Association of Research Libraries (ARL®)

Su Chen
University of Minnesota

(Poster [PDF])

Scholars and librarians often wonder how research productivity and publishing trends evolve over time. Which publishers are active in the field? What subject areas have been covered prolifically or meagerly? Traditionally, the areas of East Asian literature, history, and philosophy have been strongly represented. Is this still the case? Have traditional trends experienced any shifts? Which publishers are the major players in the field? Do university presses publish in different areas from commercial publishers?

In 2008 the author published an analysis of the state of and trends in the field of East Asian studies using data collected from YBP Library Service’s database GOBI (Global Online Bibliographic Information). The current study, adopting the same methodology, is to update the previous study and expand the focus on both print and electronic monographs, which allow a comparison between print monographs and ebooks as well as a comparison with the previous study focused on publications in 2000-05.