We calculate timelike virtual Compton scattering amplitudes in the generalized Bjorken scaling regime and focus on a new polarization asymmetry in the scattering process with a linearly polarized photon beam in the medium energy range, which will be
studied intensely at JLab12 experiments. We demonstrate that new observables help us to access the polarized quark and gluon generalized parton distributions $tilde H(x, xi, t)$ and $ tilde E(x, xi, t)$.
We review recent progress in the study of timelike Compton scattering (TCS), the crossed process of deeply virtual Compton scattering. We emphasize the need to include NLO corrections to any phenomenological program to extract Generalized Parton Dist
ributions (GPDs) from near future experimental data. We point out that TCS at high energy should be available through a study of ultraperipheral collisions at RHIC and LHC, opening a window on quark and gluon GPDs at very small skewness.
