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Webinar Recap: Supporting the publishing and discovery journey of young and emerging scholars in the Global South

On the 25th of April, Zendy partnered with Bristol University Press to host an insightful joint webinar titled, supporting the publishing and discovery journey of young and emerging scholars in the Global South. 

The discussion panel was moderated by the Editorial Director of Bristol University Press, Victoria Pittman and featured the President of African Gong, Elizabeth Rasekoala, the Deputy Editorial Director at Bristol University Press, Stephen Wenham and the Partnerships Relations Manager at Zendy, Sara Crowley Vigneau. 

In this blog, we summarise the contributions of each speaker to the joint webinar. 

Elizabeth Rasekoala – President of African Gong

  • Addressed key systematic issues within publishing in the Global South 
  • Academic research is predominantly published in English, which is not the first language of many in the Global South, hence publishers should be open to accepting research in different languages. 
  • Discussed the concept of “helicopter research syndrome” wherein more established researchers allocate data collection tasks to locals in the Global South and monitor their work but don’t credit them in the final academic papers 
  • Highlighted the book published by Bristol University Press titled, Race and cultural inclusion: Innovation, decolonization, and transformation. The book had a total of 30 contributing writers. 10 young scholars, 10 seasoned scholars and 10 senior scholars to facilitate emerging scholars get published. 

Stephen Wenham – Deputy Editorial Director at Bristol University Press

  • Highlighted BUP’s international reach and efforts to work with young authors
  • Bristol University Press has publications that are available globally. In the global south, BUP tries to match the books to the local market. 
  • Local distributors receive a discount and local publishers assist in localising the publications and releasing local editions of books
  • Works with sales agents to ensure publications by local authors are highlighted in relevant regions

Sara Crowley Vigneau – Partnerships Relations Manager at Zendy

  • Highlighted the relationship between publishers and libraries in advancing access in developing regions
  • Zendy supports scholars in the Global South through offering an affordable global subscription, while also working with publishers to include research generated by researchers in the Global South. 
  • Most of Zendy’s global users are aged between 18-34 and 20% of Zendy’s userbase is situated in African countries and territories. 
  • Zendy is actively working on “countries in crisis’ initiative where in Zendy works with publishers to make research content free in developing regions 

Conduct your research on Zendy

As a growing AI-powered research library, Zendy is committed to hosting webinars that address important challenges and highlight key initiatives in the world of academia. Head to Zendy’s YouTube channel now to watch all our webinar recordings. Furthermore, take your research to the next level and head to Zendy now to try out our suite of AI tools including ZAIA! 

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What is a DOI? Strengths, Limitations & Components

DOI is short for Digital Object Identifier. It is a unique alphanumeric sequence assigned to digital objects, it is used to identify intellectual property on the internet. DOI’s are usually assigned to scholarly articles, datasets, books, videos and even pieces of software. 

Understanding DOI’s

The digital object identifier is a unique number made up of a prefix and suffix, segregated by a forward slash. 

For example: 10.1000/182

The sequence always begins with a 10. The prefix is a unique 4 or more digit number assigned to establishments and the suffix is assigned by publisher as it is designed to be flexible with publisher identification standards.

Where can I find a DOI?

In most scholarly articles, the DOI should be on the cover page. If the DOI isn’t included in the article, you may search for it on CrossRef.org by using the “Search Metadata” function.

How can I use the digital object identifier to find the article it refers to?

