H-Scholar is H-Net's Network for independent scholars and scholarship.
I. The H-Scholar Network: Scope, Content, Purpose
THE FOCUS OF H-SCHOLAR is the pursuit of serious scholarship that is not supported by institutional resources: independent scholarship. To this end, H-Scholar encourages subscribers to share their research interests, methodologies, and concerns with the larger community; share information and resources; and raise issues of general interest to all working scholars regardless of their discipline or situation.
UNLIKE MOST H-NET NETWORKS, H-Scholar does not focus on a particular scholarly field or subject area. Its members represent a wide range of scholarly interests. This means that individual subscribers can draw upon a wealth of interests and expertise in submitting queries. It also means that discussions of scholarly issues will be general in nature; technical questions or topics concerning a specific subject area should be directed to the appropriate H-Net network. Many H-Scholar network members subscribe to several H-Net networks.
IN ADDITION TO SCHOLARLY ISSUES OF GENERAL INTEREST, H-Scholar addresses practical concerns such as:
- Library access, including access to proprietary databases; library policies and relevant library or archive initiatives
- Other major research resources (for example, materials useful for historical mapping, image collections, or newspaper archives)
- Funding advice, including information about useful online sources for funding information and major grant announcements
- Publishing scholarly work
- Employment advice, including the "h-net job guide," and also announcements of any employment opportunities that are directed toward independent scholars
- Managing time for scholarly work
- Discussions of outstanding Internet research resources
- Legal issues relevant to scholarship, such as revisions in copyright law or tax law
- Computer issues of specific concern to working scholars
- Calls for papers or reports on scholarly conferences of general or interdisciplinary interest
- Decisions/activities of major scholarly organizations likely to be of general interest
- Information about the activities of local or national associations that might be of interest to working scholars, such a discussion of the activities and goals of state humanities councils, or announcements of the formation of new learned societies
The list will also carry information about the activities and events planned by the National Coalition of Independent Scholars (NCIS) and its affiliated societies. The editors welcome suggestions for other subjects that H-Scholar should cover.
LIKE OTHER H-NET LISTS, H-Scholar follows the by-laws, policies, and procedures of H-Net concerning matters such as the style and content of contributions, copyright, etc. (See below.)
H-Scholar’s new network format now offers opportunities for exciting new forms of digital collaboration utilizing built in platforms and multiple forms of media.
II. Editors.
H-Scholar is edited by field experts approved by the network board and certified by H-Net’s Executive Council. The editors serve two-year renewable terms and rotate their duties. Editors are listed in the Network Staff List linked from the network’s front page. The editors will solicit postings through the Commons, will approve new subscriptions, will handle routine inquiries, and manage submissions. Anyone with suggestions about what H-Scholar can and might do is invited to send in ideas by writing to the editorial address. The editors will solicit and post newsletter-type information (calls for conferences, for example, or listings of sessions at conventions.) Like all H-Net networks, H-Scholar is moderated to edit out material that, in the editors' opinion, is not germane to the network mission, involves technical matters (such as subscription management requests), is inflammatory, or violates evolving, yet common, standards of Internet etiquette. Please read section III below for details about ownership, style, formatting, and content of your messages. H-Net's procedure for resolving disputes over editorial practices is Article II, Section 2.02 of our council policies, located at:
http://www.h-net.org/about/policies.php
For a list of current editors, visit: https://networks.h-net.org/node/10673/staffpage
III. Communicating Through the Network.
A. Copyright notice. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. H-Net considers all messages posted to its forums to be a form of publication. Unless otherwise arranged with H-Net, all contributions to H-Scholar are subject to H-Net’s Terms of Use and its policies concerning copyright and intellectual property, Art. III, Sec. 3.01-3.08 of the H-Net Council Policies. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of H-Net's terms of use. Users of the site verify that they are authorized by copyright holders to submit content to H-Net for publication according to those terms of use, including the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License linked here http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/. Unless otherwise indicated, reviews commissioned by H-Net and published under its imprint are subject to a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
A full copy of the H-Net Council Policies and Bylaws and other important information may be found at: http://www.h-net.org/about/.
