Academia celebrates 50 years, has published 5000 titles

Prague - Nearly 5000 titles have been published in the 50 years since the establishment of Academia Publishing House, which was created for publishing the publications of the Academy of Sciences. Its publications today make up about 60 to 70 percent of the publishing house's production, with the highest interest from readers in historical literature, especially modern history, said the director of the publishing house Jiří Padevět to reporters today.

As an author, he has contributed to one of the biggest successes of the publishing house in recent years. His publication "Guide to Protectorate Prague" became the Book of the Year 2014 in the Magnesia Litera competition.

The best-selling book from Academia is the "Academic Handbook of the Czech Language," prepared by a collective of authors under the guidance of Markéta Pravdová from the Institute for the Czech Language of the Academy of Sciences. The publication, which has been used in its online form by a million interested readers, received the Czech Bestseller award, and its second edition is being prepared. A bestseller in the Czech context is referred to when sales exceed 10,000 copies; according to Padevět, Pravdová's book is a multiple bestseller.

Academia was established in 1953 originally as the publishing house of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The name Academia has been used since 1966. It focuses on publishing works from all fields of science. According to Padevět, it publishes 100 to 120 titles annually. This places the company among the approximately 30 largest domestic publishers in terms of annual output.

Academia publishes original scientific monographs and works by Czech scientists, the works of classics of science, translations, popular science literature, non-fiction, encyclopedias, dictionaries, language textbooks, handbooks, and university textbooks, as well as Czech and translated fiction. The publishing house also issues the popular science magazine Živa.

Like other publishing houses that have been operating continuously for such a long time, it has also experienced a period of existence in an unfree time marked by censorship. The production of certain social sciences was indebted to the times, and some scientific fields, such as sociology, had almost no output. "If Academia has anything to be ashamed of over the past 50 years, it is no more than other publishing houses, including the rapid developments in the 1990s," says Padevět.

The director, who will celebrate the same anniversary as Academia this year, previously worked as a bookseller. Besides publishing activities, the company today operates a network of bookstores in Prague, Brno, and Ostrava. It is precisely the bookstores and also the profitable titles that finance the publishing activities of Academia. For titles from the production of the Academy of Sciences, the publishing house always receives individual grants based on the standard review process.