  • If the DOI starts with http:// or https://, pasting it on your web browder will help you locate the article.
  • You can turn any DOI starting with 10 into a URL by adding http://doi.org/ before the DOI. For example, 10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.3 becomes https://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.3
  • If you’re off campus when you do this, you’ll need to use this URL prefix in front of the DOI to gain access to UIC’s full text journal subscriptions: https://proxy.cc.uic.edu/login?url=https://doi.org/ . For example: https://proxy.cc.uic.edu/login?url=http://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.3

Strengths of Digital Object Identifier

  • Permanent identification: Digital object identifier provides a permanent link to digital content, making sure it remains accessible even if URL or metadata is updated. 
  • Citations: It uniquely identifies research papers, which facilitates accurate referencing and citing.
  • Interoperability: DOIs are widely recognized as they can be utilised across different platforms, databases and systems.
  • Tracking and metrics: DOIs provide key information like publication date, authors, keywords and more. This can be used to track usage metrics, measuring impact and improving discoverability
  • Integration with services: DOIs are integrated with various tools like reference managers, academic search engines, and digital libraries. These mediums enhance the visibility and accessibility of research material with DOIs. 

Limitations of Digital Object Identifier 

  • Cost: Digital object identifiers are costly for smaller organisations or individual researchers. While some services offer free digital object identifier registration for certain content, there may be fees associated with others, particularly for maintenance and updates.
  • Accessibility: There may still be barriers to access for individual researchers or organisations in regions with limited resources. Ensuring equitable access to digital object identifier services and content remains a challenge.
  • Content Preservation: While the sequence provide persistent links to digital content, they do not guarantee the preservation or long-term accessibility of that content. Ensuring the preservation of digital objects linked to DOIs require additional efforts and infrastructure beyond the system itself.
  • Granularity: Sequences are assigned to individual digital objects, such as articles, datasets, or books. However, there may be cases where more granular identification is required, such as specific sections within a larger work or versions of a dataset. Addressing these granularity issues within the digital object identifier system can be complex.

Conduct your research on Zendy today

Now that you’ve gained a better understanding of how DOI works and impacts the world of research, you may begin your search and find your next academic discovery on Zendy! Our advanced search allows you to input DOI, ISSN, ISBN, publication, author, date, keyword and title. Give it a go on Zendy now.

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Learn to use ZAIA – Zendy’s AI Research Assistant

What is ZAIA?

ZAIA – AI Assistant is a domain-specific LLM (Large Language Model) that has been fine tuned with research available on Zendy. ZAIA was designed to make the discoverability and accessibility of academic research simpler on Zendy, while also enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of literature review. In our latest version release, ZAIA has seen significant improvements, these include: 

  • Ask ZAIA: Users and readers can now ask ZAIA specific paper-level questions, introducing a new way to conduct literature analysis.
  • PDF Analysis: ZAIA now has the capability to analyse any PDF. Upload or link a research paper with sections and ZAIA will extract, analyse and summarise each section. 
  • Reference validation and verification: using techniques such as chain of verification, all references go through a validation and verification process to increase accuracy. 
  • Conversation and analysis history: once you log in, you can now see a complete history of all conversations with ZAIA and a history of PDFs analysed.
  • An enhanced fine-tuned model for increased accuracy.
  • ZAIA is also now accessible without registration. 

In this blog, we run you through the various features on ZAIA to teach you to use it to its full potential! 

Ask ZAIA

Step 1: Access ZAIA – AI Assistant through the Zendy home page

Step 2: Once your prompt is solved by ZAIA, you may double check the references ZAIA provides through the “Reference Details” section on the right. 

PDF Analysis

Step 1: To access the PDF analysis feature on ZAIA, switch from “Conversation” to “PDF Analysis” 

Step 2: Enter a research paper of your choice and then click “Analyse document”

Step 3: ZAIA then provides a summary of each section within the research paper, including references so you can quickly grasp the key concepts. 

Conversation History

Step 1: You may access your conversation and analysis history on both pages from the left side bar, simply click on the session you’d like to revisit and ZAIA will load the entire conversation and analysis. 

In this blog, we’ve covered how to conduct PDF analysis on ZAIA, access your history and how to cross-check references. As we further build and improve ZAIA, we look forward to adding helpful functionalities that further accelerate the efficiency and effectiveness of literature review. 

Visit zendy.io and utilise ZAIA – AI Research Assistant to help you with your next research project.

