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Short abstract:

I argue that contemporary scholarly book publishing is increasingly animated by a logic of digitalization, and that the way in which academic books are ‘made’ is changing as a result of new practices, technologies, organizational hierarchies and value orientations.

Long abstract:

Although they are gatekeepers in the credibility economy, scholarly book publishers have been largely overlooked by the social sciences, and by STS in particular. The last major study was conducted some twenty years ago, but economic challenges and digital technologies have subsequently transformed the industry’s norms and practices. Furthermore, the future of scholarly book publishing increasingly looks ‘open,’ with governments and funding agencies hastening progress towards a world in which everybody can access research at zero cost. Given these developments, it seems timely to re-examine these overlooked actors whose activities make a difference to disciplines and careers alike.

My suggestion is that whereas past generations of publishers were informed by editorial- or market-based logics, contemporary publishing is animated by a new logic of digitalization, where practices, organizational hierarchies and value orientations are shaped by (among other things) proprietary eBook and journal platforms, metadata flows, and the influence of ‘data-driven’ approaches to traditional editorial activities. Indeed, this tension between tradition and innovation is leading some organizations to reimagine what a publisher is for, positioning themselves less as gatekeepers than as disruptors, interested less in content than in infrastructural services through which new claims are made about the nature and the future of the academic book. Looking beyond the more visible processes of authorship and editorial decision-making, I attempt to show how books are now ‘made’ in this space between the old and the new, which carries implications for how we as academics might collectively imagine, produce and use texts.