Monsenstein und Vannerdat - company presentation II

Since a few years our publishing house located in Münster offers the edition „MV-Wissenschaft“ („MV-Science“), a section for scientific publications, which is growing continuously.

We regard Open Access not only as an indispensable but also as a desirable system; the scientist knows that his research results are published quickly and efficiently, while the user is able to investigate the relevant literature extensively via full-text search and to access it without restriction. Therefore, Open Access-publications as so-called „full-range teasers“ should be considered as an opportunity for free advertising on the internet.

Having convinced himself of the relevance of an article by reading the online-version given gratis, any reader will prefer the printed version for intensive examination because it is much more comfortable to handle. Scientific publishing companies fear a potential competition from this method of distribution and worry about the negative effect on their book sales. For this reason, they often refuse their authors the digital release. “Hybrid publishing” can offer a way out of this dilemma. It involves the dissemination of a document in a digital as well as in a printed form and thereby combines the advantages of both kinds of publication while the specific disadvantages of them are counterbalanced.

It can be realised through the cooperation of faculties or libraries and publishers: The university brings out its documents online. In parallel with that the publishers issue a regular and absolutely identical print-version with a unified appearance. A multiplicity of implementations are feasible, for example an independent university press, that sources out all transactions concerning the publishing (production, distribution, accounting, storage) to a service provider. “Publishing on demand” proves to be a very favourable instrument in this context since the books are produced according to the orders. So it is possible to offer them at a low price. This is a great advantage in comparison with the traditional practice of publishing houses producing a great number of copies per edition the costs of which are mainly paid by the author, the scientific community, public sponsoring etc. And consequently, many more scholars are able to publish their research work, which is useful for the scientific development. In addition, it is the scientists who decide what will be released and no longer the commercialised publisher, who always interfered in the contents of a book. The so called “peer review” is done by the university network of experts. Universities that manage their academic output in this way are able to quickly establish high renown, which they already deserved before, but which has previously been claimed by the commercialised publishers.