Production

As publishers face increasing pressure, many are turning to partners for professional resources and expertise. With our expertise in composition, graphics, project management, and XML and eDeliverables, SPi Global can help publishers and information services companies reduce costs, speed up time-to-market, and develop new revenue streams. Today, SPi Global provides end-to-end solutions for a wide array of publishing clients. In journal publishing, for example, we produce more than 1.2 million typeset pages for more than 1,000 journal titles.

Our Production Solutions include:

Composition
STM and other journal publishers that follow straightforward design layouts are continually seeking to speed up turnaround time and lower cost per page. SPi Global employs a composition process that features an “XML/SGML-first” workflow with page composition tools and technologies that deliver complex content in a flexible, highly stable format. This workflow shortens production times, accelerates multiple channel delivery, and vastly increases return on investment. SPi Global performs page composition services using industry standard typesetting software—3B2, LaTeX, QuarkXpress, and InDesign—and we have extensive expertise with complex and technical content (e.g., complex math and chemical structures) using MathML, TeX, LaTeX, and ChemDraw.

Graphics
Using state-of-the art technologies and techniques, SPi Global’s team of more than 100 graphic artists analyze and optimize close to 35,000 author-supplied illustrations each month – most of which are supplied in a wide range of formats and with varying levels of quality. Equipped with state-of-the-art color studios, our artists optimize images for a wide range of delivery formats and are adept in the following areas:

• Illustration: We can create high-end graphics from rough scans, conduct color research, conceptualize missing details, and then approximate patterns and gradients. We also convert lower-quality photographs into presentable vector illustrations.
• Editing: Our teams scan, redraw, re-label, and even trace artworks from the hardcopy, checking fonts, sizing, cover designs, and resolution adjustments.
• Color Processing: We can scan for color, b/w halftones, and simultaneously perform tonal and color corrections, working with layers, color management, and color and plates separations (2, 4, 5-color).

Project Management
For new product introductions or ongoing projects, the ability to shave a day from the schedule or reduce costs can often make the difference between success and failure. SPi Global project managers—all experienced publishing professionals—manage the production of more than 750,000 pages every year, helping clients successfully migrate projects from onshore to offshore resources. As a result, we’ve helped clients to reduce costs while maintaining similar, if not superior, levels of service. SPi Global project managers perform the following tasks:

• Collate revisions from authors, editors, and proofreaders onto a “master proof” to facilitate corrections in the electronic file.
• Contact authors to seek copyright permissions for the use of their artwork.
• Coordinate the copyediting, composition, and indexing workflows.
• Manage the editorial review process by liaising with the publisher, editors, and professional proofreaders.
• Monitor schedules and target completion dates to keep everything on track.

XML/eDeliverables
XML is one of the building blocks of digital publishing, and SPi Global is an expert at using SGML/XML to create source documents for multi-channel content delivery, from PDFs to online articles. We can help you archive content in repositories and then set the stage for multi-purposing the content with other digital production and publishing systems. We have significant experience inworking with all industry-standard, journal-specific DTDs, and customer-specific DTDs. We can also generate and deliver electronic deliverables for various online platforms such as Highwire, Ovid, ScienceDirect, Atypon, Ingenta, and PMC.