The Rice University Press was a
publishing house
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
, a division of
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
.
Relaunched in 2006 after a ten-year hiatus, the press was noted for its unique all-digital platform. Rice's digital press operated just as a traditional press, up to a point.
Manuscripts
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...
were solicited, reviewed, edited and resubmitted for final approval by an
editorial board
The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take.
Mass media
At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...
of prominent scholars. But rather than waiting for months for a printer to make a bound book, Rice University Press's digital files were instead run through
Connexions, an
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
e-publishing platform. The technology offered authors a way to use
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
—audio files, live hyperlinks or moving images—to craft dynamic scholarly arguments, and to publish on-demand original works in fields of study that were increasingly constrained by print publishing.
Users of Rice University Press titles were able to view the content online for free, or order printed books in every style from softbound black-and-white on inexpensive paper to leather-bound, full-color hardbacks on high-gloss paper.
Closure
In August 2010, Rice University confirmed that the press, despite being digital-only, had become too expensive to maintain. Rice University Press shut down operations on September 30, 2010.
See also
*
Connexions, the open-source e-publishing platform
References
External links
List of publicationsFeature in the Wall Street Journal, 13 July 2006
{{Authority control
Rice University
University presses of the United States
Book publishing companies based in Texas
Publishing companies established in 2006
American companies established in 2006