Introducing Intellect Books
Many new publishers joined the Research4Life partnership this year, and we’re always excited to hear their stories and what they have to offer to users. This week, we had a chat with Faith Newcombe, Production Editor at Intellect Books, a publisher of academic journals and books covering the arts, media, and creative industries.
Why did you join Research4Life?
Newcombe: “Within academia, and certainly in publishing, we sometimes lose our connection with the ‘real world’ and the impact our authors’ fantastic work could and should have on it. We publish a lot of cutting-edge research, much of which is centred on or written in the Global South. However, we were previously limited in our ability to distribute to these regions, which was an enormous shame.”
“We publish a lot of work on the basis that we think it is important or worthwhile, even if we can’t generate profit from it. This is a huge part of our mission statement, and organisations like Research4Life make it possible for us to extend those values to our readers.”
Research4Life’s service to institutions in developing regions without the means to access scholarship cannot be understated.
What does Intellect have on offer?
Newcombe: “Our books and journals cover the visual arts, communication and media studies, film and cinema, cultural studies, performing arts and music. We publish about fifty books per year and have over a hundred journals. We’re proud to offer a catalogue that is uniquely diverse, boundary-pushing and interdisciplinary in the field of independent academic publishing.”
“We’re known for taking on work other publishers might consider unviable and have a strong emphasis on design and aesthetics as well as rigorous academic precision.”
“Our audience ranges from researchers and scholars, to teachers, to laymen with an interest in the topics we publish. We’ve got some quite heavy subject-specific readers, like Communication & Discourse Theory, as well as great fan books, like our Game of Thrones collection, and everything in between.”
What are you most excited about when it comes to joining Research4Life?
Newcombe: “I’ve been amazed by the service we get from Research4Life! The programme takes care of a lot of the admin that comes with registering new institutions that want to get access. This allows us to focus on promoting this service, which will hopefully lead to much higher access. Our hope is that the programme will help us reach regions we have not previously had much of a presence in as a publisher, and encourage scholars and practitioners from those regions to work with us in the future. Research4Life’s service to institutions in developing regions without the means to access this scholarship cannot be understated.”
Any upcoming projects that you’re looking forward to?
Newcombe: “At the moment, we’re working on making our full catalogue completely accessible to those with visual impairments. We’re currently sat at number 3 on ASPIRE’s list of accessible publishers, but we want to be second in 2020!”
Are you a Research4Life user and do you want to browse through the titles offered by Intellect Books? Log on to the Research4Life portal via Summon and discover what is available.
Not a user yet? Check if your institution has access, and if not, if it is eligible for access.
