Feeding the Elephant
The Elephant Roundup (January 2023)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Scholarly Communications
Jill O’Neill, Books Are For Use and What That Means, Scholarly Kitchen (blog), December 6, 2022.
Engaging the Past: Curating “A Monumental Weight” at the Fredericksburg Area Museum
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Public historians specialize in translating academic research for nonspecialists, providing models and inspiration for other scholars looking to convey the value of their work in understanding contemporary social issues. In this post, curator Gaila Sims describes creating an exhibit about slavery at a museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
2022: The Elephant in Review
Post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications Editorial Team.
As another year draws to a close, the Feeding the Elephant editorial team is reflecting on all that we learned this year from university press business models to tips for working with your editor to reviews of new books on scholarly communications.
Multimodal Digital Monographs: An Interview with Allison Levy and Sarah McKee
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
In this interview, Emory University’s Sarah McKee and Brown University’s Allison Levy share insights from their work publishing digital multimedia scholarship.
Re: An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
Thanks for these insightful guidelines, which could potentially help minimize all forms of bias, including ableism. My writing has sometimes been criticized for traits which stem from my MS-induced neurodivergence. Although the anonymous reviewers were (presumably) unaware of my disabilities, such criticisms nonetheless struck me as ableist insofar as they targeted ways that my brain functions differently. The heuristic is a powerful way to encourage reviewers to be more accepting of diverse forms of self-expression, prose style, and structure.
Re: An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
Jerome, the stories are IN the heuristic. Go read it (linked in the original story) and you'll find them.
How Do Historians and Journalists Write History? A Response to the NYT on Haiti
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Courtney Pierre Joseph, assistant professor of history and African American studies at Lake Forest College; Matthew Miller, senior reporter at MLive; and Ryan Huey.
The Elephant Roundup (November 2022)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Scholarly Communications
Rachel Helps, Guest Post – Wikipedia’s Citations Are Influencing Scholars and Publishers, Scholarly Kitchen (blog), November 1, 2022.
Re: An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
Thanks, but perhaps I missed something Emily. I would love to look at the Scenarios/Stories, as over a half century of various service evaluating candidates and submissions, as well as scholar activism, I have been accused of almost every bias, and have occasionally made similar claims regarding my own situation(s). I assume the complaints collected are only of negative outcomes; Biases that result in positive ones probably are not in the collection. I ask only because I know it (bias in evaluations) is a constant problem.
Gratitude from the Feeding the Elephant Editorial Board
Post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
With the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, the Feeding the Elephant Editorial Board would like to share what about this forum makes them grateful.
Catherine Cocks
Varieties of University Press Business Models V: Open Access
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Beth M. Bouloukos, director of the Amherst College Press.
This post is part of a series on how university presses (and other scholarly nonprofit publishers) are organized and operated. If you’ve got a model you’d like to describe, we’d like to hear from you.
Varieties of University Press Business Models IV: The Independent Non-profit Corporation
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
A guest post by Christie Henry, director of Princeton University Press.
Finding Joy in Open Access: Reflections from the Humanities Commons Team
A crosspost on Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications from Platypus: The blog of the Humanities Commons Team.
As we conclude our celebration of International Open Access Week, we asked our team to reflect on what joy in open access looks like for them.
A Bumpy Start to the Joys of Open Access: A Festive Perspective
A crosspost on Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications from Platypus: The blog of the Humanities Commons Team.
This post was originally published on Platypus: The blog of the Humanities Commons Team on October 26, 2022, to honor International Open Access Week. We thank Humanities Commons for sharing their posts with us.
Re: An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
Emma Rose responded with the following:
The Elephant Roundup (October 2022)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Scholarly Communications
James M. Lang, How to Cope With Presentation Anxiety, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 28, 2022.
Re: An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
On behalf of the Feeding the Elephant editorial team, we wanted to thank you for engaging with this post and let you know that we are sending your question to the authors. Please be on the lookout for a response soon! Thanks again!
Bell on Luey, 'Handbook for Academic Authors: How to Navigate the Publishing Process, sixth edition'
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Book review by Aurora Bell, acquisitions editor, University of South Carolina Press.
Beth Luey, Handbook for Academic Authors: How to Navigate the Publishing Process, sixth edition (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Re: An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
Without undue disclosure, can you provide some examples of a racially or otherwise biased review? As someone who a great deal of editing and reviewing, my sense is if it walks like a duck... which is not especially helpful to those who aren't already disposed to understand the pervasive biases in our business. thanks,
Independent Bookstores in Intellectual Exchange
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
A guest post by Matt Grossman, director of Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University.
The Elephant Roundup (September 2022)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Open Access
Ann Michael, Tim Vines, Robert Harington, David Crotty, Tao Tao, and Alison Mudditt, Ask The Chefs: OSTP Policy Part I, The Scholarly Kitchen (blog), Aug. 30, 2022.
Re: An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
The first citation in the third paragraph erroneously states the author's name as Hass, but it should be Haas. We apologize for this error.
An Anti-Racist Reviewing Heuristic
Guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
A guest post by Lauren E. Cagle & Emma J. Rose.
In this post, two technical communication scholars describe the creation of a heuristic for anti-racist reviewing. Though it comes from a specific discipline, it offers tools every editor, reviewer, and author can use.
