Practical AI Strategy for
Scholarly Publishers

Research discovery is moving away from the old front door.

Scholarly content is increasingly being found, interpreted, summarized, and used inside AI tools, enterprise assistants, RAG workflows, and MCP-style access layers.

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

STEM Knowledge Partners helps scholarly publishers and societies assess AI access options, design controlled pilots, and turn the results into practical commercial and strategic decisions.

That includes AI licensing frameworks, MCP and AI gateway assessment, vendor comparison, content-scope definition, entitlement and pricing logic, pilot governance, success measures, and next-phase recommendations.

The goal is not to chase every new tool. The goal is to learn quickly, safely, and strategically from the right experiments.

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 publishing, open access, commercial publishing, non-profit publishing, 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, and leadership-ready recommendations.

The value is practical translation: helping editorial, product, sales, licensing, technology, and leadership teams work from the same map.

“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 publishers answer

1. How should we respond to AI licensing and content-access requests?

Publishers are receiving requests for training, RAG, MCP access, metadata feeds, APIs, full text, snippets, and platform use. The challenge is knowing what to allow, what to restrict, what to price, and what should be escalated before the organization says yes too quickly or no too reflexively.

2. Should we pilot an AI gateway, MCP connector, or controlled access model?

The question is not simply which vendor looks promising. The harder question is what the pilot should prove: which content should be included, who should have access, how attribution should work, what usage data should come back, what internal lift is required, and what leadership should decide at the end.

3. How do we protect platform value as research use moves elsewhere?

PDF downloads and platform visits are no longer the only signs of content value. As discovery, interpretation, and summarization move into AI-mediated workflows, publishers need to decide what remains inside their own platform, what can be surfaced elsewhere, and what should remain reserved for subscribers, members, or controlled licensing.

4. What pricing and entitlement logic makes sense?

AI access raises difficult questions about who pays, what is included in an existing subscription, what requires an add-on, how value differs between metadata and full text, and why training should be treated differently from non-training or controlled retrieval.

5. How do we make this manageable internally?

AI requests often cut across Sales, Product, Licensing, Legal, Technology, and leadership. I help teams create practical intake questions, use-case lanes, escalation triggers, pilot governance, and shared language so decisions do not become bespoke debates every time.

Flagship Focus: AI Access Pilots

Many publishers are now being asked how their content should appear inside AI tools, enterprise assistants, RAG workflows, MCP-style connectors, and controlled access layers.

The answer should not be a rushed vendor demo or a vague experiment.

A good pilot should test a real strategic question: which content should be surfaced, who should have access, how attribution and linkback will work, what usage data the publisher receives, what internal lift is required, and what leadership should decide at the end.

STEM Knowledge Partners helps publishers assess options, design controlled pilots, define success measures, coordinate internal stakeholders, and turn pilot results into practical next-phase recommendations.

The goal is to learn quickly without giving up control too quickly.

Services

STEM Knowledge Partners helps scholarly publishers and societies make practical AI-era access decisions: what to test, what to protect, what to price, what to build, and what to do next.

1. AI Access Pilot Strategy and Management

For publishers considering AI gateways, MCP-style connectors, RAG access, controlled content pilots, or new ways to surface trusted content inside external AI tools.

These pilots need to be more than demos. They need to answer real strategic questions: which content should be included, who should have access, how attribution will work, what usage data will come back, what internal resources are required, and how leadership will decide whether to expand, pause, renegotiate, or walk away.

Typical support includes:

  • Use-case definition and pilot rationale

  • Vendor and option assessment

  • Content-scope and access-model recommendations

  • Pilot design, governance, and success measures

  • Entitlement, attribution, and usage-data requirements

  • Internal workflow and stakeholder coordination

  • End-of-pilot evaluation and next-phase recommendations

Best fit: publishers who need to test AI access models quickly, safely, and strategically without adding full-time internal capacity.

2. AI Licensing, Pricing, and Entitlement Frameworks

For publishers receiving AI, data, API, corpus, platform-access, or model-related requests and needing a clearer way to decide what to allow, what to decline, and what to price.

AI licensing is rarely just a legal question. It quickly becomes a commercial, product, workflow, and portfolio question. Publishers need practical frameworks that distinguish ordinary subscriber use from systematic AI use, internal access from external platform use, training from non-training, metadata from full text, and controlled access from uncontrolled transfer.

