The publishing house acquired Karger Publishers in the Swiss city of Basel in November but up to 85 out of 114 jobs could be made redundant by the end of the month.
Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung reported that the mood among staff is “currently catastrophic”.
Oxford University Press told us that a “number of” changes are being proposed but it is currently at a review stage, which includes redundancies.
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A spokeswoman said: “Due to ongoing market challenges, a number of organizational changes have been proposed at Karger Publishers which are currently being reviewed.
“As we are undergoing a consultation process, our main priority is to support the impacted teams and we are unable to provide any additional information at this time.”
Despite there being a consultation period, sources have told the Swiss paper that employees are “certain that the proposals will ultimately be disregarded” with mass layoffs expected.
In November, Oxford University Press began a consultation to axe 113 jobs in Oxford, which has now ended but it has refused to say the results.
Basler Zeitung reports: “Some business activities have not generated sufficient revenue in recent years.
“Only the magazine business offers a long-term perspective, the letter states. Karger therefore intends to focus future measures and investments entirely on this area.”
More than 9,000 book titles and over 100 peer-reviewed journals have been published by Karger Publishing, making it one of Switzerland’s largest publishers of medical publications.
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