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Zendy Announces New Version Releases of ZAIA – AI Assistant

United Arab Emirates, 13th March 2024 – AI-powered research library Zendy has announced the launch of a significant version release for its domain-specific Large Language Model (LMM), ZAIA (Zendy AI Assistant). 

Developed by Zendy’s data science team and initially launched in December 2023, ZAIA is designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of research discovery and literature review. In this new version, a host of new features have been introduced to support researchers: 

  • Ask ZAIA: You can now ask specific questions to ZAIA on a paper level, giving you a new way to conduct in-depth analysis during literature review.
  • PDF Analysis: ZAIA can now analyse any PDF. Upload or link a research paper with sections, and ZAIA will extract, analyse, and summarise each section, including the abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references. 
  • Reference validation and verification: using techniques such as chain of verification, all references go through a validation and verification process to increase accuracy. 
  • Conversation and analysis history: once you log in, you can now see a complete history of all conversations with ZAIA and a history of PDFs analysed.
  • An enhanced fine-tuned model for increased accuracy.
  • ZAIA is also now accessible without registration. 

ZAIA is not a general-purpose language model. It is fine-tuned with Zendy’s own data sources, allowing it to support higher-level abstractions for research-specific use cases.

“ZAIA 0.1 takes us closer to our vision of creating an ecosystem of research-centric AI tools using the latest development methods that increase efficiency and reliability. The future of research is intertwined with the vast capabilities of AI, and we are committed to leveraging the best of AI to provide solutions to the pressing issues researchers face in research discovery,” said Zendy’s Chief Technology Officer, Rodrigo Pinto. 

“We have a core focus on increasing collaboration with publishers and data providers to navigate the increasing potential of AI. We look forward to extending the vast capabilities of our LLM and all our learnings to institutions, publishers, and organisations looking to streamline information discovery and retrieval using AI,” said Zendy Co-founder Kamran Kardan. 

Committed to helping foster an ecosystem of collaborative partnerships rooted in responsible AI practices, Zendy believes AI is important in fostering an equitable research and publishing ecosystem, but only with ethical guidelines. In response to the growing discussion around AI, Zendy recently released a list of AI imperatives to guide strategic development and the integration of AI technologies. 

To find out more about Zendy’s AI solutions, email hello@zendy.io.

You can use ZAIA now on Zendy, visit www.zendy.io/zaia.

To read the Zendy AI Imperatives statement, click here. 

About Zendy

Zendy is a product of Knowledge E. Since its inception in 2019, Zendy has introduced over 500,000 users to a better way to research. Zendy’s intuitive AI-powered research library features millions of journals, articles, e-books, and more, allowing users to access unlimited content for an affordable monthly subscription. Zendy also offers a free open-access plan. 

Press contact: 

Monica Chinsami

Head of Marketing

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Decolonising and diversifying academia: Interview with Nahil Nasr, the Community Engagement Manager at F.O.R.M.

This January, the Forum of Open Reseach MENA hosted its first community development activity of 2024. The “Decolonising Open Science Symposium: Dismantling Global Heirarchies of Knowledge” addressed the influence of western prominence on knowledge distribution and research, highlighting how these ideologies and standards impact the Arab region.

Within the landscape of research, conversations and collaborations not only address inequalities but also break barriers to accessibility. In this blog, we interviewed Nahil Nassar who is the community engagement manager at the Forum of Open Research MENA. At the symposium, Nahil touched on the work that open science has in building stronger foundations for diverse research consumption and the biases that exist in the research landscape. We take a deeper dive into this conversation. 

  1. How does F.O.R.M. facilitate conversations around decolonising academia?

FORM is a community based organisation that centers its attention on the Arab region. That means prioritising Arab voices in academia to develop a regionally and culturally relevant model of Open Science to implement across the board.

While we do, of course, work with organisations that are based in the Global North, we try to be transparent when it comes to power dynamics, and recognise that we are only as strong as our community. 

