Trade Book Publishing in Germany: Summary Report for 2011

In her article Veronika Licher presents some of the trends and developments in the German publishing industry in 2011. She reports how the German Publishers and Booksellers Association including book wholesalers try to add new services to adapt to the challenging changing markets??which not always turn out to be successful and give rise to many internal and external discussions. More and more non-publisher players appear on the stage. There is a trend to move to Berlin, Germany??s capital, as a base camp or location for publishing related services and in some cases publishing houses themselves.     

Use of Digitization to Modernize China’s Publishing Industry

To develop digital publishing, is an important part for China’s progress into an informed country, and the new designated direction for the development of publishing industry in China. This article introduces the macro-planning for developing digital publishing in China, the present status and problems of this industry, as well as personal viewpoints on how to develop a digital publishing industry in the near future.     

Stories and statistics from library‐led publishing

Library‐led publishing is one of the new approaches to journal publishing and open access that has grown tremendously in the last few years. A 2010 IMLS‐funded survey found that 55% of respondents – from US academic libraries of all different types and sizes – were already implementing or developing a publishing program. Library‐led publishing has garnered such momentum because, by offering low‐ or no‐cost publishing to university scholars, it addresses needs that traditional publishing has not been able to meet. This article presents a series of small case studies to illustrate different journals that have benefited from the library‐publishing model: (i) a journal that struggled to find an affordable publisher in its emerging field; (ii) a small society journal that could no longer afford to support itself in print; (iii) society publications that go beyond the traditional journal format; and (iv) a student journal with a revolving editorial board.     

Europe’s information technology: Focus on Italy’s publishing industry

Conclusion: What is the future for Digital Publishing? It is very difficult to understand the real value of all the different business models that have been introduced to the market in this very chaotic and evolving arena. The recent disillusions with the Internet and the “new economy” downturn have also made the publishing industry very cautious of investing in new business ventures. Many new projects have been suspended or postponed because they were based only on estimated or assumed online revenues. Meanwhile, very real operating expenses far exceeded original estimates or start-up budgets while sources of revenues remained elusive. On a more positive note, inside all the major publishing houses there is a stronger knowledge of the importance of creating a digital content database. Traditional publishers are learning that their intellectual property and editorial content can be used for many different products and delivered in many different media. Probably in the next months one of the big strategic issues will be the integration between the traditional print on paper products as the viable revenue model with all the other digital media in development. Finally, the questions remains how the market will accept as well as pay for content in different digital formats?     

Culture and Commerce at a Postwar Publisher

The tension between commerce and culture has long been recognized as characteristic of the publishing industry. Publishers seek to put forth quality works of cultural significance yet are constrained by the need to earn a profit. This article is a case study of how this conflict played out at a postwar New York City company, Storm Publishers. Storm was a one-person operation run by Alexander Gode-von Aesch, a German immigrant best known for his work as a linguist and translator. Gode founded the company in 1947 to publish The End Is Not Yet, a pacifist novel by the German playwright Fritz von Unruh. Storm went on to publish a diverse array of scholarly and trade books until it was dissolved in 1958. The article analyzes how Gode pursued a number of strategies—relying on personal connections, developing relationships with celebrities, purchasing advertisements, soliciting reviews, cutting costs, generating subsidiary rights income, and sheer tenacity and audacity—in order to compete with larger and more established Manhattan publishers. It argues Gode harbored a contradictory attitude toward the culture–commerce dichotomy, asserting that his aim was to distribute quality works that could not make a profit while at the same time publishing books aimed at bolstering his balance sheet and lamenting others’ lack of sales. As the first history of Storm Publishers, the article sheds light on the midcentury New York publishing industry and how a small firm sought to claim a place in the postwar intellectual economy.     

2010: The Turning Point for Chinese Book Publishing Industry

This is the only English language summary report on the major and rapid developments that have taken place in China’s book publishing industry during 2010. The key companies and individuals who have been the change agents are presented in context of the developments in traditional and digital book publishing. The transition to capital investment and shares sold in the major Chinese stock markets is described including specific examples of this completely new business practice. The further dramatic growth of the mobile phone market with related information delivery for publishers is presented with financial data for the past, present and future trends for the installed base. The new roles of the General Administration for Press and Publications (GAPP) is described in relation to the reorganization of smaller publishing companies into groups with outside capital investments. Also, the role of GAPP in relation to the new requirements of copyright for digital and electronic publishing is covered. Very interesting is the emergence of three major players in e-commerce selling both consumer products and books as a form of online department stores. Finally, the emergence of Chinese language publishing as a regional language including the mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan is a welcome new development.     