Imagine this scenario:
Libraries: Champions of the First Amendment
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
A guest post by Kristin Shelley, director of the East Lansing, Michigan, public library
The year is 2022 and book banning efforts are on the rise: up 60 percent. This sounds like the opening line of a novel. Unfortunately, it is not fiction. It is reality.
Varieties of University Press Business Models III: The Single-State Consortium
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Craig Gill, director of University Press of Mississippi
This post is part of a series on how university presses (and other scholarly nonprofit publishers) are organized and operated. If you’ve got a model you’d like to describe, we’d like to hear from you.
The Elephant Roundup (August 2022)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Scholarly Communications
Angela Cochran, The End of Journal Impact Factor Purgatory (and Numbers to the Thousandths), The Scholarly Kitchen (blog), July 26, 2022.
Varieties of University Press Business Models II: The Multi-State Consortium
A guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Darrin Pratt, director of the University Press of Colorado
This post is part of a series on how university presses (and other scholarly nonprofit publishers) are organized and operated. If you’ve got a model you’d like to describe, we’d like to hear from you.
Varieties of University Press Business Models I: UP as University Department
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
With this post, we start a new series on how university presses (and other scholarly nonprofit publishers) are organized and operated. The model described here is pretty common in the United States. We’ll look at presses that operate differently in future posts. If you’ve got a model you’d like to describe, we’d like to hear from you.
The Elephant Roundup (July 2022)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Open Access Publishing
Welcome to Emily Joan Elliott
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
You may have noticed that a new collaborator has joined the Feeding the Elephant editorial collective. Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Emily Joan Elliott! Emily is H-Net's new Associate Director for Research & Publications and Managing Editor for Reviews, and we are very excited to be working with her.
Applying for a Publishing Position: Deconstructing a Job Ad
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Bethany Wasik, acquisitions editor at Cornell University Press.
A Critical Subjective Analysis of Objectivity
Guest post by Nahir Otaño Gracia, assistant professor of medieval studies, University of New Mexico
A Publicist’s Guide to Completing Your Book’s Marketing Questionnaire
A guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Rosemary Sekora, publicity manager, University of Nebraska Press
“I have a relationship with this scholarly society, and they would have done a free ad in the conference program; did you reach out to them?”
“Why didn’t you submit my book to this award?”
“This journal is the perfect place to review my book—how come they didn’t receive a copy?”
Working with Your Editor: Your Relationship with Your Copyeditor
Guest post by Amy Sherman, managing editor, University of Pittsburgh Press
Working With Your Editor: Crafting a Letter of Response to Peer Reviews
A guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Sian M. Hunter, senior acquisitions editor, University Press of Florida
The Elephant Roundup (April 2022)
Changing Shape of Scholarship
Danielle Cooper and Dylan Ruediger, Guest Post — Event Streaming Start-Ups: A Strategic Overview and Taxonomy, Scholarly Kitchen (blog), April 20, 2022.
Navigating the Changing Landscape of Scholarly Book Publishing in Literary and Cultural Studies, Part 3
This post was developed from a virtual panel conversation that took place at the Modern Language Association 2022 meeting in January, organized by the MLA Publications Committee.
Navigating the Changing Landscape of Scholarly Book Publishing in Literary and Cultural Studies, Part 2
This post was developed from a virtual panel conversation that took place at the Modern Language Association 2022 meeting in January, organized by the MLA Publications Committee.
Navigating the Changing Landscape of Scholarly Book Publishing in Literary and Cultural Studies
This post was developed from a virtual panel conversation that took place at the Modern Language Association 2022 meeting in January, organized by the MLA Publications Committee.
Publishing Tips from a Historian
by Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History, University of Pittsburgh
Working with Your Editor: Working with a Developmental Editor
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
This week, we revisit a Working with Your Editor post by Michigan State University assistant professor of German and global studies Johanna Schuster-Craig, in which she describes her experience of working on her first scholarly monograph with a developmental editor. This piece was the second most visited piece from 2020, and we hope it proves useful for anyone considering getting help with their academic writing. --Eds.
The Elephant Roundup (March 2022)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Academic Life in Wartime
Ani Kokobobo, War Is the Enemy of Education, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 7, 2022.
Working with Your Editor: Manuscript Transmittal and Launch
by Clare Jones, assistant editor, Cornell University Press
Book Review: William Germano's "On Revision: The Only Writing That Counts"
Book review by Jenny Tan, associate editor, University of Pennsylvania Press
William Germano, On Revision: The Only Writing That Counts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021).
Navigating the Publishing Path: Job Application Tips and Tricks
Guest post by Allegra Martschenko, acquisitions editor, University Press of Colorado, and Rachael Levay, editor in chief, University Press of Colorado and acquisitions editor, UPC imprint, Utah State University Press
The Elephant Roundup (February 2022)
Publisher Lives
Angela Davis and Hilton Als, Dialogues: The David Zwirner Podcast, 48:00, February 2, 2022.
Book Review: Laura Portwood-Stacer's "The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors"
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Book Review by Hanni Jalil
Laura Portwood-Stacer, The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021)
Working with Your Editor: Previously Published Material in Your Manuscript
This week, we revisit an evergreen Working with Your Editor post by University of Pennsylvania Press editor-in-chief Walter Biggins in which he addresses the persistent questions of whether and how much previously published material an author can include in a manuscript. This was the most popular post of 2020, and judging from online chatter, authors are still asking.
