Abstract： University publishing, with its political, commercial, and cultural attributes, plays a vital role in creating, disseminating knowledge and serving the society. University presses are characterized by academic publishing, long publishing cycles, stable sources of manuscripts, high prices for academic books, precise audience targeting, and professional marketing channels. However, compared with university publishing in Europe and America, university publishing in China started late and now it faces the impact of digitization, requiring urgent transformation. The fundamental difference between the industrial age and the digital age of publishing is “connectivity”, which is the essential feature of digitalization and has overturned the traditional publishing process and thinking. “Connectivity” promotes both openness and equality as well as fierce competition and substitutability. On the one hand, it poses challenges such as the weakened gatekeeping functions of university presses, the preference for entertainment, and a mismatch between standardized textbook publishing and personalized education. On the other hand, it creates opportunities such as academic open exchange, media integration in academic publishing, and full-scenario services.
Furthermore, university publishing in China faces challenges in the form of discount promotions by e-commerce platforms, insufficient innovation in the construction of digital resource platforms and personalized knowledge scenarios, blurred positioning, inadequate brand marketing, and international influence that cannot compete with that of foreign publishing groups. In response to this situation, university presses should break out of their comfort zone and make the most of the double-edged sword of “connection”. First, university presses should improve their capabilities of digital professional service and the quality of academic publications, optimize the standardization of academic publishing, and attach importance to the cultivation of professional authors and editors. Second, university presses should build an academic resource database to achieve knowledge connection, establish regional connections with well-known foreign publishing institutions, and build a digital academic publishing industry chain to promote the construction of academic publishing scenarios through technology empowerment. At the same time, university presses should achieve the connection between industry and emotion through the construction of branding and platform. In terms of branding and marketing, university presses should clarify their positioning, focus on professional strengths and fine characteristics to build up book brands, establish long-term cooperation with professional institutions, and increase the number and stickiness of target readers through the operation of a full-media matrix. In terms of platform construction, university presses should establish service-oriented academic platforms and digital reading platforms for the masses and make breakthroughs in major projects, key product lines, and subject brands. Finally, university presses should optimize talent connections through high-end think tank construction, build big data publishing platforms, use technology to promote the level of think tank construction, serve the development needs of their publishing businesses, and provide professional knowledge and information consulting services for governments and enterprises, gradually expanding to provide customized publishing solutions for individual users, thus achieving true great-leap-forward development of university publishing.
陈洁. 数字时代大学出版变革及发展路径探讨[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 0, (): 1-.
Chen Jie. Change and Path of University Publishing in the Digital Age. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 0, (): 1-.