German Book Publishers’ Barriers to Disruptive Innovations: The Case of E-Book Adoption

To succeed in a period of change, German book publishers need to adopt innovations, e.g., implement e-books into their product portfolio. Yet, in the book industry, the adoption of new technologies is not commonplace: Despite being the second biggest book market worldwide, only 1.2 % of all published books in Germany are available as e-books. This problem leads us to investigate the factors that determine whether publishing companies decide in favor or against entering the e-book market. Based on a standardized survey of more than 240 German publishing houses, barriers to innovation adoption are examined from a micro, meso and macro perspective. Our main findings show that individual characteristics of management and the company’s corporate culture strongly predict adoption. Also, organizational communication seems to be critical. Taking this into account, the key resource to enable innovation seems to be information underlining the necessity of communities of practice.     

Snub Publishing: Evidence from the Anthurium Literature

Snub publishing is a new term that was coined in 2013 to describe a range of publishing cases in which the failure of quality control manifested itself through references in such a way that it would cause unintended damage to snubbed scientists whose names or identity were incorrectly represented in the literature. In this paper, real case studies are presented, mostly related to the author as a “victim” of incompetent editorial oversight, inexperienced or biased authors, or as a “victim” of direct professional conflicts of interest. In essence, this paper serves as a prototype showing in concrete terms how a scientist can or may be professionally snubbed (intentionally or unintentionally). Using the Anthurium literature, this paper aims to raise awareness about snub publishing and seeks to encourage other scientists to also quantify how they too may have been professionally snubbed in the literature.     

Value Chain Adjustments in Educational Publishing

This paper looks at at the impacts and implications of new technology for educational publishing in the context of major growth in e-Learning. Although it acknowledges the continuing influence of textbooks both on how emerging technologies will drive changes to courses and the pace at which courses evolve, the major focus is upon the impact of technological and organisational change upon the value chains for e-Learning and educational publishing. It reviews relevant developments in technology, e-Learning and educational publishing and the connections between them, using recent examples. Fundamental to the nexus between technology, e-Learning and publishing is the search for value and for new means of creating and leveraging value in a turbulent higher education marketplace. The subjective nature of value is recognised in the context of different stakeholders. The paper then links changing perceptions of value to a perceived shift within educational publishing, which entails moving from the more or less homogeneous delivery of packaged content towards the provision of truly customised learning services combining use of the latest technologies with access to high quality content. The kinds of value, old and new, provided by educational publishers are compared in a table. This shift in value is then explained in the context of value chains for e-Learning and for educational publishing. So far as educational publishing is concern there are signs of both disintermediation and reintermediation in the value chain. Amidst these changes, the position of educational publishing appears set to improve through its potential to provide a new range of integrated technology and content services.     

The audience product and the new media environment: Implications for the economics of media industries

Abstract

The issues currently facing the book publishing industry are profound and the resolution of these issues will ultimately affect how the industry is defined in the future. One of the most important issues that the industry faces is the emergence of a whole range of new media which have created important managerial tensions within the book publishing firms. These tensions include defining what a book is in light of the multi‐dimensional content available as well as the development of new modes of delivery; whether to remain focused on producing great content or become a more technologically oriented company; and the best organizational approach. While these tensions may be viewed as creating turmoil, they have been catalysts of change and are creating opportunities that will ultimately enable the industry to regenerate its businesses, reach a new generation of readers, and create an environment that is more conducive to innovation.     

德国图书学研究与教育——"图书学研究与教学"学术研讨会综述

2007年5月在德国埃朗根举行了"图书学研究与教学"学术研讨会。会议分三个部分:第一部分由设有图书学专业的德国高校代表作报告;第二部分是来自档案馆、图书馆和相关协会的代表作报告;第三部分是一个国际化的讨论,由来自瑞士、奥地利和中国的从事图书学研究和教学的代表发言。     

Experiences with bilingual publishing: surveys of authors and editors

Bilingual publishing has become a strategy employed by journals from the non‐Anglophone world to gain wider recognition. Beyond anecdotal evidence, however, there are no published accounts of the experiences of editors and authors of bilingual journals with the process of bilingual publication. It is also unclear how authors writing in bilingual journals judge the quality of the translations and whether they consider this sort of publishing as beneficial for their aims. Consequently, we carried out two surveys: one among editors of bilingual journals and one anonymous survey among authors and translators of articles published in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, the bilingual journal of the German Medical Association. Eight of nine journals as well as 233 of 353 authors and 4 of 6 translators took part. Most journals reported that bilingual publication helped in becoming indexed in important databases (e.g. Medline), receiving or improving an Impact Factor, and in attracting authors. All journals plan to continue publishing bilingually. Authors were ‘satisfied’ (40.8%) or ‘very satisfied’ (57.8%) with translations. Almost all (96.7%) were in favour of bilingual publication of their work. They did not view an English translation as an obstacle to another related English language paper. Translators highlighted challenges relating to specialized terminology and to terms specific to the regional healthcare system.     

