ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 18hNews this morning that Informa, having paid £2.2bn for the events business Clarion, intends to 'split off' Taylor and Francis (incl Routledge) as a separate academic arm...always worth remembering that the latter has been the single most used book imprint by AHSS researchers for REF submissions 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Current reading...the Kylie bio by Michael Cragg is really good and comes warmly recommended. The Golfer's Handbook for 1950 is probably caviary to the general...Six Armies in Normandy remains a wonderful guide to post-D-Day, esp in the context of recent fab de Gaulle movies and Pressure. 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 17/09/2026www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article... Makes a huge amount of sense for the (sadly) beleagured indy left publishing sector. L&W have bits of Christopher Hill and EPT as well as the old CP textual inheritance...bookbrunch.co.ukPluto Press acquires Lawrence & WishartThe deal 'secures the future of one of Britain's most significant left-wing catalogues' which publishes authors including Karl Marx and Antonio Gramsci 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 16/09/2026'AI, in other words, may be (further) reinforcing the advantages of scale. The real AI risk to the industry may not be to the largest publishers, but to those without the resources to manage AI’s growing burden on the publishing process.' From Clarke/Esposito in The Brief today. Bang on I fear... 010
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 04/09/2026'Wiley has reported 4% growth in its research division for the first quarter of FY27, with publishing revenue up 12% as strong demand for OA and addition of Emerald Publishing boosted the business. Q1 Research revenue reached $293 million, up 4% both on a reported basis and at constant currency.' 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Interesting, as is the recent @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social post on the same theme from the perspective of the Global South. The other, very important point about Emerald as an organisation is that they were/are by far the largest publisher in the UK based north of Cambridge (Bingley, Yorkshire). 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Bookbrunch yesterday. Springer Nature reporting turnover up to €939.8m for the first half 2026, up from €925.9m for the same period last year, with underlying growth of 6.2%. Adjusted operating profit rose to €246.2m, edging up from last year's €240.6m, representing underlying growth of 7.7%... 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 28/07/2026scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/07/28/c... Nicely crisp typology from a senior US librarian long immersed in the OA conversation...scholarlykitchen.sspnet.orgCategorizing Open Access Business Models - The Scholarly KitchenModels for funding open access journal article publishing can be sorted into three categories, organized by who pays and what they pay for: transactional, collective action, and subvention. 010
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 27/07/2026OUP Results from BookBrunch (2) OUP surplus from trading before interest, funded projects, minority interests, and taxation (reported under the FRS 102 accounting standard) was £68m. OUP transfer to the rest of Oxford University was £126m, including a periodic transfer of £85m. 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 27/07/2026OUP results (1) from Bookbrunch. For the year ended 31 March 2026, turnover hit £824.3m, up from £795.7m in the previous year, but profit for the year after tax fell from £61.7m to £47.1m over the same period. Net assets stood at £329.9m, down from £371m the previous year.... 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 22/07/2026I think of all of the unlikely academic pairings of the 20th century, that of Michael Oakeshott and JRR Tolkien tooling around Ireland as External Examiners for the then National University has to rank supreme. The in-car conversations would have have been something else…! 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Academic Markets saw 'Underlying revenue growth of 5.5% at Taylor & Francis in the first five months (excluding non-recurring data access contracts), with good performances in Subscriptions, Open Research and Advanced Learning. On track for 4% full year underlying growth. ' Bookbrunch this morning 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 16/06/2026scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/06/16/a... Let's all go back to the OA arguments of >10 years ago! Shows importantly state jurisdictional divergence remains very important, even in STEM publishing...scholarlykitchen.sspnet.orgAcademic Freedom for the Win; Open Access Mandate in Germany Declared Unconstitutional - The Scholarly KitchenA German court ruled against a mandatory article deposit requirement under Germany's "secondary publication right" (SPR). 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Not unimportantly, Emerald was also the largest publisher of any kind in the UK based north of Cambridge (in Bingley, Yorks). Not sure where that title goes now? 000
Reposted by ManofHarlechMargot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/05/2026'Scholarly publishing should move beyond the journal article as the dominant “unit of value”, as this is increasingly out of step with how modern research is conducted, according to the open access publisher Plos.' Ahem. Have you heard of books? Or operas? Or installetions/exhibitions? 1102
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 29/05/2026The issue with this piece, or at any rate its headline, is that thus far AI shows no sign whatsoever of eating the big beasts of the academic publishing industry. If you look at the actual results of the major players,orienting their businesses actively to embrace AI, the world seems to rumble on… 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 27/05/2026This notion was of course central to the launch proposition of all of the Universities of Technology. My late Dad (founding Maths faculty at Bath) spent significant chunks of of the 1960s and 1970s visiting students on various forms of industrial placement across the UK. 010
