled pilot design, sales and operating workflows, and commercial next steps.

Other engagements have supported publishers and research-information businesses with AI-era product strategy, publisher partnerships, opportunity development and emerging commercial models for trusted research content.

Across these projects, the common task is the same: turn a complex or unfamiliar opportunity into practical options, a clear recommendation and a decision the organization can act on.

Grounded in publishing leadership

Before founding STEM Knowledge Partners, Steve held senior roles at Blackwell, Wiley, the American Psychological Association, Frontiers and AIP Publishing.

His experience spans books and journals, society publishing, open access, portfolio growth, digital products, and both commercial and mission-driven environments.

“Steve brought senior-level clarity to a complex set of AI licensing, workflow, pricing, and MCP questions, turning his analysis into smart, practical options and decision-ready recommendations.”

— Angela Trilli, Director, Institutional Information Products, IEEE

Common questions I help leadership teams answer

1. Under what conditions should AI systems access or use our content?

Define content scope, permitted uses, licensing boundaries, attribution and usage reporting, including the distinction between model training and controlled retrieval, before saying yes too quickly or no too reflexively.

2. What should an AI access pilot actually prove?

Choose the access model, vendor or partner only after defining the users, content, entitlements, success measures, internal lift and the decision leadership will make at the end.

3. What commercial and operating model makes sense?

Decide what is covered by existing licenses, what requires an add-on, how metadata and full text should be valued, who pays, and how requests move across sales, product, licensing, legal and technology without reinventing the process each time.

4. What remains distinctively valuable when access becomes routine?

Determine what belongs on your own platform, what can be delivered into external workflows, and how trusted context, expert judgment, standards and community participation can support durable institutional value.

Four Ways to Begin

Each engagement can stand alone or build toward the next, with scope tailored to the decisions at hand.

1. Control: AI Access, MCP & Licensing Readiness Sprint

Flagship engagement

For leaders who need decision-ready clarity on AI inquiries, access options and commercial terms.

Work may include licensing-framework review, separation of model training from controlled retrieval, MCP and gateway assessment, vendor comparison, content scope, pricing and entitlements, operating workflows, and controlled pilot design.

Outcome: A clear recommendation and pilot plan that leadership can approve, modify or decline.

2. Connect: Beyond the Connector & Community Data Spine

For societies and community-based research organizations seeking to connect publishing, meetings and membership into year-round value.

Work may include mapping participation across authors, reviewers, editors, speakers and members; linking formal talks and discussions to published research with appropriate provenance and consent; and developing product concepts around curated synthesis, updates and expert context.

Outcome: Prioritized opportunities and a practical roadmap for recurring institutional and community value.

3. Validate: Domain Evaluation & Trust Frameworks

For discipline-leading societies exploring whether their standards, expertise and professional authority could support a credible evaluation service.

Work may include opportunity assessment, evaluation criteria and benchmarks, evidence requirements, expert-panel governance, delivery partners and commercial validation.

Outcome: A board-ready blueprint and pilot plan for a defensible domain-authority service.

4. Sustain: Executive AI & Value Stack Advisory

For leadership teams that need continuing strategic capacity without adding full-time headcount.

Support can include executive briefings, workshops, licensing and partner-proposal review, board preparation, decision papers and ongoing advisory support.

Outcome: Timely, independent guidance as AI technology, standards and commercial models evolve.

Flagship Engagement:

AI Access, MCP & Licensing Sprint

For leaders who need decision-ready clarity on AI inquiries, access options and commercial terms.

A pilot should resolve a real strategic decision, not simply demonstrate that a connector works. Before choosing a vendor or technical route, leadership should define the content, users, permitted uses, rights and entitlements, attribution, usage reporting, internal effort and decision to be made at the end.

STEM Knowledge Partners helps leadership teams:

  • Review licensing frameworks and distinguish model training from controlled retrieval

  • Compare MCP, RAG, API, gateway and partner options, including costs and internal requirements

  • Define content scope, access conditions, pricing and entitlement logic, governance and success measures

  • Turn pilot evidence into a clear recommendation: expand, modify, negotiate, partner, build or stop

Outcome: A decision-ready recommendation and controlled pilot plan.