  1. What role does open science play in escalating research outside western europe?

Open Science has the potential to really build an even playing field for researchers in the Global South because of its financially and digitally accessible model. In its best form, Open Science should allow researchers from the Global South to publish their work without limitations in cost or geography.

The problem is that Open Science publishing is not always functioning in its most optimum form, and things like APCs, metric frameworks, and language hierarchies (English being a dominant language across the research landscape) can still limit researchers in the same ways that traditional academic publishing models do.

  1. What are some biases that exist in the open science landscape?

A major bias that comes out of the Open Science landscape, especially when it comes to the Global South, is that Open Science research is bad research. There’s this assumption that if research isn’t published in perfect English, or focuses on a very niche subject that’s really only relevant to specific local contexts, then that means the research is either low quality or irrelevant. 

This is especially because of how research is prioritised in its value these days, and this is one of the many places where commodification enters the conversation as a major issue. Often times, major funding is only allocated to research that is deemed important by multinational corporations or prestigous research institutions in the Global North who sort of set the agenda of what is necessary to study and what isn’t – and these topics are usually prioritised based on the needs of these entities and their contexts, and completely ignore the localised needs of researchers in the Global South, who then don’t have access to that same funding. 

  1. Please explain how absolute objectivity is colonial ideology

This is a really interesting ideology to ponder on in decolonial discourse, because it seems very out there to say that there’s no such thing as objective truth, especially in a world that is run by scientific innovation. The idea of objectivity may seem to be clear and cut, but it goes back to the idea of intellectual dominance and colonialism. There was an ideological hierarchy set by colonial powers that placed their “truth” as the only “truth”, and took objectivity to mean that their truth is the only one with any substance or value. 

Many indigenous knowledge systems question this idea of absolute objectivity, because it is often rooted in inherently colonial, patriarchal, and violent understandings of nature, human experience, and society. I was first introduced to this philosophy through postcolonial gender theory, where researchers like Vandana Shiva questioned the very idea of scientific knowledge as we know it today as something that was forced on us as the only virtuous fact, but is sometimes actually the most harmful opinion. 

  1. What is the direct impact of colonisation on knowledge production today?

The impact of colonisation on knowledge production today can be found in a plethora of arenas. While colonisation as we once knew it is not nearly as prominent as it was in the 19th and 20th centuries, neo-imperial and neo-colonial ideologies are still very much strong holding the majority of the world’s systems. You can see legacies of it in how we think about scientific studies, methodologies, or even the metrics that we use to classify ‘good’ and ‘bad’ research. 

It informs how we think about credibility, and determines who gets to speak the loudest and whose voice gets silenced. It marginalises researchers who use indigenous knowledge methodologies (often rooted in intuition and connection to land and spirit) and prioritises the voices of liberal scientists who believe in objective fact rooted in numbers and rationality. 

Overall, it prioritises knowledge produced and disseminated by Western organisations and researchers that then have an impact on Western communities, and leave the global majority out of the conversation.

Watch the webinar here

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Webinar Recap: Research in the age of AI – Tools, Trends & Innovations

In a pivotal time where AI-powered tools shape efficiency in research processes, the world of academia is witnessing a significant transformation. This calls for a thorough discussion to define ethical AI usage in order to leverage the technology to improve the landscape of academia. 

We recently hosted a webinar to address and discuss the usage of AI in research. The webinar titled, “Research in the age of AI – Tools, Trends & Innovations” was moderated by Knowledge E’s chief academic officer, Dr. Emily Choynowski; and featured Zendy co-founder Kamran Kardan, Zendy Chief Technology Officer, Rodrigo Pinto, and Professor Leo Lo from the University of New Mexico.

