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By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘Easier and Quicker for Researchers To Get Out Their Work’
In media messaging from its London, Berlin, and New York offices, Springer Nature today (February 14) has announced its acquisition of a digital writing aid called TooWrite.
The platform was developed by researchers and, according to Springer Nature, “streamlines and simplifies scientific writing by guiding researchers through the process as if they were answering a questionnaire.”
The original development, then, is an acknowledgment that writing isn’t the primary element of many researchers’ skill set, and that a tool “created by academics for academics,” as the program’s descriptive period puts it, can be useful in creating “abstracts, journal papers, doctoral theses, and grant applications.”
Springer’s commentary says that TooWrite includes “expert how-to guides attached to each question, supporting researchers as if they had an editor by their side. By structuring it in this step-by-step way, researchers’ time is freed up by making the writing process more efficient.”
At this point, Springer says its offering of the platform supports the writing of abstracts in a beta prototype, with full-research-papers support coming.
The program is being offered as part of a “Springer Nature Research Solutions” group of services.
Co-Founder Cavendish Joins Springer
TooWrite’s co-founder, Ivy Cavendish, is to remain with the product, joining Springer Nature with a newly minted title, head of writing solutions. In her new berth, Cavendish will continue to supervise development of the platform.
In a prepared comment for today’s announcement, Cavendish is quoted, saying, “his has always been a grass-roots project, starting from a small flat in Angel with my co-founder Algernon Bloom, where I first built TooWrite as a one-off to help him write his thesis.
“Having seen the impact TooWrite could have on the lives and careers of the researchers around us, we set out to create our ‘science writing revolution.’
“Our aim with TooWrite has been to put the needs of researchers front and center and build a tool that can make it easier and quicker for researchers to get their work out where it can make a difference, a goal that Springer Nature shares. I look forward to seeing how TooWrite will now benefit from the expertise in solutions and platforms that they can offer, while working with their team of experts to build on the way in which Springer Nature offers a portfolio of tailored and scalable solutions for our community.”
Ivy’s focus is to be on building the platform to support thesis and paper writing, beyond its current abstract and application support.
Eugenie Regan, Springer vice-president for “research solutions,” says, “Researchers are at the heart of what we do. They need to work fast and are under multiple challenges.
“As such, we’re committed to working with them to address their pain points and find solutions. TooWrite is one such example and will form a part of our growing portfolio of tools and services developed to support researchers at every point in their research journey.
“We look forward to further enhancing our offering for researchers ensuring they can spend their time where they want to, on their research, advancing discovery and contributing to tackling the social challenges that surround our world.”
The original site for the TooWrite platform is here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on Springer Nature is here, more from us on academic and scholarly publishing is here, and more on digital publishing is here.