Augmenting Scholarly Publishing: Intelligent Emerging Tools
Being Inclusive in the Exclusive Race to License Content, or Not! Part 2/5
Industry Insights
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Howdy peeps,
Hope rain Gods ⛈️ have granted respite to all our readers who had been roasting in the🔥
We are back from our summer hiatus 🏖️ to deep dive into licensing 🪪
In the last newsletter, we covered the basics: key terms, critical questions, & a readiness scorecard to get you started.
Now, let’s look at what’s actually happening at the industry level
Licensing Without Supporting Infrastructure
Licensing content is only part of the puzzle. Publishers also need ways for AI systems to discover, access, cite, & use trusted content.
Check out these resources to take the next steps:
TollBit helps publishers monitor AI traffic, expose agent-ready content, manage machine-readable licenses & monetize AI access
Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM) is building a marketplace where publishers can define licensing terms, track usage & manage AI licensing at scale
Really Simple Licensing (RSL) is an emerging framework for embedding machine-readable licensing directly into websitesmaking it easier for AI systems to understand what content they can ✅ and can’t use ⛔
🤖 AI Agent: Now What’s That?
Think AI that goes beyond answering questions. AI that can search, retrieve licensed content, compare papers, use tools & complete tasks on your behalf
👇🏽Below are some resources from some publishers to get started
Agentic AI 101: Jisc’s Agentic AI Primer & Elsevier’s Guide to Agentic AI
From Wiley’s Wheelhouse: Wiley’s Agent Knowledge Base for Life Sciences gives AI agents full-text access to trusted, peer-reviewed life sciences & pharma content instead of relying on abstracts alone, making it a good example of what agent-ready publishing looks like. Wiley AI Rights shows how publishers are licensing peer-reviewed content for AI training, retrieval, & agentic workflows.
As we move from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), ask the following questions:
Can an agent discover our content?
Can it retrieve licensed content?
Does it know what it’s allowed to do?
Can it cite the original source?
Can we measure and monetize its usage?
These questions are quickly becoming more important than SEO
💰 Show Me The Money 💰
Beyond one-off AI licensing deals, now entire AI licensing marketplaces are emerging
ITHAKA Generative AI Licensing Tracker remains one of the best places to monitor new agreements
The Wall Street Journal looks at how content marketplaces could reshape AI licensing.
Think Beyond Training Models
Shift your focus from training models to licensed retrieval.
Instead of selling yesterday’s content once 💵, publishers could license today’s content many more times through Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), AI agents & future research assistants.
That means investing in:
Structured content
Rights metadata
APIs
MCP servers
Machine-readable licenses
Provenance
Attribution
Keep An Eye On...
Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM)
AI content marketplaces
Agent-ready publishing infrastructure
Expansion of the ITHAKA licensing tracker
Final thought
Instead of asking “Who should we license our content to?,” ask “How do we make our content indispensable to AI agents?”
The publishers that win won’t necessarily have the biggest licensing deals. They’ll have content that’s easy for AI agents🤖 to discover🔍, trust, cite, license, & use responsibly.
Feedback Corner
Your thoughts & comments welcomed: augmentscholpub@gmail.com
Until next newsletter,
Chhavi Chauhan and Chirag Jay Patel
About the Authors
Dr. Chhavi Chauhan is a science enthusiast, a former biomedical researcher who now serves as the Executive Officer of Open Pathology Education Network. She is the Founder & President of Samast AI, a renowned AI Ethicist, a serial volunteer, & serves on the Boards for multiple mission-driven organizations. Besides work, she enjoys playing board games, hiking, & working in her yard.
Chirag “Jay” Patel is a Jack of all trades, master of none. He has always been a salesperson & works for Cactus Communications, is a SDG Publishers Compact Fellow & volunteers for SSP & ISMPP. His interests lie at the crossroads of AI research integrity, science communication, & Sustainable Development Goals. When he is not working, he likes to goof around with his kids, read, listen to a podcast, spend time in the garden, or go for a walk.
Both authors are thought leaders, renowned public speakers, & invited blog writers.
Can’t Have Enough of Us!
➡️ Join SSP’s AI Community of Interest (AI CoIN) that we co-facilitate with >300 members
➡️ Join us at the ISMTE Annual Meeting 2026 where we co-moderate the opening plenary: “Humanizing Workflows in the Age of AI” on July 22nd at 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
➡️ Join Chhavi at the ISMTE Annual Meeting 2026 where she will moderate the session “Leveraging social media platforms for impactful education, publishing, and knowledge dissemination” on July 22nd at 3:55 - 4.40 PM
➡️ Join Jay at the ISMTE Annual Meeting 2026 where he will moderate the session “Discovery and Dissemination, user behavior changes, mis/disinformation, SEO vs AI search” on July 24th at 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
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