Defining publishing sustainability: An exploratory survey on independent publishing in Italy

Abstract

The paper presents a research, set up within the Master in Publishing, Journalism and Cultural Management of the University […] in the academic year 2021-2022, that aims to investigate and define the concept of sustainability in the context of Italian independent publishing, identifying its characterizing features in relation to the changes affecting the sector in recent years.
Based on the definition of “sustainable development” provided by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, Our Common Future, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1987, p.43.), the research’s purpose is to answer the following questions: “What is editorial sustainability and how can an independent publisher persist and grow over time by meeting its present needs and those of the future generations?”
The exploratory survey involved a theoretical sample of 22 independent Italian publishers that had been consulted through semi-structured interviews, developed and carried on using the qualitative approach of the Grounded Theory (GT).
The research intended mainly to incite the interlocutors to reflect on the new topic, not yet fully analyzed, that is the concept of editorial sustainability. Each publisher has reacted in a different way, giving shape to a rich and articulated definition of sustainability.