Learn quickly without losing control.


Selected project experience

AI licensing, access and pilot strategy

Recent advisory engagement for a major scholarly publisher

Challenge

The publisher was receiving a growing mix of AI, data, API, platform, RAG and model-related requests while also considering new ways to make trusted content available inside AI-mediated workflows. It needed a consistent framework for distinguishing model training from controlled retrieval, subscriber use from systematic AI use, and promising access opportunities from unacceptable rights, platform and commercial risks.

Work

Steve reviewed the existing licensing approach, mapped principal use cases, compared MCP, RAG, gateway and vendor options, and developed recommendations covering content scope, entitlements, pricing, attribution, usage reporting and operating workflows. He also helped define a controlled pilot, including governance, success measures and the decision leadership should make at its conclusion.

Result

The publisher gained a clearer framework for deciding what to allow, restrict, price, pilot or escalate, together with a decision-ready pilot strategy and practical commercial next steps.

Portfolio, product and community strategy

Earlier publishing leadership example

Challenge

A mission-driven publishing program needed clearer strategic direction, stronger alignment with its research community and a practical basis for growth across books, journals, editorial initiatives and emerging product opportunities.

Work

Steve assessed the portfolio, market position, editorial priorities, community relationships, product opportunities and organizational constraints. The work connected publishing fundamentals with broader questions of trust, engagement, author and reader value, and long-term sustainability.

Result

The organization gained clearer strategic priorities, stronger alignment between publishing activity and community needs, and a more practical basis for deciding where to invest effort, attention and resources.

"Steve helped us turn a novel API concept into a clearer commercial opportunity. His work mapped the market landscape, clarified the business choices, and gave leadership a practical framework for decision-making.”

— Bill Trippe, Senior Manager, Academic Products, IEEE

  • “never anything but supportive, creative, intelligent and empowering"; " a valued mentor, coach, group leader and collaborator"; "possesses powerfully deep analytical abilities"; "well-honed financial and administrative skill sets"; "a smart and excellent manager"; "possesses a highly effective and uncommon combination of traits"; "Steve's greatest strength is his strategic capability"; "a consummate professional ".

    From Reviews

  • I am grateful to Dr. Smith for all his work supporting Psychological Service in both my years as an Associate Editor and now as Incoming Editor. He has been a constant advisor, collaborator in building productive strategic partnerships, and colleague working to deliver results above expectations. His leadership and support across our editorial team and with others at APA have led to positive and sustained outcomes in terms of commissioning, submissions, enhanced quality, support of innovation in publishing and financial outcomes, even in times of ongoing change. I count it an honor and privilege to have worked with Dr. Smith over the years and am grateful for all his expertise in guiding and supporting our journal and division across time!

    Lisa K. Kearney, PhD., ABPP

  • Steve is a strategic thinker who possesses a firm and full grasp of the publishing fundamentals of both books and journals. In addition, he is experienced in open access publishing. He is highly effective and I would recommend him for any position requiring broad experience, effective organization and strong people skills.

    Shawn Morton, VP, Partner Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  • Steve is never anything but supportive, creative, intelligent and empowering. He has an excellent track record of building relationships and fostering positive and productive teams infused with a deep sense of mission. Steve has outstanding communication skills, and served as a valued mentor, coach, group leader and collaborator. He promoted a strong community with deeply held values which sustained us in our mission, whether in good times or when we faced uncertainty or times of change. I have no hesitation in strongly recommending Steve.

    Andrew Peart, Founder & CEO at Sequoia Books

Recent Writing and Speaking

  1. Forthcoming: Co-moderator: “Innovation in Publishing”, CSE Webinar, September 2026.

  2. Forthcoming: Panelist, “Copyright at the Frontier: Licensing in the Age of AI”, NISO Plus Global Online Conference 2026, September 2026.

  3. Forthcoming: Panelist, “Publishing in 2030: Society Business Models for a Changing Landscape”, SSP New Directions Conference, September 2026.

  4. Forthcoming: “The Unbundling of Scholarly Publishing: A Trilemma for the AI Era” (with Ben Kaube), The Scholarly Kitchen, September 2026.