The Elephant Roundup (December 2021 - January 2022, Focus on Libraries Edition)
Libraries
The Editorial Board, Opinion: The Golden Age of Public Libraries Dawns Again, The Washington Post, January 1, 2022.
You Want to Work in Academic Publishing: What Next?
by Sean Guynes, acquiring editor, Lever Press
Doth Academic Publishing Never Prosper?
A guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
by Stephen Shapiro, acquisitions editor, University of Toronto Press
The Elephant Roundup (November 2021)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Academic Authority and Academic Freedom
Jeffrey C. Isaac, Florida Is a Five-Alarm Fire for Academic Freedom, The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 31, 2021.
Re: Taking Stock of Open Access Book Publishing
In addition to "Feeding the Elephant", the H-Net network "H-Scholar" has covered open access issues from its inception in 1997--long before H-Net moved to its current Drupal platform. Going to H-Scholar and using search terms such as "Open Access", "Scholarly Communication", "SPARC," "Plan S", "Access to Resources" and "Academic Publishing" will retrieve the posts that are archived on the H-Net Commons. I am not sure how one would retrieve earlier posts on this topic--it may require resorting to the Wayback Machine.
Re: Taking Stock of Open Access Book Publishing
Many thanks to Dr. Cocks and to "Feeding the Elephant" for this informative, nuanced, and insightful post. I particularly appreciate Dr. Cocks's astute observation that TOME would not necessarily "address the existing inequalities in funding within and outside the United States."
Re: Taking Stock of Open Access Book Publishing
Thanks, Charles, an excellent point. There are many good models for how to organize and fund publishing by and for scholarly communities.
Re: Taking Stock of Open Access Book Publishing
Thank you, Catherine, for such a clear untangling of the acronym soup that is OA book publishing. It's an extremely clear presentation. I did want to distinguish a bit between TOME, in which funds move from author parent institutions to university presses (mostly), from Lever Press, in which the members have cofounded their own press so as to have more control over the workings of the system. It's very helpful to have a publishing expert figuring out the convoluted activities and provide the overlay of logic.
Taking Stock of Open Access Book Publishing
Efforts continue to transform academic book publishing in the humanities and social sciences from a user-pays to an open-access, stakeholder-funded business model.
Keep UP: University Press Week Celebrates Ten Years
A guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
By Fred Nachbaur, director, Fordham University Press
On Translation
A guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
by Victoria Smolkin, associate professor of history, Wesleyan University
The Elephant Roundup (October 2021)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Conferences After COVID-19
Dylan Ruediger and Danielle Cooper, COVID-19 and the Future of the Annual Meeting, Ithaka S+R, October 18, 2021.
Historical Perspectives on Scholarly Communications: Tamizdat Then and Now
In this series of historical perspectives on scholarly communications, we engage with literary scholars, historians, and others who think about publishing and scholarly communications in other times and places, under different political and economic conditions, and through various technological media of print and distribution.
Relationship Building for More Equitable Publishing
Guest post by Katie Lee, acquisitions editor, Gallaudet University Press, and Jennifer Nelson, professor, Gallaudet University
Content Notice: [ableism, audism]
The Elephant Roundup (Banned Books Week Edition)
A monthly newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
It’s Banned Books Week (September 26 – October 2, 2021)
#PeerReviewSyllabus
The Elephant has assembled a #PeerReviewSyllabus in conjunction with Peer Review Week. The theme for the 2021 Peer Review Week is “Identity in Peer Review.” You can follow or join the conversations online with the hashtags #PeerReviewWeek21 and #IdentityInPeerReview, or our own #FeedingtheElephant hashtag.
Re: Feeding the Elephant Turns Two!
Happy birthday -and sincere thanks for the dialogue
Feeding the Elephant Turns Two!
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
By the Feeding the Elephant Editorial Collective
Two years ago, we launched Feeding the Elephant, a forum on scholarly communications in the arts, humanities, and social sciences with a mission to bring together stakeholders in libraries, publishing, and academe around conversations of common interest.
Remote Work Works
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Rachael Levay, acquisitions editor, University Press of Colorado and Utah State University Press
Show Me the Money: Talking about Dollars in a Way that Makes More Sense
Guest post by Becca Bostock, associate editor and subventions coordinator, Ohio State University Press and Dominique J. Moore, acquisitions editor, University of Illinois Press
Pay in Scholarly Publishing
Guest post by Amy Sherman, managing editor, University of Pittsburgh Press
The Library, The Academy, and Scholarly Communication
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Rachel Fleming-May, associate professor in the University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences
The Library, The Academy, and Scholarly Communication
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Rachel Fleming-May, associate professor in the University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences
The Elephant Roundup (August 2021)
An occasional newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
First Person
The Problem with "I Argue that..."
Guest post by Jenny Tan, Associate Editor, University of Pennsylvania Press
The Elephant Roundup (July 2021)
An occasional newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Publishing Models
Rick Anderson “Pluralism vs. Monoculture in Scholarly Communication, Part 2,” Scholarly Kitchen, July 8, 2021, https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/07/08/pluralism-vs-monoculture-in-scholarly-commu...
