The medical journal Neurosurgery, published by international professional health publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, has integrated Layar into the pages of its journal to enhance the reading experience.

The official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (which publishes over 3,000 pages of content each year), felt it wise to keep up with its reputation as the “most complete window on the contemporary field of neurosurgery” by implementing augmented reality into its pages. After all, the field of neurosurgery already makes us of AR technology in the operating room.

We spoke with managing editor Duncan MacRae about the experience of adding interactive print to Neurosurgery.

“We had a vision of how we wanted to link our print product with supplemental digital content, and we knew that QR codes would be a stepping stone, rather than a permanent solution,” says MacRae. “Since our usage would be based on visual recognition, rather than GPS, the release of Layar Creator was really the breakthrough we were waiting for.”

“Layar Creator has been extremely easy to use, and most importantly, the metrics provided are excellent,” he adds. “Our investment of time in creating new pages is embarrassingly small, considering that we utilize web links, videos, emails, and social media actions on almost all of our augmented images.”

So far, a handful of ads for Neurosurgery content have been activated using Layar. MacRae says going forward, they will incorporate more interactive print into commercial ads and editorial content.

“We have spent the last three months showcasing the technology to our regular stable of print advertisers,” says MacRae. “Any added value that we can provide to an advertiser gives us an advantage over our competitor publications.”

“As the journal becomes a more interactive product, the opportunities to link our print content with our online educational activities helps us better fulfill the educational mission of the journal.”