This paper is the first written contribution from a Scandinavian publisher to the debate on knowledge dissemination and Open Access in the Nordic countries. Its subject is the relationships governing scholarly publishing in Scandinavia, and how the future looks for this area if one takes into account the plans for Open Access by universities and research libraries.

The perspective presented here has its centre in scholarly publications published by university presses, whereas the publications and journals published by learned societies and the like are only superficially mentioned. The how and why of the future relevance of the publishing houses is considered, with a special focus on publishers’ editorial responsibility and their marketing skills.

The paper deals with the difference between the focus on journals of STM publishers (Science, Technology and Medical Science) versus the concentration of humanities and social sciences publishers on monographs. This distinction is important in relation to the discussion of Open Access. The focus in the paper is on the humanities and social sciences, which are the research disciplines mostly published in Scandinavia. In these areas, Open Access concerns not only journals, but also monographs, which are the primary form of scholarly publication in the Nordic countries.

The takeover or closure of a number of commercial Nordic academic publishers during the last 15 years has greatly reduced the number of print outlets for academic books. Today there only remain small and medium-sized university presses, and only a few of these publish in foreign languages. The paper also discusses the lack of a positive funding policy for the support of publishing and dissemination of Scandinavian research in the humanities and social sciences. Additionally, it mentions the risk that small academic publishers will be suffocated in the effort to introduce Open Access, if the necessity of cooperation between publishers, universities and libraries is not quickly taken into account. It is claimed that publishers have a wide scope of added value to contribute, and that cooperation will be the best and most cost-effective method of securing the quality of future scholarly publishing.

Alongside Open-Access publications, the same publishers will continue to be able to publish “real” printed books or Print-on-Demand (POD) editions according to the needs.

The paper is based on the conviction that there is need for the experience and knowledge that each of the three existing main actors (universities, libraries, and publishers) in academic publishing have, and that new business models can be developed that will ensure quality and spread knowledge of published works in the future.

The author’s experiences in the (e-)publishing business form the basis for her conclusions. She has been with the Museum Tusculanum Press for 32 years (co-founder in 1975 and since then a member of the executive board, managing director since 1989). She has also observed the industry as a whole from her position as a member of the executive board of the Danish Publishers Association since 2000 and as former chair of the Association of Danish University Publishers. She has served in the board for the Danish Rights Centre (CopyDan) since 2005, and been co-founder of the Digital Forum under the Danish Publishers Associations. Since 2000 she has been head of Museum Tusculanum Press’ project “Den Medieuafhængige Tekst og den Elektroniske Boghandel”).