News: Academic Publishing Weekly

Preprint repository arXiv receives funds for independence, a new journal for community studies, and the latest StatShot report

Posted on September 25, 2026 in News

New Publisher Partnerships Alert

Columbia University Press (CUP) and Ediciones Uniandes will enter a new partnership for international distribution. The book publishing division of the University of the Andes in Bogotá, Ediciones Uniandes will distribute select CUP titles in Latin America, while CUP will distribute the division’s Spanish-language titles in North America, Europe, and Asia. This partnership marks the “first Spanish-language publisher in [CUP’s] distribution portfolio” and signals “an important step in demonstrating to the academic publishing community that Spanish-language scholarship has an important role in bringing new ideas to the marketplace,” said Brad Hebel, CUP’s Interim Director and Chief Operating Officer, in a statement. Speaking of deals, Springer Nature entered a transformative agreement with the University of Texas System. Building on an existing 20-year relationship, the four-year deal will allow Texas researchers to read and publish openly across the Springer, Palgrave, and Adis portfolios and “is expected to enable the open publication of nearly 900 articles per year.”

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Grants and Gifts Galore!

HathiTrust, a digital repository for research libraries, won a $5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation “to develop AI-powered services aimed at improving discovery and research across its collection of 19 million digitised volumes.” Working with Northeastern University Library and the nonprofit Authors Alliance, the five-year project aims to discover “equitable and transparent uses of artificial intelligence in large-scale digital collections.” Next, preprint server arXiv received multimillion dollar gifts to help transition into an independent nonprofit. Provided by Simons Foundation International, XTX Markets, and Siegel Family Endowment, the $17.2 million funds “will support platform development, organizational capacity, and overall provide foundational support” for the move. The investments will be made over the course of three to five years. Finally, the Internet Archive received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to develop digital preservation for local and state governments. Named ATLAS (Access To Local And State government information), the program will strengthen access, preservation, and institutional coordination efforts, also improving the discoverability of government information.

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How Is AI Impacting Copyrighted Content Usage?

The CCC (Copyright Clearance Center) and Outsell, Inc. released the 2026 Copyrighted Content Usage Trends Report, which looks at “how externally published content enters AI workflows, how often the resulting outputs are shared, and with whom.” According to the findings, the “velocity of shared content is still rising,” meaning that potential unlicensed sharing instances per employee continue to increase, up to 73 instances per week, compared to 66 in 2025. The report also reveals that externally published content is increasingly finding its way into AI tools, with top executives “generat[ing] 111 potential unlicensed sharing instances per employee each week, six times the rate of an individual contributor.” Grant Hunter, SVP of Outsell Intelligence, stated, “Today, half of knowledge workers we surveyed already have externally published content entering AI through automated feeds and APIs, bypassing case-by-case review by design. This is now a major enterprise concern.”

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New Version of CONTENTdm and The Journal for Community Studies

The global nonprofit library organization OCLC rolled out a new version of CONTENTdm, a management platform for sharing digital collections. The updates include a redesign “to meet digital collection management needs today and into the future” in addition to improving discoverability, metadata, and collection management tools for users. In other news, the Institute for Community Studies, part of non-profit organisation The Young Foundation, unveiled a new journal, The Journal for Community Studies. The journal’s mission is to “bring academic research into direct conversation with knowledge and expertise held within UK communities.” Its format features academic research alongside “a response from a community practitioner, organisation or leader, creating a dialogue between research findings and lived experience.” The first issue is supported by the Centre for Collaboration in Community Connectedness (C4) and will cover social infrastructure for communities, intergenerational relationships, and inclusion in the digital age, among other topics.

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The Latest Publishing Numbers from the AAP

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) released its latest StatShot report for July 2026. Overall, revenues were up more than 5 percent year-to-date in 2026, while total revenue in July was up 14 percent compared to July 2025, coming in at $1.0 billion. Turning to scholarly publishing, the month of July was down almost 3 percent, but year-to-date numbers remained positive with a 1 percent increase compared to last year. Finally, revenue for education materials increased both in July and year-to-date, rising 2.3 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

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Independent Press Top 5 Bestsellers: Nonfiction
The American Booksellers Association and the Independent Publishers Caucus recently collaborated on an independent bestsellers list, which includes books from independent presses and sold in indie bookshops. Below are the top five nonfiction titles this week. Find this week’s full list of fiction and nonfiction independent bestsellers.

1. Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature by Emily Wilson (Liveright)
2. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore (Liveright)
3. Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made by Kristin Kobes Du Mez (Liveright)
4. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions)
5. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon (Liveright)

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