Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2022

Presentation information

[J] Oral

U (Union ) » Union

[U-06] Academic Publishing, Open Science and Open Data from Japan

Wed. May 25, 2022 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM 105 (International Conference Hall, Makuhari Messe)

convener:Hirokuni Oda(Institute of Geology and Geoinformation, Geological Survey of Japan, AIST), convener:Hodaka Kawahata(Atmosphere Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo), Chairperson:Hirokuni Oda(Institute of Geology and Geoinformation, Geological Survey of Japan, AIST), Hodaka Kawahata(Atmosphere Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo)

9:15 AM - 9:30 AM

[U06-02] Overview of Academic Publishing of Books in Earth and Planetary Science

★Invited Papers

*Mika Komatsu1 (1.University of Tokyo Press)

Keywords:academic publishing, books, academic books, textbooks, cultural and educational books

Based on my many years of experience in editing books related to earth and planetary science at a scholarly publishing company, I would like to talk about the outline and issues of the current state of scholarly publishing of books in Japan.

In scholarly publishing, the university presses have played a major role both overseas and in Japan. University of Tokyo Press, to which I have been belonging, celebrated its 70th anniversary last year. We have continued publishing activities with mainly three categories, which are "academic books" that present cutting-edge research results, "textbooks" that are indispensable for university education, and "cultural or educational books" that connect the university and the general society.

There are some examples from my company’s back lists in the field of earth and planetary science, as academic books, big data books (such as "Active Faults in Japan", "Materials for Comprehensive List of Destructive Earthquakes in Japan") and various specialized books (monographs). As textbooks examples, such as "General Meteorology", “Geomorphology Illustrated”, and other cultural or educational books include “The Earth, Planets, and Life”, which was published two years ago to commemorate the 30th anniversary of JpGU.

Unlike comics, novels, and business books, scholarly publishing is a modest market with many varieties and a small number of copies. The Japanese publishing industry has been shrinking since 1997, and scholarly publishing is no exception. Almost all publishers in Japan are in a difficult situation. The phenomenon of "young people's aliteracy" has been said for about half a century, and there is no doubt that the Internet is much more suitable than books for obtaining "information".

Nevertheless, I believe that "books" are very important and indispensable, and continue publishing activities because one "book" is one original “world” created by the one and only author. (When I hear that each chapter is sold separately in electronic publishing, I strongly think “A book is not an instruction manual”.) As an editor, I will send out what the author wants to convey in the book in the best form, that I believe as my mission; The selection of the publishing plan, search for what the most advantage of the book is, the examination and reorganization of the contents structure, the layout of the pages, the arrangement of figures and tables, the review of sentences and the unification of expressions, multiple proofreading, how to find the appropriate readers, the optimal and impressive binding design, advertising and the sales strategy. These processes are the same, regardless of whether it is a print medium on paper or an electronic medium.

I hear that books are becoming more open access overseas, but I wonder if it may be difficult to establish a business model in a narrow market where only Japanese is used instead of English. As an old-fashioned editor, I would rather appreciate suggestions from you with a wealth of experience in open access when submitting journal articles.

In addition, I would like to touch on the current state of electronic publishing in scholarly publishing and the outlook for book publishing in earth and planetary science in the future.