Publishing Public Humanities Projects: A Conversation
In the spring of 2021, the National Humanities Alliance published “Public Humanities and Publication: A Working Paper,” the product of a team of scholars and editors convened by Kath Burton (Taylor and Francis) and Daniel Fisher (National Humanities Alliance and Hebrew Union College). Two members of the team, Barry M.
Re: The Elephant Roundup: Nikole Hannah-Jones Edition
As you might have gathered from our links round up about Nikole Hannah-Jones, Feeding the Elephant has been following the situation closely. We were happy to see the news that Hannah-Jones has accepted a position at Howard University. While UNC did ultimately offer her tenure, she has decided to join the Howard University faculty.
#AUPresses21 | Opening and Closing Plenaries
In this series of reports, members of the Elephant editorial collective recap selected panels from the 2021 AUPresses Virtual Annual Meeting held June 7–18, 2021.
#AUPresses21 | Stepping Up to Support Racial Justice Movements
In this series of reports, members of the Elephant editorial collective recap selected panels from the 2021 AUPresses Virtual Annual Meeting held June 7-18, 2021. We welcome further discussion of issues raised by the panelists via the Reply box below each post.
Moderator:
Caitlin Tyler-Richards, Acquisitions Editor, Michigan State University Press
#AUPresses21 | Four Panels on Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
In this series of reports, members of the Elephant editorial collective recap selected panels from the 2021 AUPresses Virtual Annual Meeting held June 7-18, 2021. We welcome further discussion of issues raised by the panelists via the Reply box below each post.
#AUPresses21 | Library Budgets: What does the library market look like in the COVID era?
In this series of reports, members of the Elephant editorial collective recap selected panels from the 2021 AUPresses Virtual Annual Meeting held June 7-18, 2021. We welcome further discussion of issues raised by the panelists via the Reply box below each post.
[1:3] The Value of Popular Culture
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
In Feeding the Elephant’s [1:3] series, we pose 1 question to a librarian, a publisher, and a scholar—the 3 main stakeholders in the scholarly communications ecosystem—to get each perspective on a particular issue. Here, we posed the question:
What is the value of popular culture to scholarly discussions?
The Elephant Roundup: Nikole Hannah-Jones Edition
An occasional newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Are My Images Good Enough to Print? Some Tips for Authors
A guest post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Preparing and submitting illustrations for your book can be a daunting process. What size should the image be? How do you determine the resolution? What file type should you submit? How should the file be labeled?
Working with Your Librarian: Advice and Resources for Doctoral Students
Guest post by Sharon Ince, Digital Services Librarian/Associate Professor, Seton Hall University Libraries and Christopher Hoadley, Associate Professor, New York University
The Elephant Roundup (April 2021)
A newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Anti-Racist Scholarly Reviewing Practices: A Heuristic for Editors, Reviewers, and Authors (2021). Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/reviewheuristic
Born-Digital Publications: A Conversation between a Librarian and a Publisher
As more scholars start developing multimedia digital projects, librarians and acquisitions editors both play key roles in supporting them and making these projects available to readers. In the following post, a librarian and an acquisitions editor who have collaborated on digital projects talk about how they think about this work and what they’d like to see more of.
How to (Build Solidarity with University Presses So They Exist to) Publish Your Book: A Roundtable
This Feeding the Elephant post was developed from a panel conversation that took place at the Modern Language Association 2021 virtual meeting in January, organized by Samuel Cohen and Rebecca Colesworthy. Remarks have been condensed for circulation.
Samuel Cohen, University of Missouri
Online Conferences, Intellectual Property, and the Changing Shape of Scholarly Communications
In February, the College Art Association (CAA) held its 109th Annual Conference, bringing together art historians, artists, and designers to share research and discuss issues of professional interest.
Virtual Conferences
From Feeding the Elephant, a forum for scholarly communications
The Elephant Roundup (March 2021)
An occasional newsletter from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Virtual Conferences
Roger C. Schonfeld and Laura Brown, "A Framework for the Future of Conferences," Scholarly Kitchen, March 1, 2021, https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/03/01/framework-future-conferences/
The Elephant Roundup (February 2021)
An occasional newsletter from the editors of Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Financial Health of Colleges & Universities
Kelly Grotke, “Are Endowments Damaging Colleges and Universities?,” The American Prospect, https://prospect.org/education/are-endowments-damaging-colleges-and-universities/
Working with Your Editor: What to Expect When Your Book Is in Copyediting
Guest post by Amanda Frost and Anastasia Wraight, Project Editors, Michigan State University Press
Ask UP: Authors Seeking Knowledge from University Presses
A guest post by Kathleen O’Brien-Nicholson, Associate Director and Marketing & Sales Director, Fordham University Press
Re: Feeding the Elephant Podcast | Episode 1 - Advice for First-Time Peer Reviewers
This is so helpful, thank you! I especially love how concise it is. I am working with grad students as they prepare to do a mock peer review assignment, and this is a perfectly assignable piece.
Re: Feeding the Elephant Podcast | Episode 1 - Advice for First-Time Peer Reviewers
Dear Heng Du,
Thanks for listening! It is not as yet available on a podcast feed, but if we find a way to do that, I'll post it here.