Kamran Kardan – CEO of Knowledge E and Zendy

  • Driving an AI-powered research library [Zendy], ethical usage of AI is a core value. 
  • AI benefits and facilitates interdisciplinary research by allowing researchers to quickly learn about areas of study they are not specialised in, which creates productivity and efficiency in research processes. The technology also allows researchers to analyse citations and determine its relevance to their current projects. 
  • To tackle the ethical challenges AI presents, Zendy released an AI imperatives statement that guides the direction and intention behind developing AI products. 

Professor Leo Lo – Professor at University of New Mexico

  • Governments and businesses should invest in developing AI literacy in current education landscape
  • Conducted a survey in April 2023 amongst US academic library employees when Chat GPT was new and found that AI training was required, the employees presented a limited understanding of AI concepts, and that generative AI is not frequently used. 
  • Conducted follow-up surveys in December 2023 and found that there was a shift in attitude towards AI. Libraries had implemented AI solutions and applications while actively developing AI literacy initiatives. 
  • Developed AI competencies for librarians that tackles the comprehensive understanding, training and analysis required to confidently use AI to streamline library operations and transform services. 

Rodrigo Pinto – CTO of Zendy

  • Introduction to LLMs: a LLM (Large Language Model) is a type of AI designed to understand and generate human language. This technology has reasoning capabilities, understands questions and reads from external knowledge to respond with insights. 
  • Introduction to ZAIA – AI Assistant for research: ZAIA is an LLM developed by Zendy. It was designed to expedite the research process by analysing study results and providing credible responses backed by references.
  • Challenges of AI: bias, reliability, and data privacy. The mitigation strategies deployed by Zendy are safeguards and chains of verification and thought to minimise bias. 

As AI advances and creates efficiency across different industries, there has been a significant requirement to regulate the use of AI. In our efforts to make research accessible we launched a suite of AI tools on Zendy last year, to ensure ethical usage of our AI technology, we also established a comprehensive list of AI imperatives to guide the development and implementation of AI within our products. 

Discover academic research and easily consume papers with comprehensive AI tools now on Zendy

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Research Better: 6 Best AI Tools for Research Efficiency

The increased usage of AI tools has sparked many conversations in the world of academia, which inspired the innovation of AI tools for research. The integration of technology in academia has brought innovation that introduced digital libraries, plagiarism trackers and grammar-checking softwares, this changed the way researchers write and discover academic literature. In recent years, the academic sphere has witnessed the rapid growth and implementation of AI, which we believe can be leveraged to create efficiency in research.

As an AI-powered research library, Zendy provides key tools like summarisation and keyphrase highlighting to streamline the process of literature review, we also developed and launched ZAIA, the AI research assistant. These tools have been designed to create efficiency in research, which allows researchers to invest significant time in data analysis and their primary research. 

With the growing integration of AI products, we believe in the ethical use of AI in the world of research while also harnessing the innovative technology to streamline research processes amongst students and researchers alike. According to a study that looked at the usage of AI amongst students, it was found that every fourth student (25.2%) uses AI-based tools frequently, while almost half of the students (47.8%) use AI-based tools occasionally. Slightly more than a third of the students (36.6%) do not use AI-based tools at all. 

In this blog, we recommend the 6 best AI-driven tools to assist you with annotating, citing and more!

1. ZAIA AI Assistant for Research

ZAIA is a domain-specific LLM designed to assist researchers in understanding essential research concepts and finding relevant papers. This tool enhances the efficiency of the literature review process, providing answers backed by millions of academic research papers. 

2. Semantic Scholar

Housing over 200 million papers from all fields of science, this tool generates a comprehensive summary of an academic paper, including the area of study the research addressed and its overall impact on the discipline.

3. Paperguide

Paperguide is an all in one AI workspace for researchers to conduct literature reviews, understand and extract data from scientific papers, collaborate, manage and write research.

4. Tableau 

This tool generates date visualisation and analytical tools for businesses and researchers. The platform is equipped with Einstein AI which is driven by machine learning and delivers predictions and recommendations within Tableau workflows to assist with efficient decision-making.

