What should scholarly book publishing look like in the next 5-10 years?

White Rose University Press (WRUP) is hosting a celebratory event to mark its 10th anniversary. Bringing together a panel of academics, funders and scholarly publishers, the event will open with a keynote provocation, challenging the panel to address how they will meet the increasing, and increasingly diverse, demands on scholarly book publishing.

Founded in 2016 by the universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York, WRUP has been at the forefront of a new generation of primarily open access university presses, challenging traditional models of commercial academic publishing. One driver in the development of WRUP was to establish an active voice to bring change from within the publishing community. Ten years on, this event continues this work, reflecting on developments over the past decade and looking to the future of academic book publishing.

Academic books have an important role in sharing scholarship, advancing understanding and supporting discussion within academic communities. They are also an important way to engage with wider audiences, demonstrating the relevance of higher education and the work of universities to society at large. In a rapidly changing information environment, this research-grounded knowledge is a significant tool in mitigating against the opinion-led information that threatens to dominate through social media and, increasingly, through previously trusted journalistic channels.

WRUP believes scholarly publishing should work to remove all barriers of access to information. What does this mean in practice, however, and how can we make it possible? This event will debate the questions:

• How do those involved in key areas of academic book publishing see things changing over the next 5-10 years?
• How will scholarly book publishing share knowledge and information in a way that is equitable, sustainable and engaging at the academy and societal levels? 
• How do different publishing approaches and models fit together to build an effective ecosystem that meets the needs of the individual author and their potentially global audience? 
• How do we meet these challenges in the current financial context, and how do we reclaim academic book publishing from profit-driven, elitist approaches and refocus on sharing knowledge for the wider good?

These are not simple questions, and we expect them to provoke an active and engaging debate involving different perspectives about the future of scholarly publishing — its purpose, its possibilities and who it should ultimately serve.

We hope you will join us and be part of this conversation about what comes next for scholarly book publishing, and to celebrate 10 years of White Rose University Press and the people who have shaped its success.