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From the point of view of the book chain, self-publishing is becoming increasingly common and it is doing so faster in the commercial world than in science. This study aims to analyse the phenomenon of self-publishing from the point of view of the research being done on it. Thus, in addition to studying the subject, it is going to be possible to analyse the viability of this methodology as an analysis technique.

The methodology is based on a combination of traditional bibliometric studies and analysis of social networks applied.

Self-publishing is a phenomenon that is being studied by the scientific community. But the research on this topic has a low rate of co-authorship and a low relationship between the most prolific authors and their relevance. The combination of techniques used has proven to be a very good choice for analyzing the data.

There are not enough works analyzing the research in self-publishing. Because of the peculiarities of the topic, a combination of various techniques will provide a better approach to its study, so, this paper contains some results using bibliometrics and others using social network analysis applied.

The aims of the present paper is electronic publishing has transformed the business model of publishing houses in Spain in such a way that two models currently coexist. The specificities of each of these models were studied and the consequences of each model for the future of electronic publishing in Spain were analysed.

The first stage of this study consisted in locating studies that would allow the authors to obtain useful indicators and statistic data regarding publication in Spain. The second stage of this study consisted of extracting from the sources cited above all data relevant to the study. To wit, these were the number of electronic books published, the major publishing houses offering electronic publications, the major platforms currently selling electronic books, presently available electronic reading devices, the rates of reading on all devices, reading rates itemized by age and educational background and general tendencies in digital publishing and e-reading.

There are traditional publishers of mostly paper-based volumes, whose business models are based on having large catalogues of titles and large print-runs, though print-runs are increasingly smaller and bookseller returns increasingly larger. Intermediary agents operating under this model, for instance booksellers, are subject to ever-greater economic pressures, especially in the current crisis

In the study that follows, the authors attempt to analyse the characteristics behind these changes and learn to what extent these changes will affect the future models of publication and reading in Spain.

In Spain, recent experiences by publishing houses are related to the new market of electronic books and they will change the current publishing scene in no time. The paper aims to discuss some of them and to give an outlook of future developments in the sector and in the libraries.

In order to develop the current situation of electronic publishing and the research on the initiatives of production and sales of electronic books, the authors used statistical and business sources, as well as bibliographic and reference databases. They assessed the experiences that have been developed in the libraries regarding the lending and use of electronic books, by means of a survey that considers these points.

There are several working experiences with electronic books, mainly through the subscription of collections in university and research libraries. However, the latest innovation is represented by the appearance of initiatives for the production and creation of publishing contents in Spain. The publication of electronic books in Spain has gone from being a mid‐term possibility, calmly accepted by the publishing sector, to being an unstoppable reality that has forced the main actors in this field to take their positions and to adopt immediate initiatives.

This is the first time that an analysis of the sector of electronic books in Spain and their implications for library and publishing sector is done.

This paper aims to show data about Spanish higher-education students’ usage, habits and perceptions regarding reading on new digital media to show the potential future of electronic books (e-books) and reading mobile devices (e-readers, tablets, cell phones, etc) in academia. It explores whether demographics and academic factors might influence e-book reading habits and attitudes and university students’ opinions about e-books vs print books. REWIL 2.0, a purpose-built research tool, was applied to measure students’ opinions about digital reading in different media and formats, considering their academic context, at the confluence of analog and digital materials and learning. Likewise, REWIL 2.0 detects who are e-book readers (eBR) and who are not and produces a statistics indicator to identify five categories of eBRs by their frequency of e-book reading. This research gathered 745 online surveys between April and July 2010 in 15 degree programs at the University of Granada: Spanish philology, English philology, history, mathematics, chemistry, environmental sciences, education, library and information science, law, medicine, biology, dentistry, computer systems, architecture and civil engineering.

This present study is a transversal applied research, where 745 students were surveyed from 15 different academic disciplines offered at the University of Granada (Spain), representing the five main discipline areas. The survey was carried out by means of a structured online survey, with REWIL 2.0 research tool. To ensure internal consistency of correlation between two different survey items designed to measure e-book reading frequency, Pearson’s r reliability test was applied. Likewise, Persons’ chi-squared statistics were applied to test the hypotheses and to detect if significant correlation existed between academic disciplines and e-book reading frequency measured through a Likert scale.

The present research is motivated by our interest in discovering what effect the current technological maelstrom and the rapid growth of new portable digital reading devices in the Spanish university environment are having on students’ lives, and the extent to which students have adopted new reading technologies. Their first aim is to establish who is reading e-books in the University? A second aim is to answer the following question: is the academic discipline a determinant factor in e-book reading habits and students’ attitudes about it? The authors began by considering the following hypotheses: University students’ attitudes to e-book reading and the way they use them will be determined by the scientific discipline they study. Students of humanities, social sciences and law will prefer to read traditional format books (printed paper), while students of experimental sciences, health and technical courses will prefer reading e-books. Students’ preferences will be determined by their previous reading experiences.

The main objective of the present study is to learn whether there are any notable differences among university students from distinct disciplines with regard to their attitude and behavior toward e-books. The authors, therefore, set out to identify the segment of the student population that does not read e-books yet (non-eBRs) from those who have already read at least one (eBRs), and within this segment, the readers that have read e-books recently (recent eBRs); find out how frequently university students are reading in different formats (paper and digital), document types (book, written press, etc.) and languages (textual, multimodal, etc.) identify what channels are used to access e-books; find out university students’ opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of reading e-books as compared to traditional print books; and identify the types of improvements or changes to the design–production–distribution–reception chain that students consider might help extend e-book reading.