5. Scite.ai

This is a well-rounded citation tool that provides context to citations by clearly stating whether an academic paper supports or contrasts the cited claim. This helps researchers save time having to read lengthy papers and quickly determine whether the citation is relevant to their research.

6. Consensus AI

This tool annotates insights about research papers using AI. It produces “study snapshots” to condense lengthy research papers by mentioning study aims, variables, and findings. The platform also provides credible responses backed by academic papers to queries, by presenting research papers that both support and contrast the query, allowing users to browse through objective responses.

Limitations of AI Tools

While AI tools are effective in streamlining research processes, they raise ethical concerns and can impact research integrity if misused. AI raises ethical issues including data privacy, algorithm bias and misuse of AI. However, due to the increasing usage of AI tools, policies are developing quickly to ensure the technology is adequately regulated.

Tips for Using AI Tools in Research

Follow these recommendations to ensure ethical AI usage: 

  • Always fact-check content generated by AI tools   
  • Do not write academic articles using AI tools. Instead, use these tools to edit and structure original research content.
  • Do not use AI tools to generate references, instead use it to manage and store the references.
  • Use AI tools that produce accurate results.
  • Incorporate your own voice and style of written content as much as possible.

In conclusion, AI is a resourceful innovation in academic research when used ethically. The correct and responsible usage of AI can create immeasurable efficiency in research processes, and aid in citation management, resource annotation, data visualization, literature discoverability and summarisation.
Discover a comprehensive suite of AI-driven tools like summarisation, keyphrase highlighting and ZAIA – AI assistant for research on Zendy now.

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See the Top Reads of December 2023

  1. Behavior Economics

This paper highlights how traditional economic models function on the assumption that people behave rationally, which is not always the case. The unification of psychology and economics introduces “prospect theory” which considers how individuals evaluate differently from standard economic theory, the paper also discusses the challenge of replacing rational principles with behavioral alternatives. 

Read more: Behavioral economics: Reunifying psychology and economics

  1. Sociology of Environmental Representation

This paper discussed the relationship between environmental representatives and the methods of representation, how these factors contribute to the overall image of the environment. The authors argue that environmental representation goes beyond conversations and awareness and that representatives must lead by example; they propose to understand representation through the context of sociology as a way to learn how environmental politics, management and actions work. 

Read more: A sociology of environmental representation

  1. AI Systems Engineering

AI systems engineering develops the new engineering practice in the intersection of systems engineering and artificial intelligence. This paper defines KI engineering while comparing it to historic examples of research disciplines that founded engineering while touching on the long-term challenges where further development is needed. 

Read more: KI-Engineering – AI Systems Engineering

  1. Surgical Site Cytology to Diagnose Spinal Lesions

This paper places emphasis on diagnosing specific diseases causing spine lesions as early as possible. The authors propose cytological evaluation alongside regular tissue biopsies to discover these diseases. The study gathered samples from 44 patients from suspected cancerous areas in the spine, these samples were prepared in 2 methods; detailed tissue analysis and microscopic examination for cytological evaluation. 

Read more: Surgical Site Cytology to Diagnose Spinal Lesions

  1. Origamics in Architecture

Japanese origami is a valuable tool in developing various engineering and design applications. Origamics is widely applicable as it is currently utilised in mathematics, engineering, biology, manufacturing medical equipment and vehicle parts. This paper discusses the potential of origamics in architectural study as an interface to gain cognitive experience on spatial transformation.

Read more: Origamics In Architecture: A Medium Of Inquiry Or Design In Architecture

Discover millions of e-books, journal articles, proceedings and more on Zendy now.

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Zendy and IntechOpen’s Joint Webinar: Addressing Accessibility, Discoverability and a Sustainable Future.

We hosted a joint webinar with IntechOpen in November that addressed emerging technologies across different industries that contribute to sustainability and research accessibility and discovery.