Re: Feeding the Elephant Podcast | Episode 1 - Advice for First-Time Peer Reviewers
Would this become available through a Podcast app by chance?
Re: Appreciating the Messy Process of the Public Humanities
A beautiful shimmery lucid honest post - thanks
Appreciating the Messy Process of the Public Humanities
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Note: This post grew out of a presentation the authors gave at the 2020 National Humanities Conference, and that presentation in turn grew out a working group on publishing publicly engaged humanities projects. A white paper on the topic will be published in spring 2021.
Guest post by Barry Goldenberg and Dave Tell
Re: Feeding the Elephant Podcast | Episode 1 - Advice for First-Time Peer Reviewers
This episode is so useful. I wish there were links to peer review rubric samples but still , this is so informative.
Why Is My Book So Expensive? The Cost of a Scholarly Monograph
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Authors often ask publishers, “Why is my book so expensive?” The short answer: it really isn’t that expensive. The long answer: your scholarly book might cost more than commercially published nonacademic books because academic presses are spreading the cost of producing a title across a smaller number of print units. Each unit therefore has to be priced higher to enable the press to recoup the cost of production.
The Book Writing is Done! Now the Promotion Begins.
A guest post by Megan Kate Nelson, writer and historian
Once you’ve turned in your page proofs to the press, you may think it’s time to relax. NO, IT IS NOT.
Or you may think that promotion is untoward, and besmirches the intellectual purity of your book.
NO, IT IS/DOES NOT.
So what do you do now to start the promotion process?
The Elephant Roundup (January 2021)
An occasional newsletter from the editors of Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Here's where we share links to news stories, updates, and announcements of interest to Feeding the Elephant readers.
Libraries & Librarianship
It's Been a Year
by the Feeding the Elephant Editorial Collective
Before we start, we need to acknowledge something: 2020 was a year. If you are reading this in December, you have our deepest gratitude and respect for sticking with us. Here’s to making it through! If you are reading this from the future, let’s just say, we hope things got better.
The Challenges of COVID-19 for Early Career Librarians
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Last week John Vsetecka offered his perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on early-career scholars. In today's post, we learn what's been like for early-career librarians from Laura Rocco, outreach and engagement librarian at California State University, Stanislaus.
The Challenges of COVID-19 for Graduate Students
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us all to change the way we work and what we hoped to achieve in this very long year. In this post, history graduate student John Vsetecka talks about the short- and potential long-term impact of COVID-19 on early-career scholars. We'll follow up next week with a similar piece from an early-career librarian.
The Elephant Roundup (Oct. 30 - Nov. 11, 2020)
An occasional newsletter from the editors of Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
The Value of et al.: Fostering Collaborations in the Humanities
A guest post by Erin Benay, Associate Professor of Early Modern Art and Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies, Case Western Reserve University
Confessions of a Bad Conference Attendee
A guest post by Eliot Borenstein, Professor of Russian, New York University
The Elephant Roundup
An occasional newsletter from the editors of Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Virtual Conference Exhibits from the Publisher’s Point of View
A guest post by Ann Bingham, Exhibits and Awards Coordinator, UNC Press
Stepping into 2D: Moving the Publisher Exhibit Online
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications. This is the first of a series on how scholarly societies, publishers, and attendees are coping with the challenges of the virtual conference.
A guest post by Hajni G. Selby, Director of Programming and Conferences, Organization of American Historians
Working with Your Editor: The Role of a Journals Managing Editor
A guest post by Kurt Milberger, Coordinating Editor, Michigan State University Press
The scholarly podcast, a scholar-publisher collaboration
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
A guest post by Siobhan McMenemy, senior editor, Wilfrid Laurier University Press
The Podcast Review and Reviewing Born-Digital Scholarly Works
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Robert Cassanello, associate professor of history, University of Central Florida
Advice for First-Time Peer Reviewers
As we wrap-up Peer Review Week 2020, we wanted to share some practical advice with early career scholars being asked to review for the first time. I spoke with three scholars, including a journal editor, about how to approach this potentially daunting task—and why it's important to do so.
Feeding the Elephant Podcast | Episode 1 - Advice for First-Time Peer Reviewers
fte-ep1-adviceforfirst-timereviewers.mp3
Feeding the Elephant Podcast
Produced by Yelena Kalinsky
Music by Kakia Gkoudina
Episode 1 features
Robert Cassanello, Associate Professor of History, University of Central Florida
Saul Noam Zarritt, Associate Professor of Yiddish Literature, Harvard University
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Director of Digital Humanities and Professor of English, Michigan State University
Upcoming "Trust in Peer Review" panel discussion and AskUP website from AUPresses
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Check out two new resources from the Association of University Presses:
Journal Peer Review: Tips for Being an Effective Reviewer
Guest post by Michael Chibnik, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of Iowa
Working with Your Editor: Ten FAQS about Book Peer Review
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
As Peer Review Week approaches, I wanted to share answers to some of the questions I get asked most often. The theme of #PeerReviewWk20 is trust. I hope these answers contribute to trust in peer review by fostering candid conversations about publishing in general and helping to demystify the peer review process specifically.
