Reposted by ManofHarlechPeter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 09/10/2026A great advocate for historians in general, often unsung, as well as a nice person and a superb historian of the early Middle Ages. 1379
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 07/10/2026News 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 · 15/08/2026Good luck Martin. You remain amazingly brave through all of this. 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 · 16/06/2026Don’t really agree. Below the line there are always some interesting exchanges and it does reflect important American perspectives on (primarily) STEM publishing with a lot of librarian input. 100
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 · 24/04/2026Isn’t one of the problems that so many of these pieces are written from an avowedly ‘HE’ perspective which is both legitimate but also (by definition) partial? Very little awareness sometimes of how e.g. Big Science fits in… 100
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 · 23/04/2026Absolutely. See Finch passim and also Plan S, which was vvv mindful of the importance of e.g. Elsevier and Springer to certain European economies. 010
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 · 19/04/2026About forty years ago I saw Kenny Burrell live at Fat Tuesday’s in NYC. A memorable night of unfashionable jazz guitar. 110
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 13/04/2026Hasn't stopped him making gazillions though, has it? 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 · 01/04/2026But that is, whether we like it or not, to ignore almost all of STEM. Which in the end has the whip-hand in almost all research institutions...I do think that AHSS and STEM are now following very different OA trajectories. 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 31/03/2026The longform gridlock goes back (at least) two decades, and the (far) greater fragmentation of AHSS cf. STEM has proved a real challenge. As has the historic massive dependence on exports of the UK monographic economy, not self-sustaining for at least thirty years now… 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 · 31/03/2026and rightly or wrongly you cannot ignore the 'big international STEM' agendas that are central to plenty of research-intensive HEIs (and the UK government). Wherein lies a real challenge. OA increasingly pursuing two (very) divergent paths as between parts of AHSS and STEM... 020
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 31/03/2026Although there is one massively important difference, in that the large majority of the academic revenues are from exports, unlike consumer publishing which is much more UK focussed. UK only about 10% of revenues for many of the big UK-based academic publishers… 000
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 · 30/03/2026Good question. And I‘d like to know how much has now been published? Not a question people always like, but a key one nonetheless. And what disciplinary emphases (if any) have emerged? And how international is the author base? Is the dial really moving, or is this existing alongside the status quo? 100
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 · 27/03/2026Just a shame it’s anonymous, which in the ‘open’ context doesn’t sit that happily… 000
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Thanks for all of this Joe. I am always sceptical that any UK-specific agenda can ever be truly a ‘watershed moment’ in the OA monographic domain but this is an interesting set of interventions. What may matter most is how much individual faculty notice, when making their own publishing decisions... 100
ManofHarlech @manofharlech.bsky.social · 17/03/2026So sorry to hear all of this Martin. VV best wishes for what comes next Richard 010