我国学术期刊数字化出版模式的现状和对策研究——以新闻学与传播学期刊为例

数字化出版是出版行业不可阻挡的发展潮流,不同行业期刊之间数字化建设进程快慢不一。文章选择中文社会科学引文索引（CSSCI）期刊目录（2010-2011年版）中新闻学与传播学类别收录的15本期刊,就其数字化建设现状及可能的改善方法作一初步探讨,以期为提高期刊数字化建设程度提供思路。     

Green Publishing in Germany: A Passing Trend or a True Transition?

Greening the German book industry is a large-scale task. This article, based in part on the results of a one-day conference titled “Bio im Bücherregal?” (Engl. translation: “Eco-friendly products on the bookshelf?”) that was held in Mainz in January 2013, considers different perspectives on green publishing in Germany and presents the status quo as well as an outlook. After a brief historical and theoretical overview on the media and the environmental movement, the article presents current developments such as the initiative “Nachhaltig Publizieren” (“Green Publishing”). Initiated in 2011 by the publisher Oekom, the project has become a catalyst for the green publishing movement in Germany. In addition, this contribution introduces publishers and imprints, in particular of children’s books, that strive to fulfill the highest possible criteria for green publishing in certain project areas. Finally, the close connection between green publishing and green content is discussed.     

区块链驱动科技期刊数字出版创新发展研究

探讨利用区块链解决科技期刊数字出版产业链中存在的问题,实现科技期刊数字出版的创新发展。文章通过分析基于区块链构建科技期刊数字出版平台的柔性基础、刚性保障和创新服务,从政策支持、行业支持和技术支持三方面分析如何推进我国区块链支持的科技期刊数字出版的转型,并提出基于区块链的科技期刊数字出版产业链新生态体系。     

Research on the Status and Operating Model of the Original Net Literary Websites in China

With the development and progress of Internet technology, the network has increasingly become a key part of daily life and challenged some traditional customs, and reading is one of the very significant areas. And the birth of the net literature is almost obvious, and some literary phenomena related to this are not a coincidence. At the same time, the wave of commercialization in the network has been leading the operating model of original literary websites to be mature, which has a great impact on the traditional publishing. Original literary website provides a platform for the development of net literature, along with this, the authors and readers of net literature has generally expanded and there are the new trends of resource integration and industrialization. However, a series of problem still exists, including copyright protection and content quality control. For the traditional publishing industry, original net literary websites are both partners and competitors, because they have different resources, meanwhile, the combination of them is no longer new. The operating mode of original net literary websites can also provide experience to the traditional publishing industry about how to develop digital publishing. This article will focus on the status and operating model of original literary websites, and make a comprehensive analysis.     

数字时代科技期刊编辑意识的强化与转变

在分析我国科技期刊数字出版现状和发展趋势的基础上,指出数字时代科技期刊编辑角色定位的重要性,探讨科技期刊编辑应如何实现出版意识的强化与转变,以适应乃至促进科技期刊的数字化出版。     

国际学术出版开放式访问(OA):Ⅱ.开放访问期刊"作者付费模式"的实践与争论

综述当前国际学术出版界开放访问(OA)运动实践和理论研究的热点问题之一--OA期刊的"作者付费模式".讨论该经营模式的收费来源和方式,经营成本估算和现行的价格标准.对比了OA期刊与传统期刊的经营模式的区别和利弊,分析了OA期刊的可持续发展存在的问题.     

媒介融合背景下出版业内容编辑体系的变化

技术发展推动媒介融合快速发展,不断发展形成“大媒体产业”：传媒业内部界线模糊,外部边界不断扩大,呈现融合式发展,深刻地改变了人们获取信息和阅读的方式,对出版业未来发展产生重要影响。本文以媒介融合理论为基础,研究媒介融合对出版产业的一般影响,进而研究对出版业的生产核心——内容编辑体系带来的影响和变化。     

数据密集、语义、可视化与互动出版:全球科技出版发展趋势研究

探讨全球科技出版领域呈现的数据密集型出版、语义出版、可视化出版与互动出版等趋势.指出数据密集型出版从宏观层面构建海量数据的框架蓝图,为科学范式的转变提供基础环境;语义出版通过对各种文献进行标引关联,从微观层面铺设结构化数据的基础设施,解决数据和信息的机器理解问题;可视化出版作为重要的直观表达工具,从文献组成部分、文献架构、文献网络三个层面最大限度地提升科研人员获取信息的效率和效果;互动出版目前以学术维基出版物和全新的同行评议为主要特色,既是“无形学院”在网络 环境下的延伸,也渗透于正式科学交流中,从读者和用户层面打破科学信息开放、共享、交流的主要障碍.