SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING AND NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

In the face of the prevailing scarcity of scholarly publications in Ni geria, universities can, and should, through their university presses and other publishing programs, play an important role in enhancing the availability of scholarly publications in the country. The present ac ute book shortage is roofed in the historical tradition of importing b ooks from abroad; in addition, even indigenous publishers must rely on heavily tariffed foreign supplies of materials and equipment. Univers ity presses have a special obligation to help disseminate the results of the research and the ideas of native scholars, as African scholarsh ip may be rejected by international publishers for being too local in orientation. These presses must also strive to maintain their independ ence of editorial judgement and of function; they must not be seen as a merely revenue-yielding service. Challenges also exist for the marke ting and distribution of scholarly materials: infrastructure may be in adequate, and other channels (bibliographic instruments, promotion cam paigns, bookseller advertising, etc.) may be flawed. Many solutions ar e possible: fiscal policies and incentives at individual institutions and in government must be changed to support scholarly publishing; pre sses may explore cooperative publishing; attention muse be given to st rengthening copyright legislation and negotiating licensing rights; pr omotional strategies must be improved.