The economic and social factors affecting the publication of scholarly and scientific/technical material throughout the world following World War II are identified and discussed. An outline of the state of scholarly publishing immediately following the war precedes considerations of the role of university press in scholarly and technical publishing, the relationships between university presses and their parent institutions, libraries as a market for university press publications, the specific problems associated with scientific and technical publication, and publishing programs sponsored by learned societies and philanthropic foundations. Some developments in scholarly publishing which took place during the 1960s in Canada, Australia, Africa, Asia, India, and Great Britain are briefly described. Statistical data on changing levels of book production, scholarly book and periodical publication, sources of finance and profit levels in commercial and scholarly publishing, and academic libraries as a market for scholarly materials are presented and analyzed. Some of the current problems confronting scholarly publishing are reviewed. Cost and production data are summarized in 10 tables, and a 27-item reference list is included. (JL)