Munich Personal RePEc Archive On the world market trajectory of 21 major book publishing companies in globalization and European studies in 100+ countries. From “Amsterdam University Press” via “Palgrave” and “Nova Science Publishers” to Transaction Publishers” by international, 19 indicator comparison Tausch, Arno Department of Political Science, Innsbruck University 15 July 2008 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/9613/ MPRA Paper No. 9613, posted 21 Jul 2008 06:22 UTC On the world market trajectory of 21 major book publishing companies in globalization and European studies in 100+ countries. From “Amsterdam University Press” via “Palgrave” and “Nova Science Publishers” to Transaction Publishers” by international, 19 indicator comparison Arno TAUSCH1 Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Innsbruck University, Innsbruck, Austria E-mail: [email protected] 1 All correspondence should be directed to: [email protected]. The author would like to thank Professor Sebastian Eschenbach and the Fachhochschulstudiengänge Burgenland, University of Applied Sciences, Campus 1, A-7000 Eisenstadt, www.fh- burgenland.at Study Library for the opportunity to use the OCLC Worldcat documentation system. 1 Abstract: Ever since the path-breaking empirical studies by Schott (1998) world systems scholars start from the well-established assumption that world science is a single gigantic center-periphery relationship. The strategic and tactical practical conclusions for individual scholars and their agenda in the scientific periphery and the semi-periphery, to which Europe increasingly belongs, are much harder to draw than the general diagnosis. Where can scholars from outside the US attractively publish their manuscripts for the world market? How does the European Union make its point in the global scientific arena in the field of the debates about social policies and globalization? Is there a way, especially for scholars from the new member countries of the European Union, and from the newly formed “Union for the Mediterranean”, to effectively publish their works on the world market? Only three European social affairs ministries (France, Poland, Spain) afford themselves the luxury to publish their own scientific journal, while others must rely on international publishing to make their expertise heard internationally. This article tries to answer tentatively such a difficult and strategic question, and quantitatively compares the performance of Amsterdam University Press (EU); Ashgate (EU); Blackwell (EU); Cambridge UP (EU); Campus (Frankfurt/Ann Arbor) (EU); Cornell UP (USA); Edward Elgar (EU); Houghton/Mifflin (US); IOS Press (EU); Lexington (US); Monthly Review Press (US); Nova Science Publishers (US); Oxford University Press (EU); Palgrave Macmillan (EU); Praeger Publishers (EU); Routledge (EU); Rowman/Littlefield (US); Sage Publications (US); Springer-Verlag (US); St. Martin's Press (US); and Transaction Publishers (US), which in between them control a sizeable share of the social science academic book publishing market in such fields of political science as globalization or European Union studies, with up to nineteen quantitative performance criteria, ranging from market success rates on global markets both in North America as well as mainly in the Asia-Pacific and European region, comparative library presence rates at international organizations libraries, such as the European Union and the United Nations, and the quantitative impact of published titles on combined indices of peer reviewed journals and the international daily and weekly press. In addition, our study evaluates the impact of the companies’ books and journals on the literature, contained in “Google book search” and “Google scholar”, all per total company book and serials output. 2 Our quantitative indicators are: Shorthand Full variable label Total Japanese Books and serials produced by the company present in the library holdings entire library system as a % of total titles: total academic (NACSIS) and research library holdings in Japan (NACSIS) France (Cat. Col. de Books and serials produced by the company present in the France) entire library system as a % of total titles: total academic and research library holdings in France (Cat. Col. de France) COPAC UK + IRE Books and serials produced by the company present in the entire library system as a % of total titles: academic and research library holdings in the UK + Ireland (COPAC UK + IRE) Germany (GBV) Books and serials produced by the company present in the entire library system as a % of total titles in Germany (GBV; GBV Common Library Network of the German States Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thüringen and the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage) Spain (REBIUN) Books and serials produced by the company present in the entire library system as a % of total titles: total academic and research library holdings in Spain (REBIUN) European Books and serials produced by the company present in the Commission Library entire library system as a % of total titles: total library Brussels holdings at the European