UCLPRESS
Jisc: universities as e-textbook publishers
UNIVERSITIES AS PUBLISHERS?:
OPPORTUNITIES
• Current textbook market flawed (monopoly by a few large
commercial publishers, frequent new editions, high prices)
• Changes in behaviours and expectations of students
• New digital models emerging alongside print (greater
versatility), and new business models emerging alongside
traditional university presses
• Can universities offer an alternative model? Some are trialling
this but still very new eg. SUNY
• Benefits of Open Access publishing are wide dissemination of
research, best model for students and academics
• The university can reassert its role in the research workflow
through publishing
CHALLENGES
• Competing with major textbook publishers who have huge
resource and years of expertise
• Competing for authors who could publish elsewhere and earn
a royalty
• Publishing skills within organization? Or need to partner?
• Business model is still unclear
• Challenge of funding the author, publication, research,
production costs
UCL PRESS:
BACKGROUND
• UCL Press re-established at UCL in 2014
• Will publish scholarly research in both Open Access and print
form
• Scholarly monographs, textbooks, edited collections and
journals. All subject areas and disciplines.
• As well as free PDFs and standard ebook outputs the Press
will publish enhanced ebooks with embedded rich media and
scholarly functionalities
• These will use browser-based technology (HTML5) and apps
UCL PRESS
BUSINESS MODEL
• Set up as an Open Access press from the outset; all books will
be available on UCL Discovery (UCL’s online repository)
• Funding from university research budget
• Revenue streams include sales from hard copy books, Book
Publication Charges (BPCs) from non-UCL authors, grants and
subventions
• Its main purpose is the open and free dissemination of
scholarly research, and to support teaching and learning
LICENSING MODEL
• There are a range of models offered under a Creative
Commons licence from the least restrictive, CC-BY, which
allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon a
work, as long as they credit the rightsholder(s) for the original
creation
• CC-BY-NC chosen for these projects, which restricts
commercial use of the original text
• Not ‘ND’ in order to permit re-use of the text in teaching
situations
• Most arts and humanities authors prefer the most restrictive
licence
PARTNERSHIP WITH
JISC
• UCL Press was selected (along with three other HEIs) to
participate in the three-year ‘Institution as e-Textbook
Publisher’ project
• The Press will produce two e-textbooks, in the subject areas of
Public Archaeology and Plastic Surgery.
• Business model: Both will be available in Open Access as
enhanced e-textbooks with a range of functionalities
• Licencing: CC-BY-NC
• Benchmarking and reporting on measures of success
throughout the project
THE BOOKS: 1
Public Archaeology edited by Gabriel Moshenska
•
Based on the long-standing programme of undergraduate and
graduate teaching in public archaeology at UCL Institute of
Archaeology
•
Takes into account the growth of scholarship and pedagogy in
public archaeology around the world
•
Individual chapters cover themes that connect archaeology to the
wider world, eg trade in illicit antiquities and the use of digital
media in public engagement
•
Chapters will be handbook entries rather than research papers
•
Written at a level suitable for advanced undergraduate or MA
students
•
Striking illustrations and boxed case studies throughout
•
Provides a systematic overview of all the key themes in public
archaeology
THE BOOKS: 2
Burns and Reconstructive Surgery edited by Deepak Kalaskar
(Royal Free, UCL)
•
Detailed overview of reconstructive plastic surgery and its subspecialties
•
Comprehensive introduction to this vast topic
•
Contributions from well-known and highly specialised consultant
plastic surgeons
•
Only book which covers military plastic surgery
•
Most other books on the subject are either too specialised or
focus on one speciality
•
Highly illustrated
•
Dr Kalaskar heads MSc in Burns, Plastic and Reconstructive
surgery at UCL, a course oriented towards future plastic surgeons
interested in research
TECHNOLOGY
• YUDU will produce the ebooks. Well-known tech developer
with clients including Cambridge UP, Wiley
• Enhanced functionality will include audio, video, highlighting,
note-taking, share, sync personal annotated versions across
devices, hyperlinks, extracts for reading lists, VLEs
• Enhanced version made available in HTML 5 and in an app
• Compatible with Android and iOS
• The ebooks will meet the requirements of being reusable,
accessible, interoperable and durable
PRINCIPLES
Re-usability
Ability to cut and paste texts, transfer to reading lists, XML format
for adaptation to different electronic formats
Accessibility
Meets HEI requirements
Available as Open Access – free to everyone
Interoperability
Ability to view on a range of devices, to sync across devices and
save annotated versions
Durability
Fully archived
PROMOTION
Course adoption
Freely available to students on the relevant courses, marketed to
similar courses around the world
MOOCS/VLEs
Made available for UCL’s MOOCS and VLEs
Social media
UCL Press, students and the books’ authors to promote widely on
social media and subject specific forums
UCL Press promotion
Promotion on website and in publications catalogue
Traditional channels
Print and ebook made available through retailers and ebook
distributors, library suppliers etc
REPORTING
Measures of success
• Student feedback
• Author feedback
• Usage statistics derived from the app and from UCL’s
repository
• Sales figures for commercial versions
• Social media attention
• Course adoption figures
THANK YOU
Lara Speicher
Publishing Manager
UCL Press
l.speicher@ucl.ac.uk