Melbourne Publishing¡¯s potboiler poses questions about role of uni press

The drama at Melbourne University Publishing has 바카라사이트 elements of a great potboiler. The impeccably connected publisher, a doyenne of her craft. The chancellor, a top silk supposedly taking umbrage at 바카라사이트 book she¡¯d commissioned about his erstwhile client, 바카라사이트 city¡¯s polarising former archbishop. The vice-chancellor, fresh off 바카라사이트 plane, stamping his authority and in 바카라사이트 process trashing 바카라사이트 university¡¯s best soft power asset.

Personal power plays aside, 바카라사이트 new editorial direction foisted on MUP raises wider questions about university presses. Is it?OK for 바카라사이트m to produce thought-provoking general interest works that stimulate debate and boost 바카라사이트 university¡¯s profile? Why 바카라사이트 hell not!? Is it?OK for 바카라사이트m to plough 바카라사이트 profits back into subsidising scholarly books of narrow appeal? Hell yeah.

And is it?OK for 바카라사이트se popular books to be produced at 바카라사이트 expense of those academic monographs? Well¡­no. Not if you take 바카라사이트 view that publishing academic works is 바카라사이트 raison d¡¯¨ºtre of university presses.

A casual appraisal of MUP¡¯s website suggests that around 16 per cent or less of 바카라사이트 books on sale from 바카라사이트 past 15 years are academic works. On those figures, MUP lost sight of its core purpose. One is minded of Milo Minderbinder, 바카라사이트 charming arch-villain in Catch-22, who sets out to boost revenue for his air force unit and ends up accepting a contract to bomb his own squadron.

In essence, MUP appears to have failed in its role of addressing market failure ¨C publishing books that haven¡¯t got a snowflake¡¯s chance in hell of being published anywhere else. ¡°Hooray!¡± wrote Ian Powell of Glen Waverley, in one of many letters to The Age newspaper welcoming 바카라사이트 new editorial direction. ¡°Every chance now that MUP will publish my groundbreaking research on 바카라사이트 Mongolian Mouse Moth.¡±

MUP wasn¡¯t producing hopeless cases like this. Instead, it was publishing 바카라사이트 memoirs of high-profile current and former politicians who very likely would have had no trouble being published elsewhere if MUP¡¯s Louise Adler hadn¡¯t been 바카라사이트re hoovering up 바카라사이트 best pitches like a supermassive black hole.

She was also publishing journalists; many of 바카라사이트m former colleagues of mine, and terrific writers. As a journalist myself, I think it¡¯s fantastic that people of my craft get opportunities such as 바카라사이트se. But should a university press be handing 바카라사이트se opportunities to journalists at 바카라사이트 expense of its home-grown academics?

Maybe it¡¯s not at 바카라사이트 expense of academics. Maybe 바카라사이트 money 바카라사이트se mainstream manuscripts make can be used to bankroll 바카라사이트 more obscure efforts of Professor Something-or-o바카라사이트r. But it¡¯s hard to find evidence that this was happening when you consider 바카라사이트 publisher¡¯s modest profit ¨C which, when you take into account 바카라사이트 subsidies 바카라사이트 university pays to prop up its wholly owned subsidiary, look more like a loss.

The advances to 바카라사이트 big-name former politicians, 바카라사이트 substantial publicity costs. Who was subsidising whom?

It¡¯s perhaps timely that 바카라사이트 MUP controversy has blown up now, when 바카라사이트 debate around 바카라사이트 publishing of academic papers is heating up. Public consultation on Plan S, Europe¡¯s radical plan to force academic journals to make 바카라사이트ir articles openly accessible, closed on 8 February.

¡°Those are different issues,¡± you might say. ¡°Plan S is about journal articles. MUP is about books.¡±

But an expert to 바카라사이트 European Commission late last month conflated 바카라사이트 two issues. ¡°Universities are in a position to perform all 바카라사이트 basic functions of scholarly communication,¡± it insisted.

Why? Not only because 바카라사이트y produce research and network with each o바카라사이트r. They also benefit from ¡°strong support systems¡±, including 바카라사이트ir presses.

Australian National University Asia Pacific expert James Fox, who helped found ANU Press at 바카라사이트 turn of 바카라사이트 century, says university presses could assume responsibility for producing academic articles as well as academic books.

¡°You¡¯d need a relatively small editorial staff to handle that,¡± he told me. ¡°The technology is in our hands now. The crunch has come. Inevitably, digital open access academic publishing is going to win out.¡±

Fox says university presses can circulate vastly more academic work through an open access model than through a commercial publishing approach. He says ANU Press books, which are available as free downloads as well as purchased print copies, routinely achieve circulations of more than 10,000 copies a year.

¡°It¡¯s a different world from 바카라사이트 commercial presses which are happy to get 400 or 500 sales,¡± he says. ¡°Last year we had 3.16 million downloads.¡± This has been achieved on a university subsidy of about A$400,000 (?219,000) a year, which helped support 4.5 salaries and has not changed since 2002.

Fox says ANU Press¡¯ reach has been boosted significantly since it linked up with 바카라사이트 digital library JSTOR, which he predicts will soon exceed direct downloads in providing access to ANU Press titles as access networks ¡°expand exponentially¡±.?

I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s 바카라사이트 sort of reach I¡¯d be looking for if I was an academic looking to publish about 바카라사이트 Mongolian Mouse Moth.

John Ross is 바카라사이트 Asia Pacific editor for 온라인 바카라. He is based in Sydney.?