Democratising publishing or dodgy spammers? What ‘inclusive’ publishers tell us about the state of academic book publishing.

In disciplines where the academic book is the primary means for communicating research and establishing oneself in the field, academics may have a mental shortlist of desirable publishers. However, not everyone can access the most elite or reputable presses, and so some choose publishers with less supposed academic ‘credibility’. Some publishers get accused of spamming authors or other so-called ‘predatory’ practices. Drawing on a recent study, David Mills and Natasha Robinson explore how these practices and choices reflect a commitment to accessibility that challenges traditional models of academic publishing.