Our ‘bold, disruptive’ publishing future – Bookseller interview

Mandy features on the front of the magazine’s university presses edition, in which she talks about the successful integration of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, with its “central, positive guiding light” being to serve customers better.  

The Managing Director for Academic talks about our bold, disruptive approach to scholarly publishing, which has seen huge progress in making our research publishing open access and exciting new ways to deliver and share that research while fostering collaboration across disciplines.

Collaboration and transformation

This transformation is a long-term collaborative approach with scholars to open up content and change how research is delivered, to: “help academics achieve their goals and increase their impact.” 

But a bold approach is needed as we adjust to how researchers work. Mandy says: “I always think about how a university press should behave. I think it has to be on the front foot. Anyone who thinks we should cling on to things just because they have always been a certain way, needs to look at history and the various industries that have gone by the way side because they didn't reflect users' needs. We have got to shift what we are doing and how we are doing it. You can either be scared by that, or really excited. And I'm definitely in the excited camp." 

That approach carries into our approach to sustainability and to equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, with Mandy pledging to do more to build diversity in our organisation and in our products and to “push back very heavily on anyone who says that having a more diverse programme will in any way impact our quality.”

You can read the full interview for yourself by purchasing a copy of this week’s bookseller, or you can subscribe on their website and read the digital copy.