University press
A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. They are often an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by scholars in the field.[2] They produce mainly academic works but also often have trade books for a lay audience. These trade books also get peer reviewed.[2] Many but not all university presses are nonprofit organizations, including the 160 members of the Association of University Presses.[3]
Because scholarly books are mostly unprofitable, university presses may also publish textbooks and reference works, which tend to have larger audiences and sell more copies. Most university presses operate at a loss and are subsidized by their owners; others are required to break even.[4] Demand has fallen as library budgets are cut and the online sales of used books undercut the new book market. Many presses are experimenting with electronic publishing.[5]
Recent developments[edit]
Financial pressures[edit]
Financially, university presses have come under growing pressure. Only a few presses, such as Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have endowments; the others depend upon sales, fundraising, and subventions (subsidies) from their sponsoring institutions. Subsidies vary but typically range from $150,000 to $500,000.[23] Because the subsidies are often not indexed to inflation, university press operating budgets can face a functional squeeze as inflation chips away at the value of the subsidy. Operating models vary, but host universities generally cover fixed costs like labor and fixed assets, while looking to the press to cover variable costs from the sale of books and other revenue. Sales of academic books have been declining, however, especially as University libraries cut back their purchases. At Princeton University Press in the 1960s, a typical hardcover monograph would sell 1,660 copies in the five years after publication. By 1984, that average had declined to 1,003 and in after 2000 typical sales of monographs for all presses are below 500.[24] University libraries are under heavy pressure to purchase very expensive subscriptions to commercial science journals, even as their overall budgets are static. By 1997 scientific journals were thirty times more expensive than they were in 1970.[25]
In May 2012, the University of Missouri System announced that it would close the University of Missouri Press so that it might focus more efficiently on “strategic priorities.” Friends of the press from around the country rallied to its support, arguing that by publishing over 2,000 scholarly books the press made a major contribution to scholarship. A few months later the university reversed its decision.[26]
In 2014, Peter Berkery, the executive director of the Association of University Presses stated:
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