The Role of the University Press in Today’s

8/14/2019 The Role of the University Press in Todays

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The Prisoners Dilemma

Prisoner B StaysMum(Cooperate)

Prisoner BSqueals(Defect)

Prisoner A StaysMum(Cooperate)

6 months each Prisoner A: 10yearsPrisoner B: Scot-free

Prisoner A Squeals(Defect)

Prisoner A: Scot-freePrisoner B: 10years

3 years each

Optimal results depend on number of games andstrategies adopted. In 1984, political scientistDavid Axelrod computer-tested several strategiesfor an indefinite number of games and found thata tit-for-tat strategy optimized results, oftenresulting in prisoners ultimately deciding to stay

silent together.


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The University Press Dilemma

University PressB Publishes

(Cooperate)

University PressB Evaporates

(Defect)University Press APublishes(Cooperate)

Both University A& B have less cashon hand but canpublish facultywork

University B moreprofitableUniversity Press ApublishesUniversity B

faculty, but at lossUniversity Press AEvaporates(Defect)

University A moreprofitableUniversity Press BpublishesUniversity A

faculty, but at loss

University A & Bhave more cash onhand but neitherhas a press topublish faculty

work


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In the Iterated Prisoners Dilemma,the rational solution over time suggestscooperation

University Press B Publishes(Cooperate)

University Press B Evaporates(Defect)

UniversityPress APublishes(Cooperate)

University A & B cash

Publishing opportunities

University B cash

University B publishingopportunities

University A cash

University A publishingopportunities

UniversityPress AEvaporates(Defect)

University A cash

University A publishingopportunities

University B cash

University B publishing

University A & B cash

Publishing opportunities


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University Presses (UPs) are seenas businesses not services

UPs have weak internalconstituencies

Students Interns

Faculty Advisory/Editorial Boards

Alumni None

UPs appear as subventions ofother faculty


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Each UP eliminated from picturepotentially reduces number of not-for-profit publishing venues

Each UP eliminated leaves privatepublishers the field with theirtroubling dynamic

UPs can offer indirect benefits

Student training and work/studyopportunities

Faculty gain editorial/advisory board


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Publishing decision shaped by profitobligations

Total Revenue (top line)

Operating Income (bottom line)All units must deliver on revenue &OI goals

Corporation Division Imprint

Book/JournalPrivate publishers adopt strategiesto serve top-line and bottom-lineobjectives

Twigging: creation of new subspecialty


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More titles, fewer publishersDecline of the specialized scholarly monograph

Increased cost of scholarly journalsSimilar production costs, fewer potential

subscribers or buyersMarket flooding: more journals, series, andbooks

Buyer spreading: fewer buyers per journal/bookRecent PositiveTrends Reductionin production costs(PPB & shipping)from digitalplatforms

Recent Negative TrendsReducedsubscribers/buyers

o Working paper siteso Institutional

repositoriesIncreased submission


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MimicryMimicryTwigging more journalsBundling/Aggregating content: Project Muse,JSTOR,Caliber

Textbooks:Yale UP (World Language Textbooks),Cambridge UPReference: Oxford UP, Harvard UP, Princeton UPSeries: Columbia UP, Cornell UP

Working Papers: CIAO

Open AccessOpen AccessGrant funded: PhilPapers,The Modernism Lab,MITOpenCourseWareVolunteer: RePEc
http://muse.jhu.edu/http://www.jstor.org/?cookieSet=1http://caliber.ucpress.net/?cookieSet=1http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/language_home.asphttp://www.cambridge.org/us/textbooks/http://www.oup.com/us/corporate/publishingprograms/reference/?view=usahttp://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/REF.htmlhttp://press.princeton.edu/blog/2009/02/03/encyclopedia-now-diane-coyle-and-pup-director-peter-dougherty-on-the-economics-of-reference-books/http://cup.columbia.edu/main/BrowseBySeries.htmlhttp://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_series.htmlhttp://www.ciaonet.org/http://philpapers.org/http://modernism.research.yale.edu/http://www.ciaonet.org/http://repec.org/http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/authors/bmcserieshttp://repec.org/http://www.ciaonet.org/http://modernism.research.yale.edu/http://philpapers.org/http://www.ciaonet.org/http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_series.htmlhttp://cup.columbia.edu/main/BrowseBySeries.htmlhttp://press.princeton.edu/blog/2009/02/03/encyclopedia-now-diane-coyle-and-pup-director-peter-dougherty-on-the-economics-of-reference-books/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/REF.htmlhttp://www.oup.com/us/corporate/publishingprograms/reference/?view=usahttp://www.cambridge.org/us/textbooks/http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/language_home.asphttp://caliber.ucpress.net/?cookieSet=1http://www.jstor.org/?cookieSet=1http://muse.jhu.edu/


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Yet if the only form of tradition, of handingdown, consisted in following the ways of theimmediate generation before us in a blind or

timid adherence to its successes, "tradition"should positively be discouraged.--T.S. Eliot, Tradition and the Individual Talent, 1922

This process of Creative Destruction is the

essential fact about capitalism. It is whatcapitalism consists in and what everycapitalist concern has got to live in. . . .

--Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, andDemocracy, 1975


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CreativeDestruction

Crisis inScholarlyCommunicatio

ns

ComplainerForma

tComplaint Perpetrator

Scholar ArticleBacklog; insufficient peer

reviewJournal editor

Scholar/JournalEditor

Article Oversubmission University

LibraryJournal

s

Price inflation; Consolidation;

Overproduction

Publisher/

Faculty

LibraryJournal

sIncreased APC for OA journals Publisher

PublisherJournal

sDevaluation of digital-only

publicationsUniversity


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CreativeDestruction

Crisis inScholarlyCommunications

Complainer Format Complaint Perpetrator

ScholarMonograp

hDilution and

generalization Publisher

PublisherMonograp

hNot enough buyers

Library/STMPublishers

Library Reference Market flooding Publisher

Student Textbook Costs too high; over-revision

Publisher

Publisher Textbook Used book attritionStudents/Bookst

ore

Publisher Databases Price containment Consortia


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Scholarlycommunication isexperiencing anevolutionarydynamic inpublisher finances,workloadmanagement,

government fundinglimits andexpectations, etc.

None of these

changes are new

Its publish or perish, and he hasntpublished.

--New Yorker, 1966


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Academic libraries make accessiblethose records that havecontributed in the past and are contributing in the present to theadvancement of knowledge. They are not institutions whose purpose isto preserve the output of printing presses.

--Margit Kraft, Library Quarterly, July 1967

Like so many papers given and half listened to at the annualconvention, PMLAs contents, with rare exceptions, have become meresigns of a certain kind of competency, opening the way to a job, a raise,a promotion, tenure. To publish in PMLA is to gain prestige, a hugepotential audience, and a tiny actual one.

--Richard Chadbourne, Rocky Mountain MLA, Dec. 1967

Why the push for publication?... For many, however, a more immediateobjective is to establish creditoften in the form of a long list ofpublications. A thick vita helps in the continual struggle to securegovernment grants and win academic promotion.

--William Broad, BioScience, Sept. 1982


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University presses and scholarly communicationhave always featured a changing dynamic thatremains centered on the distribution of scholarlywork.

Publishing, digital or otherwise, is an evolutionary

phenomenon and therefore not only changing, butlayered.
http://aaupnet.org/resources/upusa.htmlhttp://aaupnet.org/resources/upusa.html


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Digital revolution hasaltered how scholarlyinformation is gathered,reviewed, anddisseminated.

Digital informationdistribution is still builton cognitive modelsthrough which weprocess information,such as classification

and embedding.In a digital environment,the UPs role in scholarlycommunication shiftsfrom availability

(publication) tovisibility, a.k.a.,


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Listservs

Software-enabledpresentations

E-books

E-journals

E-review sites

Electronic

reserves

It is also

Working paper/

Prepress sitesWikis

Blogs

Webinars

Coursemanagementsoftware


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Talk E-vites

Search engine

optimizationReader reviews

Related title pointers

Press wikis

CHANGE HAS ALSO COME TO THE COMMUNICATION OF SCHOLARLY

COMMUNICATION

Digital catalogs

E-newsletters

Publisher blogsE-mail alerts & blasts

Vlogs & podcasts

Site links (e.g., author

sites)


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NOTE TYPES OF

INFORMATION ON

LEFT
http://press.princeton.edu/


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BLOGS


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VLOGS/YOUTUBE


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SOCIAL NETWORKS/FACEBOOK


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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS/PODCASTS


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AUTHOR SITES/SOCIAL BOOKMARKS/TAG CLOUDS


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WIKIS


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UNIVERSITY PRESSES & SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONWhat the role of a

university press is inscholarlycommunication

EvaluationSolicitation, peer review,editorial development &refinement

Publication

Mark-up, composition,design, deployment intoprint and digitalenvironments

Dissemination

Publicity marketing sales

What the role of auniversity press is notinscholarlycommunication

Inventor of new technologies

Simulation lab

Prediction market

Data collection operationResearch center

Library

Documents

The Role of the University Press in Today’s