Symposium: Enemies of Promise? Academic Publishing in a Changing Public Sphere
On the 7 of November 2024, the Social Sciences Committee presented a half-day symposium which examined the landscape and challenges of today’s world of academic publishing. You can read more about it here.
The event began with a welcome address from event chair Andreas Hess MRIA, (representing the RIA’s Social Sciences Committee) briefly describing the present academic publishing landscape and pointed to some of the more puzzling issues and burning questions.
The first session’s focus was on academic book publishing. John Thompson (University of Cambridge, Director of Polity Press) singled out some of the more troubling features of the developments over the last two decades – the impact the digital revolution had on book formats; what these new conditions meant for traditional textbooks; the traditional research monographs’ diminished visibility and availability in the light of increased journal publications – and how academic publishers have tried to respond to these challenges.
The second speaker, Ruth Hegarty (Head of Publications, Royal Irish Academy), stressed the important role that specialised publishers play in a relatively small country like Ireland. Hegarty also told the audience about some encouraging success stories that show the passion that both publishers and users continue to have for well-produced books.
The afternoon session featured academic journals and article publishing. Richard Whatmore (co-director of the University of St. Andrews’ Center of Intellectual History, editor-in-chief of ‘History of European Ideas’) spoke about what journal editors can do to turn themselves and their authors into better citizens of ‘the republic of knowledge’. Whatmore made a special
plea for critical reviewing, and for re-thinking the tasks and responsibilities of editors and supervisors in the process.
Samantha Ashenden (Head of Politics, University of Liverpool, former editor-in-chief and editorial board member of ‘Economy and Society’) used one example to illustrate how a more collegial model of discussing submissions, and a more active definition of the role of editors-in-chief, can lead to better judgment and, in the end, to intellectually more stimulating, readable publications.
The event concluded with a panel discussion featuring the four speakers, the chair, and Cathal McCauley (Treasurer of CONUL).The symposium provided plenty of opportunities for the audience, which included a broad range of stakeholders, from academics and librarians to journal editors and publishers, to engage in dialogue and in collective deliberation with both fellow participants and invited experts.
The event was supported by CONUL, the UCD Department of Sociology and the UCD Department of Social Sciences and Law.
Event report written by Andreas Hess MRIA