The webinar was titled, “Emerging Technologies – Partnering for Accessibility, Discoverability and a Sustainable Future.” The session featured 3 key speakers, Dr. Jo Havemann representing AfricArXiv, Professor Tatiana Morosuk from Technical University of Berlin and Zendy’s Head of Marketing, Monica Chinsami.

Each speaker articulated how their organisation works to increase sustainable practices through research dissemination. Zendy’s Head of Marketing, Monica Chinsami highlighted our library’s initiatives to advance the accessibility and discoverability of scholarly literature. In an effort to break geographical barriers in research, Zendy partners with leading publishers to ensure their content reaches regions with limited access via our global subscription. 

Additionally, Professor Tatiana Morosuk from the Technical University of Berlin placed emphasis on the transionary period the energy sector is experiencing as it moves away from fossil fuel and towards technology focused on sustainability. The professor stated the importance of innovation to advance sustainable practices and energy use. 

Finally, Dr. Jo Havemann stated how AfricArXiv is on a mission to make African research more discoverable as this is in line with SDG 4 (Quality Education), the organisation announced their collaboration with Ubuntunet which is a network provider that assists with connectivity and infrastructure for research and education institutions. 

Advancing research dissemination catalyses SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). As equitable research platforms emerge and partner to expand their reach, the more academic research is democratised to create knowledgable societies. 

We look forward to hosting more webinars in 2024, to tackle and highlight the initiatives in the world of academia.

Discover millions of e-books, journal articles, proceedings and more on Zendy now.

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23 Reflections to Recap Zendy’s 2023 Journey

Welcome to Zendy’s annual recap, where we reflect on another year of milestones. The ever-evolving landscape of scholarly communication this year was anything but stagnant, dominated by themes of openness, integrity, inclusion, and innovation. As we reflect on 2023, we’re proud to have welcomed new publishers, attended events, celebrated milestones with our users, and released some really great features to continue to support our users on their research and learning journey.

How we enhanced our user experience

  1. We developed and launched ZAIA

Our most anticipated and exciting feature launch this year was ZAIA – Zendy’s AI assistant. Ask any question, and ZAIA will analyse millions of researchers papers to give you credible answers backed by references. If you haven’t already, log in to your Zendy account and put ZAIA to the test!

  1. We launched Zendy Plus globally

We launched our global subscription plan at Frankfurt Book Fair 2023! The plan allows students, researchers and professionals globally to access scholarly material from leading publishers for the monthly price of a single research paper. This was a key milestone for us as our previous Zendy Plus plan was limited to several countries. Having an affordable and equitable access model strengthens our mission to remove the barriers to scholarly literature. 

  1. Keyphrase Highlighting

We released an AI-powered keyphrase highlighting tool. Instead of having multiple tabs open, looking for definitions and further research on a concept, Zendy highlights keyphrases in just one click to allow readers to grasp key research concepts quickly.

  1. Summarisation

We also released an AI-powered summarisation tool. This tool summarises lengthy research papers into a concise paragraph on demand. This significantly helps readers save time during literature review. 

  1. Reading Lists

Earlier this year, we launched a reading list feature. Reading lists can be used to organise and categorise research papers according to projects, subject areas or whichever method the reader finds simplest to navigate through. 

  1. New UI coming soon

The team has been working on a brand new UI to transform the user journey on Zendy. Zendy will reveal a new fresh look very soon, with additional personalisation features to further enhance the discovery of scholarly literature. 

Milestones we marked with our users 

  1. Welcomed over 400,000 readers

We’re proud to support over 400,000 readers from 200 countries and territories on Zendy! We thank our valued community for their consistent support. The trust of our community fuels our mission to keep striving for a world where equal access to research is a reality. 

  1. Over a 6 million searches & 2.5 million downloads

We have seen over 6 million keywords searched on the platform. Searches ranging from the neural networks, to enteric bacteria, and social impact – we’re proud to support a diverse community of students, researchers, and professionals. We marked over 2.5 million downloads on Zendy! As we continue to work with new publishers, we look forward to bringing an even better selection of content to our readers. 

