business is booming for Humanities.

Byline: mark chillingworth

business is booming for Humanities

Scientific publishing may have grabbed the lion's share of attention over the past year or two due to the ongoing open access debate, but humanities and social science subjects often pull in more students to an institution.

As a result the information industry has been adapting to meet the needs of students, academics and libraries alike. Among the changes in this sector are backfile digitisation, increased web access, an expansion of portfolios and rising interest in business-related studies. The same forces of consolidation that are blowing through other sectors have also left their mark.

Just as in scientific, technical and medical (STM) publishing, the takeover of Blackwell Publishing by John Wiley & Sons was the most significant consolidating move recently seen in the market. Blackwell has always been one of the most significant non-university press humanities publishers and is the market's largest society publisher. Wiley was no wilting wallflower in the sun of the humanities market either and the two becoming one will have significant ramifications for the market over the medium term.

But consolidation in the sector should not be viewed negatively. Commentators from across the market say there are genuine reasons for it and that it will benefit academics, students and libraries.

Gillian Etienne, head of corporate communications at Emerald, a Bradford-based publisher with a growing portfolio, explains its recent spate of acquisitions as "seeking to fill gaps in our portfolio". She says that Emerald and other publishers continually consider swapping titles with each other so that each house has a more complete portfolio set.