As I work towards publishing my PhD, it’s interesting to see what the publishing market is doing. I have already been told that if I can deal with the ‘image issue’ I am likely to have a fight on my hands from the publishers – as my PhD is not an obscure topic – but one that many have an interest in (judging by the 1000s that visit this blog) …so it’s just finding time to do it!
Open-access publishing models will end once and for all the outdated and expensive production of little-read monographs that “exist for the purposes of existing”.
The prediction was made in a debate titled Open Access: The New Future of Academic Publishing? at the British Academy, where William St Clair, senior research fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, said that the print-only monograph was now little more than “a union card to apply for jobs in academia – if there are any”.
Mr St Clair, who is also co-founder and chairman of Open Book Publishers, said the typical university press monograph “is printed in an edition of 500 copies, much the same number as in the 18th century. They are priced at about £60 to £100.
Digiexplorer (not guru), Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing @ Manchester Metropolitan University. Interested in digital literacy and digital culture in the third sector (especially faith). Author of 'Raising Children in a Digital Age', regularly checks hashtag #DigitalParenting.