Commission Library (Catalogue ECLAS) European University Books and serials produced by the company present in the Institute, Firenze entire library system as a % of total titles: total library holdings at the European University Institute, Firenze Libraries Australia Books and serials produced by the company present in the entire library system as a % of total titles: total academic and research library holdings in Australia (“Libraries Australia”) Dag Hammarskjöld Books and serials produced by the company present in the Library, UN entire library system as a % of total titles: total library holdings at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, UN ILO LABORDOC Books and serials produced by the company present in the entire library system as a % of total titles: total library holdings at the International Labor Organization (ILO LABORDOC) Ebsco abstracts Books and serials produced by the company mentioned in the entire document archive as a % of total titles in Ebsco Host abstracts Cambridge CSA Books and serials produced by the company mentioned in the entire document archive as a % of total titles in Cambridge CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) 3 DIALOG magazines Books and serials produced by the company mentioned in the entire document archive as a % of total titles at “DIALOG/Thomson magazines” Google book search Books and serials produced by the company mentioned in the entire document archive as a % of total titles in “Google book search” Google scholar Books and serials produced by the company mentioned in the entire document archive as a % of total titles in “Google scholar” Questia online Books and serials produced by the company mentioned in the entire document archive as a % of total titles in “Questia online” DIALOG Major US Books and serials produced by the company mentioned in papers the entire document archive as a % of total titles in “DIALOG/Thomson Major US papers” Share produced Books produced by the company present at more than 50 books at >50 global libraries in the entire world library system as a % of total libraries book titles [produced books at >50 global libraries] Share produced Serials produced by the company present at more than 50 serials at >50 global libraries in the entire world library system as a % of total libraries series titles [produced serials at >50 global libraries] In terms of their ability to place books on the markets of now 100+ countries well in comparison to total production, the American companies in our sample hold an unparalleled power. The relative market leaders, which get a large percentage of their total book output to more than 50 global libraries each, are: • Lexington (US) • St. Martin's Press (US) • Rowman/Littlefield (US) • Monthly Review Press (US) • Praeger Publishers (US) • Cornell UP (US) • Ashgate (UK) • Transaction Publishers (US) • Edward Elgar (UK) • Nova Science Publishers (US) Our results, based on simple combined ranks and more sophisticated non- parametric and parametric, multivariate SPSS XV factor analytical evaluations of indicator performance are a further sign of the fact that Europe would do well to further learn from the culture of major US Universities. 4 Our final ranking analysis in a four-factor model, explaining more than 80% of publisher efficiency, is the following: Ranking for Global market Comparative Market Comparative power, advantage in penetration in advantage in especially journal Worldcat book outside North production countries, production America especially the specialization US Amsterdam University 5 20 21 1 Press Ashgate 10 18 5 6 Blackwell 15 7 14 15 Cambridge UP 4 6 13 21 Campus (Frankfurt/Ann 20 19 18 17 Arbor) Cornell UP 2 10 9 20 Edward Elgar 6 21 1 3 Houghton/Mifflin 21 3 10 14 IOS Press 12 14 20 12 Lexington 3 15 3 16 Monthly Review Press 1 4 19 5 Nova Science 19 9 11 4 Publishers Oxford University Press 8 8 15 8 Palgrave Macmillan 17 16 8 7 Praeger 11 17 4 10 Routledge 14 12 12 11 Rowman/Littlefield 9 11 7 9 Sage Publications 13 5 16 19 Springer 18 13 17 18 St. Martin's Press 7 2 2 13 Transaction 16 1 6 2 Source: our own calculations based on the data of this article, using Microsoft EXCEL 2000/2003 and SPSS XV (Innsbruck University) software, Austria. Reference data bases: Courtesy: Fachhochschulstudiengänge Burgenland, University of Applied Sciences, Campus 1, A-7000 Eisenstadt, www.fh-burgenland.at Study Library for the opportunity to use the OCLC Worldcat documentation system, and courtesy to Innsbruck and Vienna University for the opportunity to use their reference systems online 5 JEL classification: F5 - International Relations and International Political Economy; F50 – General; M3 - Marketing and Advertising; M30 - General 6 I ntroduction Although most European decision makers, observers of the European scene as well as large sections of the European public would agree that the trajectory of European politics to a large extent depends on the capability of European social policy to come to terms with the effects of globalization, it is startling to note that on the global academic level, interest in these issues is not really overwhelming.