Transforming a publishing division into a scholarly press : a feasibility study of the Africa Institute of South Africa
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University of Pretoria
Abstract
Based on informal discussions with a range of scholars across the African continent, it was felt that there was a need for a scholarly publisher located in Africa, focusing on African content, and targeting an African audience. It had also been expressed by a number of researchers, and was of wider potential interest – given the author’s institutional situation and context at the time, as well as management imperatives – that the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) could use its existing capacity and strengths in the area of African studies, specifically from a social science and development perspective, and its networks on the African continent, to form a possible institutional base for such a press, through the expansion of its publishing division. But there was no certainty as to whether this was in fact a viable business idea. Thus, this study carries out a feasibility study, to investigate and evaluate whether a scholarly press focusing on African material would be viable in the current South African, continental and international context. The study takes the form of a literature survey, questionnaire-based empirical survey, and business planning exercise. The key research question that is investigated is: Given the limitations of and challenges currently facing the South African (and wider African) scholarly publishing industry, could a scholarly publisher working according to the above vision be viably set up, and how could this be achieved? Broad support is found for the notion of a new scholarly publisher, and a business plan is developed to show how such a press could be set up, working within certain constraints and assumptions.
Description
Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2007.
Keywords
Knowledge generation, Knowledge production, University press, Scholarly communication, Academic publishing, Scholarly publishing, Africa institute of south africa, African studies, UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Le Roux, EH 2007, Transforming a publishing division into a scholarly press : a feasibility study of the Africa Institute of South Africa, MIS Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27063>