Typical support includes:

  • AI licensing framework review

  • Use-case and risk-lane mapping

  • Subscriber-use versus add-on access logic

  • Internal RAG, MCP, metadata, API, and training-use distinctions

  • Pricing and packaging sanity checks

  • Payer logic: institution, platform, vendor, or shared model

  • Escalation triggers and “yes / no / not yet” decision rules

  • Leadership-ready memos and recommendations

Best fit: publishers who need a practical commercial framework before the next AI request becomes another bespoke negotiation.

3. Leadership Briefings, Workshops, and Advisory Support

For leadership teams, societies, boards, product groups, sales teams, and publishing teams that need practical clarity on fast-moving AI-era questions.

The goal is to help teams develop a shared map: what is changing, what choices matter, what risks are real, what can be tested safely, and what decisions should not be postponed.

Possible formats include:

  • 60 to 90 minute executive briefing

  • Half-day or one-day workshop

  • Small-team strategy session

  • Board or society leadership briefing

  • Pilot-readiness review

  • Ongoing advisory retainer

Possible topics include:

  • AI licensing without losing platform value

  • RAG, MCP, APIs, and the new content access stack

  • From PDF downloads to AI-mediated use

  • What publishers should license, protect, build, or pilot

  • Turning AI access requests into scalable workflows

  • Pricing and entitlement logic for AI-era content use

Best fit: organizations that need clear, practical guidance before committing significant staff time, vendor spend, or strategic attention.

Case Studies

1. AI licensing and access framework for a major scholarly publisher

Challenge

A large scholarly publisher was receiving a growing mix of AI, data, API, platform, RAG, and model-related requests. The organization needed a clearer way to distinguish ordinary subscriber use from systematic AI use, internal access from external platform use, training from non-training, and controlled access from uncontrolled content transfer.

Work

Steve reviewed the existing AI licensing approach, mapped principal use-case lanes, tested the framework against real and representative requests, and developed practical recommendations for licensing logic, entitlement boundaries, pricing implications, escalation triggers, and leadership decision-making.

Result

The publisher gained a clearer commercial framework for deciding what to allow, what to restrict, what to price, what to pilot, and what should require senior review before proceeding.

2. AI access pilot strategy and MCP vendor assessment

Challenge

A publisher needed to assess emerging options for making scholarly content available inside AI-mediated workflows, including MCP-style connectors, RAG access, controlled content gateways, and possible vendor-supported pilots.

Work

Steve compared scenarios and vendor options, assessed portfolio fit, identified cannibalization and platform-risk issues, clarified content-scope and entitlement questions, and helped define what a controlled pilot would need to prove. The work included success measures, usage-data requirements, attribution expectations, internal workflow considerations, and next-phase decision criteria.

Result

The publisher moved from a broad technology question to a structured pilot strategy: what to test, what to protect, what evidence to collect, and how leadership should decide whether to expand, revise, or stop the pilot.

3. Publishing portfolio, product, and community strategy

Challenge

A publishing program needed clearer strategic direction, stronger alignment with its research community, and a practical path 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 a clearer strategic direction, stronger alignment between publishing priorities and community needs, and a more practical basis for deciding where to invest effort, attention, and resources.

Selected Recent Engagements

Recent engagements include work on AI-era licensing, scholarly content access, data licensing, product strategy, and emerging commercial models for trusted research content.

Projects have included AI licensing framework review, MCP and RAG access assessment, business model and pricing analysis, pilot strategy, operating workflow recommendations, publisher outreach, opportunity development, and leadership-ready decision support.

"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. Podcast interview: “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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  14. Organizer and facilitator. “Next Generation Journal Communities.” CSE Webinar, February 2025

  15. Organizer and facilitator. “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 helping scholarly publishers, societies, and research organizations make practical decisions about AI access options, including gateways and MCP-style connectors, content licensing, product strategy, pricing, workflows, and trusted use of scholarly content.

    He brings more than 25 years of experience across books, journals, open access, digital products, society publishing, and commercial and non-profit publishing environments, including senior roles at Blackwell Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, Frontiers, the American Psychological Association, and AIP Publishing. His recent work focuses on AI licensing frameworks, MCP and RAG access models, platform and vendor assessment, content commercialization, metadata strategy, and leadership-ready decision support.

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

    “Please get in touch if you are exploring an AI access pilot, reviewing licensing or pricing options, or simply trying to make sense of where scholarly publishing is heading next.” - Steve