Introduction For decades, the global publishing industry has operated on an unspoken assumption. Power lives in a few familiar cities. New York decides the commercial conversation. London shapes the trade lists. Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris quietly steer segments of scholarly output. If you wanted to understand publishing, you studied those hubs and called it a … Read more
Introduction For decades, academic publishing followed a relatively stable script. Scholars produced research. Commercial publishers packaged and distributed it. Libraries paid the bill. Everyone complained, but the system endured. That stability is now cracking. Universities, research institutes, funders, and even library consortia are increasingly stepping into roles that once belonged almost exclusively to traditional publishers. … Read more
Introduction The idea that universities might become their own publishers sounds radical at first glance. After all, academic publishing has long been dominated by large commercial houses with global brands, subscription bundles, and profit margins that would make most university administrators blink twice. Yet beneath the surface, something has been shifting. Universities are rethinking their … Read more
Introduction Academic publishing loves to imagine itself as timeless. Peer review feels ancient. Journals feel permanent. University presses feel like institutions carved into stone. Yet if we rewind just twenty years, the landscape looked dramatically different. In 2005, open access was still considered radical. Preprints were niche outside physics. Artificial intelligence in editorial workflows was … Read more
Introduction For decades, scholarly publishing revolved around a comforting assumption. Content was the asset. Academic journals were the gatekeepers. Libraries paid for access. Prestige flowed through impact factors and brand recognition. The publisher that controlled the journal controlled the market. That logic made sense in a world defined by scarcity. Print runs were finite. Digital … Read more