Publishing in developing countries.

This article discusses printed word, which is a key to the creation and diffusion of knowledge, to the maintenance of an active intellectual life and to the development of advanced technology. Further, books, periodicals and other reading materials are central to the educational system, to research and to the creation of an independent national culture. Regardless of what advances have taken place in the diffusion of information, scholars, policy makers and the intellectual community still depend, for the most part, on the printed word to communicate. Publishers control the process of book production and distribution, and are therefore, a usually ignored element in the intellectual equation. Publishers not only make ideas available to a broad public, but in many ways share in deciding which ideas will emerge into the arena of public discourse. All this has special significance in the developing areas, where the challenge of building a modern culture is great and where books are urgently needed for both education and for broader intellectual purposes.