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Presents survival strategies for academic writing. Problems being faced by college-textbook publishers in the U.S. and Great Britain; Reasons behind the decline of monograph sales; Changes in structures and dynamics of college-textbook publishing; Need for university presses to look for other sources of revenue to support themselves.

Presents the text of a speech given by Cathy N. Davidson, professor of English at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, at the 2003 annual meeting of the American Council of Learned Societies. Economic crisis in scholarly publishing; Relationship of academic publishing with students, scholars, teachers, editors and administrators; Ways to distribute the economic burden of scholarly publishing.

The article discusses the role of books in academics. Scholarly publishing by university presses and professional publishers is seen as superior to other forms of communication due to their effectiveness in organizing and presenting intellectual arguments. The author considers why books need to be preserved as an academic tool despite the knowledge that new technology forms are destined to push them towards obsolescence. University presses specialize in the publishing of books that are centered around "hard" ideas such as various sciences and theories, making them more important to academic publishing than commercial publishers.

Reports on the proliferation of academic book series. Reasons that series are beneficial for editors, authors and presses; Comments from insiders such as Peter Agree, former editor of Cornell University Press; Factors that have led many to believe that series are becoming less important; Other information on book series. INSET: How Series Have Proliferated in One Hot Field, by Nina Willdorf.

The article reports on the growth of the university publishing business in the U.S., which is the focus of the annual meeting of the Association of American University Presses in June 1990 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group has emerged as a bigger and more diverse operation. The results of a survey of the members of the university-press association on the number of titles they were publishing in various subject areas are presented.

The article provides information on several books that will be published by university publications in the U.S. The University of Oklahoma Press is set to publish the book "Knights of the Green Cloth," by Robert K. DeArment. The book "One South: An Ethnic Approach to Regional Culture," by John Shelton Reed will be published by the Louisiana State University Press. The University of Pennsylvania press is beginning a new series of books in ethnohistory.

Does scholarly publishing have a sustainable future? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When university presses close, so do our minds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the need for better literary style in academic writing. She mentions the changes in publishing, particularly academic publishing, how college teachers and others involved in academic publishing should focus on teaching better writing, and the impact it will have on academic communication.

The author reflects on the state of U.S. university presses, stating that scholars are rarely held to quality standards by publications that are less interested in increasing audience size due to subsidized funding from the universities. She argues that this model has abandoned the goal of of advancing scholarship and limited the distribution of useful information. In addition, she suggests that university presses seek out contributors interested in accountability to both the university and public.

The article discusses the process of book acquisitions at university presses, noting how selective acquisitions editors have to be in selecting academic books to publish. Advice for successful scholarly book proposals is offered, including assessing potential audiences, the possibility of a book being assigned in university courses, and recommendations of conferences where a book can be sold. Also addressed are the necessity of book endorsements, ideas for marketing books in periodicals, and the need for a good summary description of the book.

The article discusses the closure of the University of Missouri press due to financial concerns about the press' viability. It comments on the press' fiscal situation over the years and its reliance on a subsidy from the University of Missouri. The author notes the popular protest of the press' closure relating to the dismissal of 10 press employees and their replacement with student interns, as well as speculation about the future quality and prestige of the press. Other topics addressed include the shift in publishing toward digital content, system president Timothy M. Wolfe, and reductions in the press' deficit.

The article presents comments from several academic librarians and university press administrators in the U.S. regarding the topic of graduate students publishing their work in scholarly journals prior to attempting to have their academic dissertations published as books. The article focuses on ways in which electronic access to scholarly research through online journals at university libraries may play a role in the library's decision to acquire, or not acquire, one's published research due to concerns over the cost of purchasing books. Comments from Rutgers University Press editor in chief Leslie Mitchner, University of Oregon social-sciences librarian Miriam Rigby, and Columbia University Press editorial director Jennifer Crewe are presented.

The article discusses strategies that university presses are adopting to survive a global economic recession in 2009. University presses are being harmed by low sales, a high number of books returned, and the threat of state and university budget cuts. The author details the experiences of several different university presses, explaining that some are having much more trouble in the economy than others. Presses examined include Utah State University Press, University Press of Kansas, and University of Iowa Press.

The article discusses a conference of the Association of American University Presses held in Montreal, Quebec in June 2008. The association's president, Alex Holzman, discussed how technology, open-access publishing and economic problems have affected scholarly publishing. Sociology professor Andrew Abbott commented on the overabundance of scholarly publishing. A panel discussing electronic books was also presented.

The article reports on reactions to a report from the Modern Language Association's Task Force on Evaluating Scholarship for Tenure and Promotion. University presses have been concerned that they are being asked to act as judges of tenure worthy work. Press editors say they are attempting to strike a balance between new norms in academic publishing, shrinking subsidies and marketplace pressures. The report also recommends that the way presses are funded and the way they in turn provide funding needs to be reevaluated.

