Abstract
Academics, researchers, and students have access to a tremendous number of scholarly books, journals, preprints, and research depositories as well as a highly developed public and academic library system, and the U.S. produces more scholarly publications than any other nation. How did the U.S. become the dominant center of scholarly publishing? This chapter outlines the current state of scholarly publishing, key issues related to higher education’s emphasis on “publish or perish,” and the eight major developments that transformed scholarly publishing in the U.S.
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Some of the statistics have been rounded off and may not always equal 100 percent. The most recent statistical datasets were used. However, there were lags in the availability of certain data from various U.S. departments or agencies.
- 2.
Jaclyn Simson and Albert N. Greco. “The Price and New Title Output of Scholarly Books: 2009–2016,” Publishing Research Quarterly 34, 2(June 2018): 218–232.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Association of American Publishers, Various Years. “Monthly Statshops.”
- 5.
Mark Ware and Michael Mabe. The STM Report: An Overview of Scientific and Scholarly Journal Publishing 2015 (The Hague, Netherlands: International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medicals Publishers, 2015), 6; http://www.stm-assoc-0rg/2015_02_20_STM_Report_2015_pdf. For general information about arXiv, see https://arxiv.org/help/general. Directory of Open Access Journals; at: https://doaj.org
- 6.
Derek De Sola Price. Little Science, Big Science and Beyond (New York: Columbia University press, 1986); pages 6–10.
- 7.
National Science Foundation. Science and Engineering Indicators 2014 (Washington, D.C.: The National Science Board, 2014); https://www.nsf.fov/statistics/seind14/imndex.cfm/chapter-5/c5s4.htm. Also see National Science Foundation. Science and Engineering Indicators 2012 (Washington, D.C.: The National Science Board, 2012); https://www.nsf.fov/statistics/seind12/pdf/overview.pdf
- 8.
- 9.
Mark Ware and Michael Mabe. The STM Report: An Overview of Scientific and Scholarly Journal Publishing (The Hague, Netherlands: International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medicals Publishers, 2012), 19; and Mark Ware. Scientific Publishing in Transition: An Overview of Current Developments (Bristol, UK: Mark Ware Consulting Ltd., 2006), 3–4. Also see Alexandra Witze. “Research Gets Increasingly International,” Nature, January 19, 2016; http://www.nature.com/news/research-get-increasingly-international-1.19198. The World Bank; http://www/data/worldbank.org/indicaor/IP.JRN.ARTC.SC. Bo-Christer Bjork, Annikki Roos, and Mari Kauri. “Scientific Journal Publishing: Yearly Volume and Open Access,” Information Research 14, 1(March 2009); at: http://www.informationr.net/ir/14-1/paper391.html; and Richard Van Noordan. “Global Scientific Output Doubles Every Nine Years,” Nature New Blog; http://blogs.nature.com/news/2014/05/global-scientific-output0doubles-every-nine-years. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. “120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait.” Table 23: Historical Summary of Higher Education Statistics: 1869–1990; available at https://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93442.pdf. Also see U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. “Projections of Education Statistics to 2022.” Table 20: “Actual and Projected Numbers for Total Enrollment in All Postsecondary-Granting Institutions;” https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014051.pdf
- 10.
National Science Foundation. “Science and Engineering Publication Output Trends: 2014 Shows Rise of Developing Country Output While Developed Countries Dominate Highly Cited Publications.” Info Brief, October 2017; http://www.nsf.gov/statistics. Also see Li Zhang. “China Leading the World for Growth in High-Quality Science Output, Nature Index,” Nature press release; http://www.nature.com/press_release/nature-index-china-2015.html
- 11.
Library Journal; “Journal Prices;” https://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/04/publishing/new-world-same-model-periodicals-price-survey-2017/#
- 12.
American Library Association; http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet01. Also see American Library Association; http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet22
- 13.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics: 2016; Table 303.10; https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_303.10.asp?referrer=report. Also see NCES Fast Facts; https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=84
- 14.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics: 2016; Table 318.10; https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_318.10.asp?referrer=report
- 15.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Graduate Degree Fields, March 2018; https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_ctb.asp
- 16.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics: 2016; Table 318.0; https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_318.10.asp?referrer=report
- 17.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics: 2016; Table 315.10; https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_315.100.asp?referrer=report. Also see U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics: 2016; Table 316.80; https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_316.800.asp
- 18.
The Association of Research Libraries; http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2017/07/new-acrl-publication-2016-academic-library-trends-and-statistics. Also see The Publishers Research Group (PCG). “Library Budget Predictions for 2017”; http://www.pcgplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/:ibrary-Budget-Predictions-for-2017-public.pdf. PCG estimates that academic budget expenditures for the three categories could sustain declines in 2016 ($3.35 billion) and 2017 ($3.31 billion).
- 19.
Jim Milliot. “Pearson Rises Above,” Publishers Weekly, August 28, 2017, pages 56–58.
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Greco, A.N. (2019). Introduction to Scholarly Journal and Book Publishing in the U.S.. In: The Growth of the Scholarly Publishing Industry in the U.S.. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99549-6_1
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