We exhibited, presented, and attended many events!

  1. Presented at Charleston Hub 2023

Our Partner Relations Manager, Sara Crowley Vigneau presented at Charleston Hub in partnership with IGI Global. The presentation titled ‘On the Open Road: The story of an OA publication through the stakeholder journey’ looked at the journey of a publication through the eyes of each custodian. 

  1. Exhibited at STEP 2023

Earlier this year, our team exhibited Zendy at STEP 2023. Showcasing our Zendy alongside various startups inspired the team to learn from other tech products in the Middle Eastern region. 

  1. Sponsored and presented at the Forum for Open Research MENA 

We were proud to sponsor the Forum of Open Research MENA, which is an event that highlights and advances open access initiatives in the Arab region. Our head of technology, Rodrigo Pinto, presented his insightful research paper titled, “Leveraging Big Data and Machine Learning to Enhance Open Data Quality: Insights for Developing Regions.” 

  1. Exhibited at Frankfurt Book Fair

It was a pleasure to exhibit and connect with new and existing partners at Frankfurt Book fair 2023. We hosted a launch event at this year’s fair, showcasing our Zendy Plus global subscription offering. Thanks to all who attended! 

  1. Presented at the MENA Panel

Our co-founder, Kamran Kardan spoke at The MENA panel titled, “AI wrote this abstract: The Impact of AI on higher education and academic research.” The discussion touched on the impact of AI on higher education, dissecting how it affects teaching, learning and ethical guidelines. 

  1. Attended London Book Fair

We attended the London Book Fair earlier this year. Our team met with many of our partners and other key leaders in scholarly communication. We look forward to exhibiting at next year’s fair.

  1. Exhibited at UKSG 2023

We also exhibited at our first UKSG conference this year. It was a really great experience connecting with and learning from some of the best minds in our global knowledge community. 

  1. Joint Webinar with InTechOpen

We partnered with InTechOpen to host a joint webinar titled, “Emerging Technologies – Partnering for Accessibility, Discoverability and a Sustainable Future.” Zendy’s Head of Marketing, Monica Chinsami, presented on the panel alongside Prof Tatiana Morosuk, Editorial Board Member of IntechOpen’s Green Energy and Environmental Technology (GEET) journal, and Dr Jo Havemann, Co-founder of AfricArXiv.

We welcomed new partners

  1. IEEE

In September, we integrated IEEE’s open access research content. This partnership has brought significant technological research across various areas of study, like aerospace, robotics and more on Zendy. 

  1. IT Governance

In June, we partnered with IT Governance, which is a leading publisher of books on information technology, cybersecurity and governance. 

  1. IGI Global

We partnered with IGI Global, a leading publisher focused on research across different specialisms under the vast umbrella of Science. This partnership saw the addition of leading e-journals as well as book content across subject areas including Business & Management; Scientific, Technical, Medical (STM); and Education. 

  1. Bristol University Press

We also signed an agreement with Bristol University Press. BUP is well known for producing scholarship that advances theory, knowledge and learning within and beyond academia.

  1. InTechOpen

We also welcomed IntechOpen to our partner community. InTechOpen specialises in journals and books in the fields of Medicine, Technology and Science. 

A couple of things we published

  1. Published SDG Report

This year, we published an SDG report in partnership with Knowledge E. This comprehensive report helps us keep track of our efforts in accelerating the aims of the UN’s publishers compact. With a focus on SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), Zendy progresses to ensure that academic research is accessible to everyone everywhere. 

  1. An analysis of OER’s on Research Information

Our co-founder, Kamran Kardan, wrote a piece on the future of Open Educational Resources and how the industry is preparing for them. In summary, with the uncapped potential of responsible AI, the future looks bright and full of innovative opportunities to positively impact societal progress.

We look forward to continuing our journey together in 2024, and we thank you for your unwavering support.