The output of university presses remains centred on a stand-alone, print-driven book paradigm, despite technological developments that can enable ‘interaction, communication, and interconnection.’ In order to improve the distribution of books, several university presses have invested in the development of online content platforms, but the great majority of digital publishing output is limited to PDF, ePub, and HTML files. Inspired by increasing popularity of mobile technologies and devices, this article investigates opportunities for greater use of digital media in scholarly book publishing. It focuses on the feasibility of producing ebook applications and using social networking platforms as a way to make complex information accessible to wider audiences enabling improved research dissemination and increased engagement with individual works.

This is part one of a two-part study on the publishing behaviours of academics in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) at Australian universities. Our data consist of semi-structured interviews with twenty-one participants. Part one explores how current institutional pressures and the research funding environment are shaping academics’ book publishing practices. In particular, we attend to the growing concerns of academics relating to the measurement and ranking of universities, which are driving performance expectations for publishing, and we examine how this trend is influenced by changes in governmental policy and the requirements of funding bodies. We found that Australian HSS academics face increasing pressure to publish journal articles rather than books, to publish books with prestigious international publishers, and to secure external funding for their research. These pressures could restrict their scholarly autonomy or even influence their research agenda. We contend that these developments have concerning implications for HSS in Australia.

Based on interviews with 10 professionals from primary educational publishers and educational technology companies based in Australia, this article examines the challenges and impact of COVID-19 on publishing operations and outputs, and the future of the sector. The publishers had to deliver digital materials quickly, effectively and often for free to assist educators with the transition to remote learning, while working remotely themselves. They also had to transfers sales, support and professional learning online. Overall, while operationally challenging, the pandemic has accelerated the demand for digital products and facilitated growth of the sector.

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Publishers of academic books in Australia have evolved in response to the crisis in scholarly publishing by adapting to the opportunities afforded by digital technologies for faster, cheaper, and more dynamic publishing approaches. Academic authors are at the core of the scholarly publishing landscape, so publishers need to understand their motives and needs. This paper examines data from a survey of academic authors in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) in Australia. Our aim for the survey was to understand the publishing experiences, behaviours, and perceptions of these authors. We discovered their expectations for publishers are high. They want fast turnaround, high-quality editing and production values, and cheaper books, which run up against three principal constraints for all scholarly publishers: quality, time, and cost. The prestige and reputation of a publisher are critical, and authors are primarily interested in traditional success measures of academic performance. Societal impact or engagement with research end-users was seen as less important. The findings of this project highlight a number of contradictions and tensions within the scholarly publishing landscape, and they have tangible implications for practices in HSS for authors and publishers, as well as for grant funders and university administrators who adopt policies and assign criteria for research evaluation.