B. Contributions: The tone and content of H-Scholar depends directly on subscribers. The editors want to encourage lively, informal, productive discussion and exchange of information. To that end, we ask that contributions be considerate of the needs of a busy audience of scholars, many of whom must pay for their access to the internet. A number of excellent guides to online behavior and style are available on the internet and we invite you consult them.
-- ALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NETWORK MUST BE SIGNED. If your profile on the H-Net Commons is not filled out with a valid name and affiliation the editors will delay posting until authorship and email address are confirmed.
-- CONTENT: Editors retain the right to review material for its pertinence, tone, style, and relevance to the network's mission. Ad hominems, unattributed quotations or innuendo, private messages forwarded for posting without permission, or messages that violate the norms of civility and professional courtesy will be rejected. Persistent violators can be removed as subscribers to the network. H-Net permanently archives its content on the H-Net Commons. Do not submit material that you consider to be of a private nature or that you would not want available to future readers.
-- STYLE: the default editorial style for discussion postings is that of a letter to the editor. Your remarks can be crafted to suit the tone of an existing discussion thread, but in any case they should address the editor and not make direct personal references to others, except where you are replying directly to a simple query (e.g., "you can find this information in Webster's Third International Dictionary."). Avoid excessive quotation of messages you refer or reply to.
-- FORMAT: While you can submit your posts to the Commons using various fonts, styles and formatting these may be edited by the editor for uniformity and readability.
IV. Technical Information.
When you subscribe to the Commons, H-Net will send you a confirmation message containing important information about managing your subscription. For online help with your subscription see http://networks.h-net.org/help-desk, especially the “Getting Started” section. These guides will help you modify your notifications, unsubscribe from the network, change the e-mail address associated with your profile, and use your “My H-Net” page effectively. If you still have questions after reading the guides please email help@mail.h-net.msu.edu.
V. The H-Scholar Network Site
The H-Scholar network site contains the following required information and services:
- The archives of the H-Scholar network discussions and other uploaded content
- The network's official documents: its about page, lists of board members and editors, contact information, and other founding and information documents.
- Hypertext links to resources in our subject: teaching materials, research archives, other networks.
VI. Advisory Board.
H-Scholar's daily activities are managed by the editors. Its long-term policies are developed by the advisory board. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact the current editor. Board members referee incoming articles, reviews, and teaching materials; establish basic subscription restrictions and policy; advise the editors on disputes among editors and subscribers; monitor the network and make active contributions to discussion; and serve as the subscribers' voice in H-Net affairs. You are encouraged to contact any or all of the editorial board members with ideas and concerns about H-Scholar.
For a list of the current advisory board, visit: https://networks.h-net.org/node/10673/staffpage
VII. Our Parent Organization: H-Net
H-Net is an international consortium of scholars in the humanities and social sciences that creates and coordinates electronic networks, using a variety of media, and with a common objective of advancing humanities and social science teaching and research. H-Net was created to provide a positive, supportive, egalitarian environment for the friendly exchange of ideas and scholarly resources.
The goals of H-NET networks are to enable scholars to easily communicate current research and teaching interests; to discuss new approaches, methods and tools of analysis; to share information on electronic databases; and to test new ideas and share comments on the literature in their fields.
H-Net's Council Policies and Bylaws, along with a list of its officers and committees, is available at: http://www.h-net.org/about/
Among H-Net's many services are:
- Book and software reviews: timely, exhaustive, authoritative, professional, fast. Mailed through our lists and stored in searchable, printable, retrievable format on our site at http://www.h-net.org/reviews.
- Job guide postings: at regular intervals, H-Net offers employment information in a broad array of fields in the humanities and social sciences. https://www.h-net.org/jobs/home.php
- H-Net calendar: announcements of conferences, papers, and professional activities, archived and searchable at our web site. You can visit our site and sample these and other services, at: http://www.h-net.org/announce
CONTACTING H-NET FOR MORE INFORMATION:
E-mail: help@mail.h-net.msu.edu
Postal mail:
H-Net
506 East Circle Drive
141H Old Horticulture
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-5134
Fax: (517) 884-6994
Jesse Draper
Associate Director & Managing Editor, Networks
Email: draperje@mail.h-net.org