An index to publisher quality revisited: a partial replication

A replication of the Calhoun/Bracken 1983 study of publishers listed in Choice's annual Outstanding Academic Books was conducted. Data were gathered for the years 1988–1992 and compared with the results of the Calhoun/Bracken analysis. The results show that several of the commercial and university publishers that had been prominent in 1983 had been replaced by new presses. During the decade between studies, university publishers have showed marked growth as a percentage of the top 60 presses identified in the two studies. Collection development librarians need to be aware of the fluctuations in publisher output and reputations over time in the Outstanding Academic Book lists.     

University press publishing and the ecology of disciplinary fluidity: General observations

Academic book and journal publishing constitutes the majority focus of university presses. Besides commercial scholarly publishers, academic scholars and researchers view the opportunities provided by university presses as important venues for the dissemination of their research. This discussion focuses on the disciplinary imperative to publish scholarship that is ever more fluid and specialized as academic disciplines continue to become further nuanced in their response to the increasing knowledge produced by humanities and social science inquiry. The focus is on university presses and not commercial scholarly presses, although constitute a significant locus of scholarly publishing. What are the general characteristics of academic specialization and university press publishing? Further, how is disciplinary fluidity, especially evolving specialization, reflected in university press book publishing nomenclature and how scholarship is tied to the intellectual preoccupations of academic specialization? Multi- and inter-disciplinarities further articulate disciplinary publishing, accelerating disciplinary fluidity. Examples from disciplinary and emerging configurations of disciplinary nomenclature utilized by university presses offers insight into specialization and publishing. Academic history publishing is used to illustrate newly emerging fluid disciplinary configurations.     

University presses and the trade book market: Managing in turbulent times

In this article the author addresses the abandonment of the mid-list trade book market by commercial publishing houses and the development of that market niche by entrepreneurially oriented but beleagured university press directors in the 1970s. How many presses are issuing trade books? Hard statistical data is difficult to obtain. Yet a review of university press catalogues reveals a surge of interest in this book area. However, this niche does not belong exclusively to university presses. Intense competition is now surfacing from new, small but aggressive publishing houses interested in this market. This means that university press directors will be compelled to develop and utilize sophisticated marketing strategies if they plan to remain active and successful in this potentially lucrative but hotly contested market.     

Alternative press promotion and distribution: A telephone survey of literary publishers

Conclusion One of the most obvious conclusions the survey results point to is that the presses questioned are more similar than different. Differences are mainly in degrees of sophistication, no technique. The larger presses are able to orchestrate the various elements of promotion and distribution more completely than the smaller ones, which do not have the resources to do everything, and tend to focus on a limited number of areas. One press may not do much advertising, preferring to concentrate on direct mailings; another may put a lot of energy into promotion to libraries, and not into selling foreign rights. Not surprisingly, cash flow and distribution were named the biggest problems facing the presses surveyed; another major obstacle was lack of time. One might think that sufficient sums of money could solve all these problems, but even the commercial presses with their comparatively vast resources haven’t been able to come up with a way to sell literature. The most noteworthy point about this survey is the willingness of the presses to participate and to talk about promotion, marketing and distribution. This shows they are practical as well as idealistic. Though they are editorially driven, presses that want to continue to publish the books they love knew they have to master thebusiness of publishing to survive. Lisa Domitrovich, formerly of Calyx Books, undertook this survey while an Arts Administration Fellow, Literature Program, National Endowment for the Arts.     

Toward a history of social science publishing in the United States

Tracing social science publishing back to the eighteenth century, this article discusses the role of the federal government, commercial presses, nonprofit foundations, racial and ethnic publishing groups, professional societies and university presses. The contributions of individual social scientists and publishers are noted, as are recent trends in the field.     

Opportunities for Libraries with Print-on-Demand Publishing

ABSTRACT

Academic libraries, university presses, and commercial ventures are embracing print-on-demand publishing to improve services as well as reduce costs. The concept dates to the early 1990s, but problems with the technology coupled with a lack of interest by libraries and book vendors hindered its popularity. Today, print-on-demand remains ideal for institutional repositories and digital collections, as well as for collection development. It is especially popular for users with print preferences. Many publishers and librarians believe print-on-demand holds more promise for libraries than electronic books.     

Collection Development Patterns of Fiction Titles in Public Libraries: The Place of Independent and Small Presses

Recent scholarship has identified increased corporate control of the news and book publishing industries as a worrisome trend insofar as it has meant a decrease in the sites where diverse public expression is allowed to occur. Public libraries are major buyers of fiction titles, yet mainstream commercial publishers owned by large conglomerates now publish a large portion of all available fiction despite the proliferation of small, independent presses. This article looks at the fiction purchases of public libraries in the United States which are members of OCLC by type of publisher in the period 1994–1997, and then compares these purchases with those of Barnes & Noble bookstores. While Barnes & Noble seems to have significantly increased its purchases from small, independent presses during this four-year period, public libraries have not done so. Yet, in general, public library fiction purchases do reflect both the availability of independent titles and their rate of appearance in popular collection development review tools.     

