Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology
School of Information Technology
Department of Information Science
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
In 2003, the Publishing Studies division of the Department of Information Science was approached by the Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA) with the request that data be collected on the book publishing industry.
This request provided the impetus for a number of surveys: two “snapshot surveys” focusing on the years 2002 and 2003, and two more in-depth surveys for 2004 and 2005.
The participants in these surveys included a large number of publishing houses that are members of PASA. The data collected during the surveys were analysed in order to detect trends and patterns in a number of variables; these included turnover, production, authorship, employment and ownership profiles.
The results of each survey were captured in an annual report, thus providing a comprehensive overview of the contemporary book publishing industry in South Africa at that time.
These reports are used by PASA, the Print Industries Cluster Council and various government departments to monitor the growth and development of the book publishing industry.
In 2006, an additional report was compiled to reflect broad trends over the period 2002-2005. The report indicates that the Total Net Turnover of the book publishing industry during 2005 was just over two thousand million Rand; this represents an 18,25% growth between 2004 and 2005.
When this Total Net Turnover (in nominal terms) is compared with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Current, it is evident that the publishing industry, as a cultural industry, is making a relatively significant contribution to the economy of the country (0,139% in 2005).
The report also highlights several other interesting economic trends. Examples of such trends include the ratio between income generated by local versus imported products, as well as the ratio of income generated by the educational, academic and trade book sub-sectors
Contact person: Dr FCJ Galloway.
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