Resources for Identifying Predatory Journals and Publishers
COPE guidelines (pdf)
- Useful discussion document about predatory publishing that identifies key issues, describes impact on stakeholders, and analyses proposed interventions and solutions, from COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Re: [1:3] The Impact of COVID-19 on Scholarly Communications
Now I'd like to see responses from librarians and faculty from schools where the majority of students study: community colleges and regional, public, 4-year institutions ... What say they about scholarly communication, as the faculty there struggle to hold on to jobs?
Re: [1:3] The Impact of COVID-19 on Scholarly Communications
OK. The librarian response came from a Really Big University. Now I'd like to see responses from librarians and faculty from schools where the majority of students study: community colleges and regional, public, 4-year institutions (NCAA D2 or D3 schools, for those who think mainly in terms of college sports) -- where the relationships with state legislatures are often adversarial and where the curriculum is under threat from administrators in thrall to neo-liberalism and who whole-heartedly embrace the gospel of austerity.
[1:3] The Impact of COVID-19 on Scholarly Communications
Feeding the Elephant is pleased to introduce our [1:3] series. In this series, we pose 1 question to a librarian, a publisher, and a scholar—the 3 main stakeholders in the scholarly communications ecosystem—to get each perspective on a particular issue. Here, we posed the question:
Working with Your Librarian: Copyright Assistance during COVID-19
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Guest post by Sara R. Benson, Interim Head of the Scholarly Commons and Copyright Librarian, University of Illinois Library
Copyright Resources
To suggest a resource, email us feeding.the.elephant [at] h-net.org or tweet us @HNetBookChannel using the hashtag #FeedingTheElephant.
General Guides & Additional Resources
Copyright Chat Podcast (Sara Benson, Copyright Librarian)
This One Simple Trick Makes Permissions Easy and Fun
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Getting permission to reproduce copyrighted material in your own work can be intimidating and frustrating, and most scholars don’t get much, if any, training in how to do it. You won’t be surprised to learn there is no one simple trick, but the following tips aim to demystify the process and make it easier to manage.
Re: Diversity and equity in publishing: Triangle Scholarly Communication Institute
Feeding the Elephant first wrote about the Triangle Scholarly Communications Institute’s Toolkits for Equity in Scholarly Publishing project in the fall of 2019.
Working with Your Editor: Working with a Developmental Editor
Guest Post by Johanna Schuster-Craig, Assistant Professor of German and Global Studies, Michigan State University
P2L4 Summit Follow-up: How Can Presses & Libraries Work Together to Advance Anti-Racism
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications.
Note: This was the third panel of the P2L conference held July 22. A recap of the first two panels can be found here.
Lisa Bayer, Director, University of Georgia Press, sent us this summary.
Working With Your Editor: Developmental Editing
Guest Post by Laura Portwood-Stacer, Manuscript Works
P2L Summit: University Presses and Libraries: Partners in Digital Transformation
P2L4, a conference sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), brought together a group of publishers and librarians via Zoom on July 22 to talk about scholarly publishing.
Working with Your Editor: Previously Published Material in Your Manuscript
Guest post by Walter Biggins, editor-in-chief, University of Pennsylvania Press
Library Publishing
On June 11, 2020, Inside Higher Ed ran a short piece reporting that the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries just launched VCU Publishing, an initiative to publish scholarship by the university’s faculty and students in digital form.
#AUPresses20 Guest Post: Steps Toward a More Diverse Acquisitions
Liz Murice Alexander is Mellon Editorial Fellow at Northwestern University Press. She was one of the participants of the Mellon University Press Diversity Fellows conversation at the AUPresses 2020 virtual conference, which we previously covered here.
Re: #AUPresses20 plenary
A belated follow up on our post about the AUPresses 2020 conference plenary on June 15. In her presentation, Cutcha Risling-Baldy offered publishers five rules for working with Indigenous authors and publishing on Indigenous topics. You can read them—and her other suggestions—at her blog. The post is titled “Give It Back: Publishing and Native Sovereignty at the Association of University Presses Conference OR In Which I Remind Everyone That Andrew Jackson Can Go F Himself” and contains the full video of her planary.
Re: #AUPresses20 What Booksellers Wish University Presses Knew
A Twitter thread with some additional thoughts on how publishers can build bridges with indie booksellers from panelist Andrew Berzanskis of the University of Washington Press:
University presses and indie bookstores need each other to accomplish our respective missions: boosting overlooked voices; elevating what's best and unique about a region; helping drive conversations that lead to social change.
#AUPresses20 What Booksellers Wish University Presses Knew
Friday afternoon three booksellers—Kim Hooyboer of Seattle’s Third Place Books (Seward Park), Jeff Deutsch of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, and David Goldberg of the MIT Press Bookstore—joined with Andrew Berzanskis, senior acquisitions editor at the University of Washington Press, to talk about what university press folks ought to know about the realities of retail book sales.
#AUPresses20 Mellon University Press Diversity Fellows conversation
The Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship Program, the result of a four-year, $1,205,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aims to diversify the university press acquisitions pipeline by offering highly competitive fourteen-month apprenticeships in the acquisitions departments of six university presses.
#AUPresses20 plenary
The Association of University Presses opened its annual meeting on Monday, June 15, with trenchant and inspiring plenary presentations from Cutcha Risling Baldy and Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair under the title of “Give It Back: Publishing and Native Sovereignty.”
