"This wide-ranging dissertation examines the policies and practices of six sub-Saharan Africa university presses in five African countries (in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe), to investigate how far the presses have adopted, and/or have adapted, their policies to suit the environment and special needs of Africa. The study examines the extent to which current constraints impede their publishing activities and publishing strategies. The author finds that there is “a serious absence of competition and cooperation between the presses surveyed”, lack of aggressive fund raising strategies, together with weak or non-existent policies for commissioning and list building, and without a clearly defined subject focus. The author also examines the various strategies adopted by the presses to adapt to the rapidly changing scholarly communications environment. In his conclusions he recommends the setting-up of a continent-wide consortium of African university presses, with each press “to operate as a Trust in order to enjoy autonomy as a private company, but be registered as a non-profit organization.” The author calls for more active collaboration among African scholarly presses (including joint publishing ventures, sharing of resources and expertise, reciprocal distribution, etc.); much stronger emphasis on the use of new technology, particularly print-on-demand; makes some suggestions regarding possible sources of funding for the presses, and recommends further research into the effect of ICTs on university press publishing in Africa." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2281)