Costs associated with maintaining Cork University Press (CUP) in its current role are under evaluation by University College, Cork.
The press costs UCC €200,000 annually and the university is understood to be restricting its operations to keep in line with budgetary constraints.
"We are reviewing all options," a spokesman said, "but there is great affection and respect for the press in the college, and the ambition here would be to keep the press alive, although on terms that we can afford."
Although its scholarly products are regularly reviewed in international journals such as the Times Literary Supplement, the press suffers from the marketing tension between the costs of traditional academic productions with a limited readership and cheaper titles which have greater sales potential on booksellers' shelves.
While closure rumours may have emanated from a disaffected faction in the university, the press is regarded as vital to the image of UCC, which presents itself internationally as an Irish centre of academic excellence.