Working with Your Editor: Requesting Letters of Support
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications
Acquiring editors play many roles in the publication process, and because the publishing process is entwined with the tenure and promotion process, editors are often asked to provide supporting documentation to their authors to share with tenure and promotion committees. This can be as simple as a paragraph confirming a book is under contract or in production, or as detailed as explaining a press’s acceptance rate and review process.
Re: Racism and Protest Resource List
Dear All,
Also of note is the recent statement from the German Studies Association's Initiative for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion, which references H-Black-Europe among several other groups doing anti-racist work:
https://t.e2ma.net/message/b8o9fd/vne3at
Best wishes,
Dave Prior
Re: Racism and Protest Resource List
Thank you for providing these resources. Haymarket Books is currently offering a discount on their books regarding policing and racism. One book can be downloaded for free as an ebook. You can find the list here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/80-haymarket-books-against-policing...
Racism and Protest Resource List
In light of the ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, Feeding the Elephant has compiled a list of resources (many freely accessible) from libraries, university presses, and scholars on the subjects of racism, racial justice, police brutality, and protest.
Racism and Protest Resources
In light of the ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, Feeding the Elephant has compiled a list of resources (many freely accessible) from libraries, university presses, and scholars on the subjects of racism, racial justice, police brutality, and protest. At this time of anger and mourning, we would like to highlight efforts by the scholarly communications and publishing communities to reflect on how our work can contribute to understanding the present moment and encourage transformational change.
Feeding the Elephant Team
Editorial Collective
Interview with Charles Watkinson (Director, University of Michigan Press) on Open Access Publishing
University of Michigan Press is part of Michigan Publishing, U-M’s academic publishing division, and part of the University Library.
Resources for Managing WFH
Guest Post: The University Press Vault: Leveraging Backlist Content
In the fall of 2019, Disney launched its new streaming service, Disney+. Disney opened its famed Vault to lovers of classic Disney, fans of newer Disney-affiliated producers, and stans for Baby Yoda. All at once, several decades’ worth of content became available—for a price. And, all at once, Disney earned massive revenue for content that it already owned.
Covid-19 Resources
In addition to our open access resources, we have compiled a list of publisher offerings that can help
Yes, Us Too: Sexism and Sexual Harassment in Scholarly Publishing
One of the characteristics of workplaces where sexual harassment and gender discrimination are common is a predominantly male staff, where the few women present may be seen as challenging gender norms just by being there.
Re: Managing a career in publishing (Scholarly Kitchen)
For scholarly communication librarians, a good resource is the ACRL website devoted to it, especially the Scholarly Communication Toolkit. While it is designed for librarians, it contains useful information for anyone interested in the topic and related careers.
Managing a career in publishing (Scholarly Kitchen)
Feeding the Elephant readers may be interested in a recent guest post from the Scholarly Kitchen called "Managing Your Career in Publishing," focusing on identifying and developing skills and professional networking through organizations like the Association of University Presses, the Association of American
New Additions to the Open Access Resource List
Hello everyone,
The Open Access Resource List has been updated with additional resources. Please check it out and if you have anything else add, reply to this post to let us know!
Thank you!
--Feeding the Elephant team
Feeding the Elephant Resources
Diversity and equity in publishing: Triangle Scholarly Communication Institute
The theme of the 2019 Triangle Scholarly Communication Institute was equity in scholarly communications. In addition to the summary on the website, check out #TriangleSCI on Twitter.
Guest Post: Why Do University Presses Publish Trade Books?
By Tony Sanfilippo
University presses were established to publish scholarly books—that’s our chief mission. But it’s not all we do. In this guest post, Ohio State University Press director Tony Sanfilippo talks about when and why university presses publish trade books—those intended for a general, non-specialist readership. --Catherine Cocks
Publisher & Publishing-Related Podcasts
Please see below for a list of publisher-produced and publishing-related podcasts. Feel free to reply in the comments with any additional publisher podcast information.
Fifteeneightyfour, Cambridge University Press Podcasts:
1869, The Cornell University Press Podcasts:
Open Access
Open Access Resource List
Greeting everyone!
On behalf of Catherine Cocks, Yelena Kalinsky, myself, and Feeding the Elephant, we would like to share an Open Access Resource list. This list is organized by category: Publishers and Open Access, Reports, Op-Eds, and Digital Initiatives.
Open Access Resource List
Below is a list of resources regarding open access. This list is meant to supplement the posts and discussions taking place on Feeding the Elephant. Readers, please help us grow this list by joining the Feeding the Elephant discussions or Tweeting us using the hashtag #FeedingTheElephant.
Kathryn Conrad on University Press Publishing
Continuing our coverage of University Press Week, readers may be interested in a recent conversation between Kathryn Conrad, president of the Association of University Presses and founder and editor of the New Books Network, Marshall Poe, about (what else?) university presses.
University Press Week hits YouTube, blogs, and C-SPAN's Book TV
University Press Week hits YouTube: check out five short videos on this year’s theme, Read. Think. Act:
Re: The HSS Monograph and Open Access in an Era of Falling Library Budgets
Good question! The answer is complicated and if we have any acquisitions librarians reading, I hope they will weigh in. E-books and e-book aggregating databases are so new that initially presses and aggregators had to guess what appropriate pricing would be. As we accumulated experience and e-book collections became increasingly important in library collections plans, it became clear that presses were losing print sales while e-book sales were not making up the difference.
