Ibero-American university presses: an approach to their profile and manuscripts selection processes

Abstract

This article provides an approach to the profile of Latin American University Presses regarding the volume and type of books published, as well as the manuscript selection procedures followed. A questionnaire was designed and sent to the set of Latin American University Presses affiliated to EULAC through the different national associations of university publishers. From the 310 publishers invited to participate in the survey, only 87 answered (response rate: 26.6%). The data obtained was compared with the university publishing sector in Spain. Among the most important conclusions we can mention the following ones: University Publishers in Latin America are quite uneven in terms of both volume of publication and professionalization, and unlike in the Spanish sector, they publish fewer teaching manuals. The scientific interest of the work prevails over other types of selection criteria and the Peer Review is the most widely used method for the evaluation and selection of scientific books (76%); publishers’ websites are understood as an adequate mean for the dissemination of the publishers catalogues but not as a communication channel to provide information about the editorial and publishing processes to the authors (only 33% of the publishers provide information on these issues at their websites). Most publishers assume the whole cost of the publishing process.