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Routledge as a Global Publisher

A Case Study, 1980–2010

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Abstract

A case study of the commercial history of the academic publishing company, Routledge, between 1980 and 2010, with a focus on its global activities and structures. During this period, Routledge experienced changes in ownership, branding and location as well as in its subject disciplines and publishing formats. The company was also an early and continuing innovator in digital publishing. The study presents findings drawn from interviews with past and current managers, and supporting content analysis of documents and web pages. It concludes by identifying the continuities that underlay the many changes in academic publishing over the period, and by suggesting possible future research, including to test the explanatory value of Ohmae’s theories of globalization.

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Acknowledgments

I dedicate this article to the memory of David Tebbutt, a colleague over many years at ABP and Routledge who contributed to this study in 2011 a few weeks before he was tragically killed. His voice is included among the quotations here. My warm thanks also to the other interviewees, many of whom also read drafts and commented in detail on drafts. Particular thanks to John Naylor, former MD, Academic Publishing, ABP, and Jeremy North, MD Books (Humanities and Social Sciences), T&F Group.

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  1. Department of Creative Practice and Enterprise, School of Arts and Social Sciences, City University London, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB, UK

    Mary Ann Kernan

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  1. Mary Ann Kernan
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Correspondence to Mary Ann Kernan.

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Kernan, M.A. Routledge as a Global Publisher. Pub Res Q 29, 52–72 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-013-9304-9

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