National Academy Press, the publishing unit of the scientific academies chartered by Congress, has received a $250,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to study its e-publishing business. The research will be carried out by the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business.
Since 1994, National Academy, which publishes about 200 books a year, has been providing the full text of all its titles online; customers may read or purchase print copies. The grant will allow the press to study the profiles of its on- and offline customers. The study will examine the press's policy of free online access to its titles to determine how sales are affected, and it will examine ways to price and deliver various kinds of content.
"It's very unusual for a publisher to actually collect data before making any kind of decision," said Barbara Kline Pope, director of National Academy. "This generous grant will allow us to stay on the forefront of the e-publishing world and provide the larger publishing industry with solid information on the viability of new business models."