Join the conversation
Readers can visit Feeding the Elephant online, where it is hosted on the H-Net Book Channel.
To join the conversation and to receive new Feeding the Elephant posts:
Re: The HSS Monograph and Open Access in an Era of Falling Library Budgets
The assertion that "presses earn much less per title [from e-book databases] than for print volumes" is interesting—and worth exploring. If library purchases continue to shift towards these databases, you would expect the per-title revenue to balance out a bit. (Note that we're talking about per-title, not per-sale, revenue.) . But per-title revenue from one format or another has to do not only with the number of customers buying in that format but also the retail price per unit for that format. Do presses not have any leverage to charge more for e-books available through databases?
The HSS Monograph and Open Access in an Era of Falling Library Budgets
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications
Recently, four pieces of news about publishing came to my attention. The conjuncture struck me as illuminating some of the key problems besetting the current scholarly publishing ecosystem.
Initiatives for Improving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications
A post from Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications
A few weeks ago, we wrote about the importance of diversity and equity in peer review, but concerns about who gets to create, curate, distribute, and preserve knowledge extend far beyond the moment of peer review.
Re: Transparency in Peer Review
Thank you very much for your reply, David! I've added the Political Science Rumors website to the Peer Review Resources page as a reference tool and a resource that we can draw further conversation from.
Re: Transparency in Peer Review
Thanks, David! I like your idea of enlisting H-Net (and maybe other professional organizations) to collect or host data on peer review processes. I encourage anyone interested in this issue to check out the report of the Peer Review Transparency project. The Committee on Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/) also offers guidance for journal editors on making their journal's peer review policies and practices more transparent.
Re: Peer Review, Diversity, and Equity
Thanks to both Jerome and David for thoughtful replies, and my apologies for being slow to respond. I'm afraid I was traveling last week. Indeed, peer review is not meant to replace other kinds of scholarly and professional evaluation. The AUPresses's handbook of best practices in peer review states: "The review process for proposals and manuscripts is intended to be entirely distinct from any professional review authors may be undergoing. For this reason AEs are strongly discouraged from sharing materials with authors’ hiring, tenure, and promotion committees.
Re: Transparency in Peer Review
Thank you for this excellent post. Who hasn't been frustrated at times by the opaque nature of most peer review processes! I've often wondered whether there wasn't some space for H-Net networks to play a role in improving the transparency of the review process within their respective fields, perhaps by soliciting data on time to publication, time to rejection, etc., from journal editors and storing this info on a dedicated webpage.
Re: Peer Review, Diversity, and Equity
Thank you for another thoughtful and immensely helpful post reviewing a key issue with peer review. I really enjoyed reading it. Let me suggest that their are some really complicated, underlying issues involving the intellectual authority of an editor over a field of study embedded in some of these proposed policies. For example, the "nothing about us wihtout us" principle is easy to apply in some cases but gets much more difficult in others. To apply the principle, an editor or group of editors first have to decide which groups it applies to and which it doesn't.
Re: Peer Review, Diversity, and Equity
This is all very well and good, but as someone who has been a department chair, served on many tenure and promotions committees both at my own and other institutions, evaluated grant and fellowship applications, reviewed manuscripts journal and book publishers, etc.. I hope we all remember that there is no substitute for reading submissions ourselves rather than relying on the fact that something has been peer reviewed in a highly rated journal. Lots of excellent pieces never make it through and often get rejected for other-than-quality reasons.
Transparency in Peer Review
A Conversation with Amy Brand (Director of MIT Press) and Jessica Polka (Executive Director of ASAPBio) by Catherine Cocks (Editor-in-Chief at Michigan State University Press)
Feeding the Elephant - Peer Review Resources
Greeting all!
Opening post: Peer Review Week
Welcome to the inaugural posts of Feeding the Elephant, a forum for conversations about scholarly communications in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. We begin by looking at one of the elements that makes academic publishing distinctive: peer review. Scholars who want to have their research taken seriously by their discipline have to publish it in a peer-reviewed form, whether that’s a journal article or a monograph or something else.
September Elephant: Peer Review
Discussions: |
Quality in Peer Review: An AUPresses Conversation
Feeding the Elephant readers will be interested in this public conversation about "quality" in peer review, taking place this Thursday, September 19, at 4 p.m., EDT. Announcement and details below.
Quality in Peer Review: An AUPresses Conversation
Feeding the Elephant: A Forum on Scholarly Communications
This is the first post of a new series on the H-Net Book Channel dedicated to scholarly communications called Feeding the Elephant. For the rest of September, we'll be sharing interviews, blog posts, and links to further resources related to the topic of peer review. Subscribers are invited to take part in the conversation by posting replies, questions, links to projects, or ideas for future posts. --Eds.
Peer Review Resources
Below is a list of resources for peer review meant to supplement the posts and discussions taking place on Feeding the Elephant. Readers, please help us grow this list by joining the Feeding the Elephant discussions or Tweeting us using the hashtag #FeedingTheElephant.
Introductions to Peer Review