Category Archives: oa.self-publishing

Self-publishing, Open Textbooks and Open Practices at The University of Manchester – UK Open Textbook Project

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“I spoke to Lucy May, Scholarly Communications Librarian (@UoMLib_Lucy), and Helen Dobson, Scholarly Communications Manager (@h_j_dobson), based at The University of Manchester, about open access publishing at the University and the interest they’d received from students in self-publishing journals. 

The University of Manchester Library has explored its relation to publishing over the past few years through a number of university projects, which have resulted in collaborative outputs involving both Manchester University Press (MuP) and other university departments.  In Spring 2018 MuP launched Manchester HIVE, a one-stop-shop to e-resources available via the University and host of Manchester Open Library (MoL) content.

Previously both the library and MuP had supported MoL which provided a platform for open access journals produced at the University, including the James Baldwin Review….”

Independent publishing: the next big thing? | Research Information

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“I anticipate that after open access, the next biggest surge that academic publishing will witness is ‘independent publishing’ (otherwise known as ‘self-publishing’). If academics are financing the content and creating it, why shouldn’t they control pricing, determine and benefit by a division of profits that is skewed in their direction, and receive the resulting status which their work might generate? This is the future we are preparing for.”

Lulu Launches Academic Publishing Platform

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“Lulu, a pioneer in the self-publishing market, has set its sights on a new segment: academics.

In an a release this week, Lulu announced the launch of, Glasstree, an online publishing platform dedicated to academic and scholarly authors and communities. Lulu officials say that Glasstree will provide a suite of online tools and services needed by academic authors, and will leverage technology, such as print-on-demand, to distribute their works more cost-effectively. Lulu says its service is centered on addressing some “critical pain points” in the commercial academic publishing market, such as accelerating time to market, more transparent pricing, and reversing the revenue model to allow academics and scholars to realize 70% of the profit from sales of their work.

Among Glasstree’s advertised services: support for open access, including the deposit of works in institutional repositories; Tools for bibliometric tracking, so academic authors can monitor Impact Factors, and other relevant measurements; More control over licensing options, through a partnership with Creative Commons; and access to traditional peer review….”

Glasstree Publishing

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“The existing academic publishing model is broken, with traditional commercial publishers charging excessive prices for books or ridiculous book publishing charges to publish Open Access books.

Academics or their supporting institutions are poorly paid for their content. Profit margins are strongly skewed towards the publisher, with crumbs for the author and/or their employers. Submission to publication times are far too lengthy and service and marketing support insufficient.

Besides the lack of editorial assistance, marketing support, and a complete absence of urgency, traditional academic publishers are now often viewed as cherishing profits over the advancement of knowledge, and accommodate their shareholders over their authors….

Glasstree challenges the traditional academic publishing model by providing academics with the flexibility to be in complete control of their content….”