Accelerating the Standards Process (Because AI Can’t Wait)

Letter from the Executive Director, June 2025

For a very long time, the standards process has been labeled—not without cause—as slow, ponderous, and overly bureaucratic. There are certainly valid reasons for this, but there are times when we must propel the process of consensus along. This is simply because the pace of technological change cannot await a three- or four-year development cycle. We are entering another era, much like the late 1990s, when development must accelerate to keep pace with changes in the marketplace. Then, the technology was the internet. In the mid-2020s, the changes are related to AI systems.  

Last month, NISO hosted two workshops to discuss how NISO can affect positive advances for the interoperability of AI systems in scholarly communications. Those meetings were extremely robust, and the conversations that resulted around prioritization were especially helpful. In the coming weeks, NISO will issue a summary report of the meetings and outline the potential work project we seek to launch. The participants are already reviewing a draft of the report, and when feedback is incorporated, we will circulate it widely within the community. The discussions revealed that there is no shortage of problems for the community to address. How we prioritize these efforts within NISO and share the larger program of work with other partner organizations in adjacent communities are key questions covered in the report.   

Certainly, NISO is not alone in considering how we can collaborate to support the responsible use of artificial intelligence and predictive systems in scholarly communications. NISO staff and community members are just back from the plenary week meetings of ISO Technical Committee on Information and Documentation (ISO TC 46). Here, too, questions about AI applications abound. New work items were discussed around AI representation of content in literature and AI authorship. Draft reports on AI applications for publishers, libraries, and archives, “Trend Review Regarding Generative AI” and “Leveraging RAG and AGI Technologies for Enhanced Information Standardization” will be circulated to members for comments and feedback. In addition, the Standards Administration of China (SAC) has proposed drafting a preliminary work item to develop an international standard tentatively entitled “Guideline on the Use of AI Generated Content (AIGC) in Academic Publishing.” 

These are not the only topics covered at the TC 46 Plenary in the Netherlands. In addition, new work was proposed to advance a Global Media Identifier for channels and media brands based on an ISO Workshop Agreement effort that was finished earlier this year. Work to internationalize the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) structure for data interchange from the DDI Alliance is also beginning. Additional work has been proposed to update the ISO standard for interlibrary loan transactions, formalize a methodology for classifying standards publications, update ISO 303000: Records management — Core concepts and vocabulary, and develop a standard that defines the requirements for blockchain and distributed ledger technology for authoritative records in records management systems. Several other projects to revise, update, or reconsider existing publications were also on the agenda. Discussions are also underway to consider a descriptive model for data papers. For more information about these initiatives and other outcomes of the ISO plenary week for TC 46, please join us on June 9 for our next Open Teleconference. 

You can also look for NISO at the upcoming ALA Conference in Philadelphia. We will host our annual NISO-BISG Changing Standards Landscape Forum, which will focus on the critical issue of accessibility this year, on Friday afternoon. As always, this event is free to attend for those participating in ALA. 

These approaches are not the only ways that new work can begin. You can suggest your own ideas and gather momentum this fall at the NISO Plus Global Online conference on September 16–17. Bring your proposals and suggestions for advancing new work within NISO during this worldwide digital forum—a public call for sessions is now open through mid-June. We welcome your contributions.

There is so much going on and so much to engage in! All these efforts will require community engagement to advance. And the urgency of the projects must also be matched by the commitment of the volunteers and the support of their organizational sponsors. As project ideas progress, we will issue regular calls to engage on those topics that are of greatest interest to your organization or institution. For those who want to get involved, please do contact the NISO office. We look forward to seeing you at meetings over the next several weeks.