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Scholarly Journal Publishers in a Small-Language Country: The Case of Lithuania

Authors:
Arūnas Gudinavičius at Vilnius University
Arūnas Gudinavičius
Vincas Grigas at Vilnius University
Vincas Grigas
Andrius Suminas at Vilnius University
Andrius Suminas
Tomas Petreikis
Tomas Petreikis
Tomas Petreikis
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Abstract and Figures

The research aims to evaluate the publication of scholarly journals in Lithuania, a small-language country, by analyzing the owners and publishers of scholarly journals. The results show that, since 1990, the publishing of Lithuanian scholarly journals has grown significantly: 225 scholarly journals were published in Lithuania by 73 different publishers in 2020. Social publishers, mostly state-funded universities, scientific institutes and colleges still held the largest market share of scholarly journals, but commercial publishers also appeared and started to make a business out of publishing scholarly journals. The analyzed data on publishers show that Lithuanian publishers have tried to take over and reorganize a number of scholarly journals from the Soviet era, while adapting to the dynamically changing world of scholarly publishing and moving from simple product sales models of the twentieth century to new digital ecosystems of the twenty-first-century age in which the essential distribution of publications is carried out digitally.
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Vol:.(1234567890)
Publishing Research Quarterly (2023) 39:324–336
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-023-09968-8
1 3
Scholarly Journal Publishers inaSmall‑Language Country:
The Case ofLithuania
ArūnasGudinavičius1· VincasGrigas1· AndriusŠuminas1· TomasPetreikis1
Published online: 20 November 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
2023
Abstract
The research aims to evaluate the publication of scholarly journals in Lithuania, a
small-language country, by analyzing the owners and publishers of scholarly jour-
nals. The results show that, since 1990, the publishing of Lithuanian scholarly jour-
nals has grown significantly: 225 scholarly journals were published in Lithuania by
73 different publishers in 2020. Social publishers, mostly state-funded universities,
scientific institutes and colleges still held the largest market share of scholarly jour-
nals, but commercial publishers also appeared and started to make a business out
of publishing scholarly journals. The analyzed data on publishers show that Lithua-
nian publishers have tried to take over and reorganize a number of scholarly journals
from the Soviet era, while adapting to the dynamically changing world of scholarly
publishing and moving from simple product sales models of the twentieth century to
new digital ecosystems of the twenty-first-century age in which the essential distri-
bution of publications is carried out digitally.
Keywords Scholarly publishers· Scholarly journals· Publishing· Article processing
charge
* Arūnas Gudinavičius
arunas.gudinavicius@kf.vu.lt
Vincas Grigas
vincas.grigas@kf.vu.lt
Andrius Šuminas
andrius.suminas@kf.vu.lt
Tomas Petreikis
tomas.petreikis@kf.vu.lt
1 Faculty ofCommunication Vilnius, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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