The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishing (ALPSP), the international trade association for scholarly and professional publishers, is seeking proposals to carry out a study of scholarly publishing practice by academic book publishers, with a particular focus on online publication. ALPSP has carried out three similar surveys of policies and practices related to online journal publishing which were conducted in 2003, 2005 and 2008.
The 2005 survey did include a limited number of questions on eBooks. However, with the increased importance of eBooks in scholarly communication and other changes such as Print on Demand affecting academic book publishing, ALPSP has therefore decided that a comprehensive survey of the policies and practices of book publishers is appropriate. This will enable subsequent surveys to track changes in policy and practice from a 2009 baseline. It is proposed that the new survey should review book publishing policies and practices overall to establish the context within which online publishing is presently being developed.
The survey is expected to cover a representative sample of non-profit, commercial, university presses and other academic publishers throughout the world. It will include ALPSP members but also provide a wider sample from such organisations as the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), the Association of American University Presses (AAUP), the Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), and other publishers as appropriate. It should be noted that a total of 400 questionnaires were sent out for the Scholarly Publishing Practice, Third Survey in 2008, with a total of 263 responses received.
The survey will include the use of an online questionnaire which ALPSP will promote to its membership and to the wider academic publishing community. Suggestions for what might be covered in the survey should be proposed by researchers. All proposals must be received by April 15, 2009. It is expected that go-ahead will be given in early May 2009, and that the survey results should be available for publication to coincide with the ALPSP International Conference in September 2009.
