As electronic publishing and its marketing gets better stabilized, research institutions and academicians increasingly look for ebook versions for their requirements. It is therefore not a surprise that institutions and libraries also keep a track of electronic publications to complement their printed books. The current ebook trend in academic and scholarly publishing might be attributed to scientific journals which took to e-versions early.
Although it is widely anticipated that it would take about 5 to 10 years for transition of readers from print to electronic books, it is expected that those involved in academics and research, like in the fields of science, technology and medicine would be able to transition more quickly.
According to Springer Science & Business Media, a leading publisher in medical and scientific research, electronic book readers like the Kindle and Nook are transforming the landscape of academic publishing. Springer which has over 22,000 books compatible and made available for reader devices like Kindle and Nook, expect over 50% of its revenues to come from ebooks in the coming years.
Ebooks enable libraries to save costs considerably. With institutional libraries increasingly succumbing to budget pressures and budget cuts, they have an increasing tendency to move from print to electronic versions. Academic journal publishers like Springer, easily persuade libraries and institutions to renew their subscriptions, by allowing them to see how often their journals and books, even mediocre ones have been accessed.
Ebooks in academics also offer considerable cost benefits with regard to book shelf maintenance and circulation. Institutional libraries can save considerably by shifting from printed books to ebooks, in terms of salaries for reshelving personnel.
It should be noted here that the growth of ebooks in academic/scholarly publishing is despite the complex licensing issues and digital rights management. The reluctance and conservatism of publishers to provide ebook rights or share proprietary content for reformatting, has had considerable impact.
As of now, academic ebooks seem to have its future chalked out clearly. About 40% of UK research monographs are expected to be made available in electronic format by 2020, with about 50% available in both print and digital versions. The Center for Information Behavior and the Evaluation of Research at London opines that by 2017, eBooks would be the default format for research and scholarly books.
Ebooks are definitely taking into scholarly and academic publishing in a big way, a way that would indeed benefit a larger community of students and researchers. We at eBooks2go are indeed a part of this ongoing revolution. Check out for the academic and scholarly publishing services at ebooks2go.