The article suggests that college teachers should publish their own dissertations to get more job interviews. The dissertation of a professor should be under contract with a university press in order to get more job interviews. Everyone, should plan on producing a book every three or four years. With tens of thousands of professors in the system, that's a lot of books being written, far more than anyone can read, even in relatively small subfields. That transvaluation of values will not be easy to achieve, for there is a strong sense among younger faculty members that stepping outside the academic village is disreputable and dangerous. Senior professors and administrators, who published under less-constrained circumstances, are not likely to be sympathetic to the predicament of job candidates, particularly when there are so many of them around.

Provides information on the services that university presses and scientists to offer each other. Issues on commercially produced science publications on library budgets highlighted at the 2003 annual meeting of the American Association of University Presses; Problems being encountered by academic publishers; Qualifications of university presses to produce books that scientists would like.

Discusses the Oxford University Press's decision to discontinue the publication of contemporary poetry and some intellectually important imprints and series. Comments by Sir. Keith Thomas in The Times Literary Supplement (T.L.S.); Efforts to replace scholarly monographs with commercially attractive books; Financial conditions of university presses; Questions about the relationship between a university press and its host university; Problems at American university presses.

The article reports on the meeting between scholarly publishers from the U.S. and Soviet Union for increased cooperation in academic publishing. Nikolai S. Timofeyev, director of the Moscow University Press and chairman of the Soviet University Presses Council, led the Soviet delegation. Representatives of the university-press groups signed an agreement outlining future cooperative projects that might initiate a significant leap forward in the numbers and kinds of publishing agreements between the two countries.

The author reflects on a paper by Charles Newman on issues surrounding university presses that failed to provide an alternative press or distribution system. He argues that Newman's assessment on university presses could easily have come from a press director urging colleagues to do what they do best. He believes that Newman has identified some of the important problems and has raised an important question on whether university presses should continue as they are.

The article focuses on the potential benefits of specialization in a publishing program to university presses in the U.S. discussed during the annual meeting of the Association of American University Presses. According to John G. Goellner of the Johns Hopkins University Press, the most crucial functions of a press are the selection of manuscripts and the dissemination of published books. Specialization in a publishing program can attract outstanding scholars to the press. Some press representatives are concerned that overspecialization could affect the publication of scholarly work.

The article comments on the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Howard University Press in the U.S. in 1982. It includes background information on the history and foundation of the university press, as well as the range of scholarly books it has published in its 10 years of existence. The university press' growth targets and strategies are also cited.

The article features Gallaudet College Press, the college press of Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C., which is under the management of its press director Elaine Costello. The press is known for its publication of books, brochures and audiovisual materials for the deaf and hearing-impaired. It also publishes the journal "Directions" for deafness researchers. The press' plans to go into scholarly publishing are described.

Focuses on the decision of publishers in the U.S. to abandon the production of managed textbooks which are written in house without the direction of an academic author. Impact of managed textbooks on college presses; Disadvantage of producing managed textbooks according to Ted Ricks, editor in chief of the college division at Harper & Row; Preference of Ricks for joint authorship with a professional writer.

The article presents information on the book "The Culture and Commerce of Publishing," by Lewis A. Coser, Charles Kadushin, and Walter W. Powell. The book focused on the three segments of the industry which is the trade publishers, scholarly and university presses, and college-textbook publishers. The authors of the book conclude the gatekeeping role played by the academic system of invisible colleges in scholarly publishing.

Focuses on the popularity of scholarly studies about children's literature to university presses and commercial publishers in the U.S. Year in which Francelia M. Butler, a professor of English at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, published the first edition of the scholarly journal "Children's Literature"; Reasons behind the launch of the "Dictionary of American Biography"; Total cost of children's books that were sold in 1979.

Focuses on the importance of cooperation in the production, promotion, sale and storage of books and journals according to representatives of university presses and other publishing houses in the U.S. Financial advantages of collaborative ventures among publishers of scholarly books cited in the 1979 report of the National Enquiry into Scholarly Communication; Cooperative arrangements that the Johns Hopkins University Press had entered into with other university presses outlined by press director John G. Goellner; Editorial advantages of cooperative efforts between book and journal departments according to Alain L. Henon, editor at the University of California Press.

The author presents his thoughts on a growing trend among scholarly presses and publishers in which shorter formats of literature are being released. He notes that in response to universities revising their policies towards professors publishing work, many presses have released segments of books as short e-books (electronic books) as well as acquiring and marketing original work. Particular attention is given to how senior faculty members can ensure such midlength publications reach audiences.

The article discusses a 2013 policy statement released by the American Historical Association (AHA) to encourage a delay of electronic publication of doctoral history students' (PhDs) dissertations due to concerns about students' ability to publish their work with university presses. Topics include open access publishing among academic publishers, the role academic libraries play in disseminating historical research, and comments by communications professor Mike Furlough.

The article discusses the Library Publishing Coalition, an coalition of academic libraries in the U.S. that offer publishing services, and explores the emergence of academic library-based publishing. It explores how library publishing differs from the traditional functions of a university press, notes the impact of open access publishing in the scholarly publishing industry, and highlights library-based publishing at the University of Michigan, Pennsylvania State University, and Amherst College.

