Open Academic Book Publishing during COVID-19 Pandemic: A View on Romanian University Presses

Abstract

In the context of the 2020 public health crisis that discourages exchanges of physical objects in society, university-led publishing needed to rethink its operations. Worldwide the opening of quality scholarly content proved to be a solution. University presses reacted rapidly and offered books according to the open access model. The present research aimed to map the editorial landscape of Romanian university presses, to identify the main features displayed online by the university presses parented by public universities and to highlight the readiness of these players to further open access academic books, especially in the time of the COVID-19 crisis. The quantitative approach investigated the availability of e-books in the university presses’ portfolios, including the alignment to the open access scholarship movement, the use of social media accounts to promote the presses and the response of the presses to the challenges of the health crisis. Out of the 46 active university presses, only six had open book titles in their portfolios and only one genuinely responded actively to the challenges posed by the need for electronic formats in 2020. Unless Romanian university presses modernize and restructure their modus operandi, they can prove irrelevant in the post-crisis period.

¿Qué hace que un tuit sobre un libro sea popular? Análisis de los contenidos más retuiteados creados por editoriales de libros españolas y extranjeras

“…They usually have a general institutional Twitter account rather than a specific account for their publication service. In this regard, a recent study has reported that 91% of 46 Romanian universities presses do not have a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn (Cernicova-Buca & Luzan, 2020). Martín Becerro (2016), however, found that 76% out of 49 Spanish book publishers specialised in children's and youth literature had a Twitter account.…”