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 26/05/2026www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... A must-read on our present discontentslrb.co.ukStefan Collini · Squadrons of PigsThe problems with Britain’s universities are systemic and deep-rooted, not just local or contingent. Yet political and... 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 20/05/2026Bloomsbury Academic 'see encouraging signs of recovery with good growth in all territories in the current financial year. We announced our first participation in AI licensing for academic content in July 2025, and saw the outperformance of our Academic & Professional Division over the past year.' 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 19/05/2026scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/05/19/w... Important post from Lisa H, although inevitably such a strategy suggests a level of organisational resource many smaller H&SS imprints won't have. It was quite possible to be an editor for a major UP for 30 years and never speak to a librarian once...scholarlykitchen.sspnet.orgWhy Every Publisher Needs a Library Relations Strategy - The Scholarly KitchenPublishers that lack a deliberate library relations strategy are making consequential decisions without important and useful community perspectives. 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 14/05/2026scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/05/14/a...scholarlykitchen.sspnet.orgAPC Caps and Bans - Why Funder Policies Aimed at Curbing the Publishing Industry Don’t Work - The Scholarly KitchenA new report suggests the NIH's promised APC caps will reduce global OA spending. But so far, funder efforts to control publisher and author behavior have largely been ineffective. Here's why. 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 10/05/2026Bookbrunch on Springer Nature Q1 results: 'Revenue increased to €451.4m (Q1 2025: €450.3m) with 6.2% underlying growth, driven by Research, with continued strength in full OA...Adjusted operating profit of €106.7m (Q1 2025: €107.9m) represented underlying growth of 8.6%'. The old world rumbles on... 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 29/04/2026www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5tG... In memory of the great Beverley Martyn, RIP at 79, here is the fabulous John the Baptist from J and B's Stormbringer LP. One of my favourite tracks on the mighty 4-album Electric Muse compilation.youtube.comJohn The BaptistYouTube video by John Martyn - Topic 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 27/04/2026'Funding will continue to support transitional agreements, but from 2028/29 UKRI funding will focus on fully OA publishing and will no longer be available for hybrid OA.' UKRI OA announcement this morning 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 24/04/2026Springer Nature and Jisc have renewed their Open Access agreement, 'building on a decade of partnership to expand access to UK-led research.' Bookbrunch today... 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 23/04/2026Chances of funders mandating Diamond OA for STEM on any kind of meaningful global scale seem to me precisely zero. Key challenge for research libraries seems the increasingly divergent paths of STEM and AHSS towards any kind of Open future… 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 11/04/2026Akin to when the London Book Fair and the National Salon Convention (or something like that) both happened at Excel at the same time, and the interaction of cosmopolitan European literary agents and Essex beauticians was something to behold… 010
Reposted by ManofHarlechMark Wallace @wallaceme.bsky.social · 11/04/2026Glorious marketing confusion at the Excel today, which is simultaneously hosting the National Wedding Show and Salute!, Europe’s largest wargames convention. Some very eager leafleters giving “wedding insurance, but cute!” fliers to somewhat baffled wargames enthusiasts… 97413
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 02/04/2026scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/04/02/g... Interesting Dutch findings, even though the Netherlands has always been in lots of ways a (positive) OA outlier...the transatlantic world remains a (much) tougher nut to crackscholarlykitchen.sspnet.orgGuest Post — Diamond Open Access: A Lifeline for the Monograph? - The Scholarly KitchenToday's guest bloggers ask: Can Diamond OA serve as a genuine lifeline for the scholarly monograph? 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 31/03/2026#UKSG2026 and these tensions long pre-date Finch. NB back in the 2000s when academic publishing was discussed in the Lords and the then DTI basically told HE etc to like it or lump it, as the sector was such an important net financial contributor to UK PLC with a massive export base... 001
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 30/03/2026All true, but what can be missed here is that the vast majority of the academic publishing revenues declared herewith are 'exports' - unlike consumer imprints, far more UK-centric. A massive structural difference: 'UK academic revenues' no more than 10% of the whole for most of the larger players... 020
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Is this making a distinction between university presses which are ultimately driven by the central university (and its various, complex motivations) and more devolved, generally smaller entities? Both are 'scholar-led', but the scholars themselves and their priorities may differ? 100
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 30/03/2026wonkhe.com/blogs/someth... Very interesting analysis of governance challenges in a plate glass HEI context. An often forgotten narrative, and agenda, that deserves to be retold and restated...wonkhe.comSomething fierce. What Essex tells us about the fate of the plate glass universitiesThe plate glass universities were founded on intimacy, radicalism and community. Adam Wright asks whether an obsession with growth has made those promises impossible to keep 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 17/03/2026www.researchinformation.info/analysis-opi... Very interesting Q and A with the estimable Mark Carden, founder of the R2R (Researcher to Reader) conference, not least on the (huge) expense of doing hybrid properly...researchinformation.info“Reputation, trust, and community” - Research InformationMark Carden reflects on his 11 years as director of the Researcher to Reader meeting and the importance of conversation 001