The article discusses the problems, mostly financial, facing academic presses in the U.S. It is noted that the University of Scranton and Rice University will both discontinue their publishing operations and it is noted that the managing editor of the "Virginia Quarterly Review" (VQR) journal killed himself, allegedly as a result of bullying in the workplace. The human aspect of academic publishing and the need for a strong team to keep the press functioning is discussed. The reasons why the press at Rice, which was a digital publishing operation, is closing are discussed.

The author argues that it is in scholars' own interest to purchase scholarly books by others. He notes that the publishing industry has been hurt by the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, by retrenching of state budgets which affects state universities, and by the tendency in the digital revolution to think of publishers as insignificant. He notes, that the failure of scholars to buy one another's books is an often overlooked factor. He praises those who do, but focuses more on those who complain that books are expensive and on those who expect complimentary copies. He notes the importance of careful, accurate editing and the tendency for universities to expect their presses to turn a profit. He says that if people do not buy the books, scholarly publishing will disappear.

The article reports that textbook sales are falling at many university presses. Experts are having a hard time finding a single explanation for the slippage. While a troubled economy in the United States is certainly partially to blame, many publishers attribute the drop to used-book sales, new competition, and book piracy. In order to combat this piracy, schools are actively searching for Web sites to shut down and increasing digital rights management security on electronic copies of its publications.

The article discusses the essay "Scholarly Publishing Initiatives," which is contained in the 2007 report of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The report pushes the foundation's constituents to learn how to work better together while reassuring them that what they do is vital and should endure. The essay reports that university-press output amounted to just 5 percent of the total number of books produced by U.S. publishers in 2005. Despite this fact, the significance of university press publishing is still huge.

The article reports on the transition of several scholarly journals from university presses to private, specialty publishers. The author states that private publishers offer academic journals broader marketing and distribution as well as other services that smaller university presses often cannot match. The author highlights the private publishers Springer and Wiley-Blackwell and their publication of the scholarly journals "Review for Symbolic Logic" and "The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic." Various people involved in the publishing are also profiled.

The article presents a letter to the editor in response to the August 3, 2007 "Hot Type" summary of the report, "University Publishing in a Digital Age."

The article looks at people who provide support and protection to academic writers. In the article, the author comments on the importance of the left tackle position in football, as seen in the book "The Blind Side," by Michael Lewis, and applies the football metaphor to academic writing. According to the article, sharing and reading each others unpublished works is the way to create good and readable scholarship. The article discusses university press editors, writing groups formed by English professors and Duke University, and the benefits that can be gained from interdepartmental relations.

The article looks at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's call for proposals for scholarly monographs on "underserved" areas of the humanities. The letter calling for proposals was sent to the directors of all U.S.-based academic presses. Proposal winners will be chosen by Mellon's Board of Trustees. According to the article, Mellon has yet to reveal the amount of money a successful proposal might be awarded. The article discusses a proposal by the University of California Press, Columbia University Press, and the University of Chicago Press for a South Asia-studies series.

The article reports that Rice University announced in August 2006 that it will be the first all electronic university press. Rice will produce all academic works in electronic format and post them to a Web site rather than print books on paper. Rice had a traditional university press until the 1990s; the high costs associated with a paper-based press led to its shutting down. The university will use Connexions, its existing open-source online publishing program for the electronic press. Books will be free to read online, but readers will have to pay to download books. Readers can also pay to have a printout of scholarly works printed by a separate print-on-demand company.

The article looks at the issues on academic presses addressed at the 2006 conference of the Association of American University Presses that was held in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 15-18. The inclination of students to the used-textbook market is negatively impacting the profits of publishers. Stephen Rhind-Tutt, president of Alexander Street Press, provided information on Web communities. A panel discussion dealt with actions that could be taken by academic presses in the electronic age.

This article focuses on the history of the "Journal of Women's History." When growth in academic journals surged in the 1980s, Christie Farnham Pope scanned the new titles and found a gap, women's history. So Pope, then on the faculty of Indiana University, helped found the journal in 1989, persuading Indiana University Press to publish it. But 15 years later, unhappy with, among other things, the press's marketing of the journal, the editors took it elsewhere. Janet Rabinowitch, director of Indiana's press, says that in the negotiations over the copyright the press is simply trying to recoup the money spent establishing and marketing the journal.

Celebrates the 100th anniversary of Princeton University Press. Information on the hiring of Peter Dougherty as director of the Board of Trustees; Books published by the press; Decision of the press to remain scholarly regarding publication of books.

Discusses elements that can help university presses address their problems, according to the report "Effective Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations," by consultants from McKinsey & Co. Aspirations; Strategy; Functional skills; Human resources.

Provides information on the scholarly publishing career of an editor. Job description of an editor; Positive and negative aspects of a scholarly publishing career; Opportunities provided by university presses; Skills that are helpful tools for editors.

Provides information on a plan to stop the operations of the Northeastern University Press in Boston, Massachusetts at the end of 2004. Reason for the plan to close the university press; Remarks from university provost Ahmed T. Abdelal on the issue; Reputation of the press since its inception in 1977.