大学出版社发展问题研究

大学出版社经过30多年的发展,已走到一个新的历史关口,本文系统阐述大学出版社的发展问题。在揭示当前市场环境新特征的基础上,研究大学出版社的产品构成和取向、制度安排与创新、现阶段营销策略重点,以及发展路径选择等问题,并对大学出版社发展的困惑给予现实的解读与思考。     

Rethinking the library's role in publishing

Print has been the most significant scholarly communication technology for over three hundred years. In the last decades of the twentieth century, technological developments have revolutionized our attitutes towards communication as well as our ability to communicate ideas and research results electronically, to a global audience. As a result university libraries have begun to redefine their traditional role as guardians and gatekeepers of our repositories of knowledge, and have entered an arena that was previously the domain of commercial and university presses. This paper surveys five library projects (Highwire Press, Internet Library of Early Journals, Project EDUCATE, Project Muse and the Scholarly Communications Project) which demonstrate different organizational models, funding sources and types of content.     

Journals Pricing

A significant new study has been conducted at Cornell University. The Mann Library surveyed several hundred titles in Agriculture and Biology, in order to analyse their prices (per page and per thousand characters) over time, comparing university presses, commercial publishers, society publishers and government agencies. They aimed to develop a methodology, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, which could be used elsewhere, and to use their findings to examine the patterns of article ownership and pricing of published scientific research.     

Humanities and Social Science Dissertations Published by University Presses: 2010–2014, Exploratory Observations

This study of humanities and social science dissertations published by university presses considers revised dissertations [RD’s] and their salient characteristics. Often dissertations in the humanities and social sciences become the sine qua non for advancement in academia; therefore, it is instructive to ascertain the ecology of dissertations published by university presses. Only revised dissertations [RD’s], and English language presses were surveyed from proprietary data provided by a North American book distributor [Yankee Book Peddler, Inc.] and were triaged for bibliographic aspects as well as for intellectual coverage. Disciplinary alignment, subject specializations, geographical distribution, as well degree of interdisciplinarity, and series publication highlight findings. Library of Congress Classification further articulated disciplinary orientation. Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, but presses are specialized by subject emphases. A significant number of RD’s are interdisciplinary, Eurocentric in subject and geographical coverage, historically oriented across LC Classes, and appear as titles in monographic series.     

An Initial Report on the Publishing Activities of the Italian Minority Communities in Croatia and the Istrian and Dalmatian Diasporic Communities in Italy

The report focuses on the publishing activities of the Italian minority communities in Croatia and the Istrian and Dalmatian diasporic communities in Italy. These publications take a variety of forms and include monographs, belle-lettres, reference works, Italian-language textbooks, contemporary literature, and academic journals. Some are published by local organizations, others by university and commercial presses, while others are privately funded. The report is a preliminary effort to document scholarly resources that are important to both Slavic and Italian studies.     

中小出版社的战略选择

中小出版社当下面临着诸多相同的困境,本文从战略入手,试图为中小出版社摆脱困境寻找一条可行之路。中小出版社的战略构架主要包括产品战略、渠道战略、品牌战略、人才战略、激励战略五个方面。这五个方面环环相扣,是出版社展开战略思考并做大做强时必须考虑和面对的。     

University presses and the impact of COVID‐19

University presses occupy a distinctive field of publishing, heavily tied to the fortunes of the universities and colleges in which they are usually situated. COVID‐19 has catalysed their adoption of digital technologies; focused their commitments to social justice; and given new impetus to business models and formats that fully leverage the Internet, especially open access. Economic pressures on higher education that seem set only to increase are also driving university presses to more interdependent approaches and an emphasis on the contributions of the university press network to knowledge infrastructure for the humanities and social sciences. This article explores how university presses have reacted to the COVID‐19 pandemic, with particular reference to the experiences of the University of Michigan Press. It concludes that the diversity of types of university presses is one of the greatest strengths of this field of publishing and makes it resilient in a time of unprecedented change.     

科技期刊开拓数字出版市场的基本策略与原则

在新的形势下,科技期刊开拓数字出版市场势在必行。在这个过程中,期刊社应该有明确的角色定位,以维护期刊的数字版权为底线,通过参与构建公正、合理的市场分配机制以最大限度地维护自身的权益。对内要注意加强与同类期刊的合作,对外要理性应对数字出版商之间的竞争,并始终坚持以内容作为自身的核心竞争力。     

Specialization by university presses

Just as scholars now specialize, so do university presses. This article explains why university presses designate publishing lists, discusses how they determine their list-building areas, and analyzes the listbuilding designations of eighty leading American university presses. Listbuilding at university presses is heavily weighted toward the humanities and social sciences, with less emphasis on the natural sciences. Paul Parsons is R.M. Seaton Professor in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University and author ofGetting Published: The Acquisition Process at University Press (University of Tennessee Press, 1989).     

UnCover on the Web: search hints and applications in library environments

Among the huge maze of resources available on the Internet, UnCoverWeb stands out as a valuable tool for medical libraries. This up-to-date, free-access, multidisciplinary database of periodical references is searched through an easy-to-learn graphical user interface that is a welcome improvement over the telnet version. This article reviews the basic and advanced search techniques for UnCoverWeb, as well as providing information on the document delivery functions and table of contents alerting service called Reveal. UnCover's currency is evaluated and compared with other current awareness resources. System deficiencies are discussed, with the conclusion that although UnCoverWeb lacks the sophisticated features of many commercial database search services, it is nonetheless a useful addition to the repertoire of information sources available in a library.