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 17/03/2026Springer results via Bookbrunch full year of 2025: revenue rose to €1,926.4m, up from €1,847.1m in 2024, with 6.2% underlying growth. Adjusted operating profit rose to €543.6m, up from €512.4m in 2024, representing underlying growth of 9.2%, 'reflecting improved product mix and operating leverage.' 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 15/03/2026Always funny when tech types talk about humanities culture. In Patricia Clarke’s piece on AI and publishing in the Observer today the great Tony Grafton is cited simply as ‘a history professor’, which is not far from citing Elon Musk as an ‘influencer’… 001
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 12/03/2026www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambrid... Is nothing sacred? Am pretty sure this was once Leavis's Piano Shop, as in FRL (of Downing College, ironically). In reverse, Wittgenstein's former digs on the East Road are now a KFC...cambridge-news.co.ukCambridge restaurant to be demolished for new student accommodationThe building is being redeveloped to include student accommodation and restaurant space 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 27/02/2026jobs.thebookseller.com/career/28701...jobs.thebookseller.comChief Executive Officer, Bristol University Press - Bristol University Press/Policy Press - BristolChief Executive Officer, Bristol University Press - Bristol University Press/Policy Press - Academic, Educational, Publisher - Business Development, Management, Operations - 001
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 27/02/2026Pearson full year results released this morning show turnover rose 4% to £3,577m but profits fell to £507m, from £541m in 2024. Share price has fallen by 30% over past year, driven by perceived 'AI impacts'. We shall see... 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 18/02/2026scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/02/18/g... 'the question is whether institutions are willing to take ownership' is a core challenge for our time. Unfortunately, the answer from c95% of resource-strapped transatlantic institutions hitherto has been a resolute 'no'...scholarlykitchen.sspnet.orgGuest Post — Diamond Open Access Needs Institutions, Not Heroes - The Scholarly KitchenToday's guest blogger asks: What would it mean to support community-led publishing as infrastructure, rather than as a collection of heroic individual efforts? 010
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 16/02/2026www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de... Great chance to run one of the very few Soc Sci- driven University Presses in captivity, which under Alison Shaw's transformative leadership has reached new levels of international reach and operational capacitybristol.ac.ukDetails | Working at Bristol | University of Bristol 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 06/02/2026Complete agreement, but a salutary reminder that for 95% of funders and policy agents and indeed institutions 'research = STEM', as was obvious in most early statements about OA. AHSS and long-form has always been an afterthought in this context... 100
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 06/02/2026The Brief notes that publicly traded prof publishers have lost > $50 billion in equity value over past year. Wiley stock is down nearly 30%. Springer Nature stock is down 35%. RELX (parent company of Elsevier) stock is down 39% and Wolters Kluwer stock has declined by 54%. 'AI risk exposure'... 020
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 03/02/2026Thames and Hudson has sold its college list to the mighty WW Norton and will focus only on trade sales into N America. Logical for both parties, I think... 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 13/01/2026You may jest but I did once have a (very entitled) author who when I suggested that s/he cut their book from its submitted 180K word extent to something closer to the contracted 100K claimed that my request was ‘an infringement of academic freedom’…. 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 12/01/2026wonkhe.com/blogs/what-i... A rather more measured assessment from Wonkhe of the Trinity Hall admissions row...and some fairly bonkers comments (on all sides) below the line.wonkhe.comWhat is going on at Trinity Hall?Is Trinity Hall Cambridge really reversing access and participation efforts? David Kernohan looks in to the detail 000
Reposted by ManofHarlechMargot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/01/2026Looking for an intellectual treat? @petermandler.bsky.social 's Ford Lectures on 'The Language of Social Science in Everyday Life' begin Thursday 22 January and continue weekly through 26 February in Oxford. #Skystorianshistory.ox.ac.ukThe James Ford Lectures in British HistoryThe Language of Social Science in Everyday Life - Peter Mandler (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge) 12813
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 29/12/2025AHA was too and back in the 1980s my Mum would get very fed up when I deserted the family Xmas at about 8am on Boxing Day for a flight to the USA and 6000 historians… 020
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 26/12/2025My nostalgic Xmas reading, as for most of the past 40 Xmases, has been a combo of Red For Danger by Tom Rolt, The Trains we Loved by C Hamilton Ellis and The Lanchester Tradition by GF Bradby. All deeply satisfying, in different ways… 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 18/12/2025Bookbrunch reporting that final stage of the EU Deforestation Regulation was reached as Euro Parliament voted in favour of the provisional agreement reached excluding 'printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry, manuscripts, typescripts and plans, of paper.' 000