  5. “AI Can Find the Article. Can it Tell Which Version it Used?” (with Patrick Hargitt). The Scholarly Kitchen, August 2026.

  6. “A Conversation with Steve Smith”, Against the Grain Podcast, with Michael Upshall, The Charleston Hub, August 2026.

  7. “The Value Stack: What Will Institutions Actually be Buying in 2030?” Research Information, July 2026.

  8. Moderator: “Alternative Metrics in Scholarly Publishing”. CSE Webinar, July 23, 2026.

  9. “Scholarly Societies in the Age of AI: A Discussion with Ben Kaube, co-founder of Cassyni and Steve Smith, STEM Knowledge Partners”. June 5, 2026. David Worlock “The Coalition of the Curious” Podcast Series.

  10. Moderator: “Beyond Borders: Growing Journal Influence and Impact Worldwide”. Joint CSE / EASE Summer Symposium webinar panel discussion; EASE Summer Symposium. June 4, 2026

  11. “Restoring Trust in Science”. The Scholarly Kitchen, May 12, 2026.

  12. “Enhancing Scientific Integrity.” The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Organizing committee and moderator. April 24, 2026.

  13. Organizer and moderator: “Restoring Trust in Science panel discussion” with Holden Thorp, Megan Ranney, and Ivan Oransky. ISMPP webinar (with over 800 registrants). March 26, 2026.

  14. “Societies 2030: The Community Advantage in an AI-First World”. (With Ben Kaube.) The Scholarly Kitchen, March 10, 2026.

  15. “After the PDF: A New Unit of Knowledge for the AI Era.” Research Information, January 12, 2026

  16. “From Access to Answers: Knowledge-as-a-Service.”Research Information, November 13, 2025.

  17. “AI as Reader, Author and Reviewer: What Remains Human.”The Scholarly Kitchen, November 6, 2025.

  18. Panel discussion host and moderator: “AI as Reader, Author and Reviewer.” SSP New Directions in Scholarly Publishing. October 2025.

  19. “New Editorial Models for Decentralized Publishing.”Science Editor. August 28, 2025.

  20. “When the Front Door Moves: How AI Threatens Scholarly Communities and What Publishers Can Do.” (With Ben Kaube.) The Scholarly Kitchen, July 7, 2025

  21. “Driving the SDGs Forward: The Soft Power of Publishers.” Science Editor, April 2025.

  22. Organizer and moderator. “Next Generation Journal Communities.” CSE Webinar, February 2025

  23. Organizer and moderator. “CSE Goes to Washington: Publishing Policy in the Wake of the US Election.” CSE Webinar, January 2025.

Volunteer & Advisory Roles

  1. National Academies (Science, Engineering and Medicine)

    Workshop on research integrity, Organizing committee and moderator, 2026

  2. Council of Science Editors (CSE)

    Chair, Webinar Committee (2025-2026)

  3. Verify My Writing
    Strategic Advisor / https://verifymywriting.com
    Advocate for the enhancement of writing through AI while emphasizing the importance of human experience.

  4. NISO Information Policy & Analysis Committee

    Committee member; contribute to policy analysis around open-science mandates, metadata standards, and the evolving ecosystem, new standardization initiatives.

  • Steve Smith, DPhil, is an independent consultant and publishing leader with more than 25 years of experience across books, journals, open access, digital products, society publishing, and commercial and mission-driven organizations.

    Before founding STEM Knowledge Partners, Steve held senior roles at Blackwell Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, the American Psychological Association, Frontiers and AIP Publishing. His work has spanned portfolio growth, product strategy, society relationships, editorial development and the changing ways in which trusted research content is created, distributed and used.

    Today, he helps scholarly publishers, societies and research organizations make practical decisions about controlled AI access, licensing, pricing, pilots and product strategy, while also identifying opportunities to build durable value around trusted context, expert judgment and community.

    Steve is known for bringing calm, clarity and practical publishing judgment to complex questions, helping teams move from uncertainty to workable decisions.

    Let’s compare notes:

    If your organization is evaluating an AI access or licensing opportunity, designing a controlled pilot, or considering how its expertise and community can create durable value, please get in touch.