The Publication of Academic Writing

Abstract

Publication continues to be one of the more important activities of the scholar-teacher. Through the years, the scholar gains experience as to what is publishable, where it should be placed, and how it can be presented to achieve maximum effect. The Executive Council of the Modern Language Association felt, however, that the advice of some senior scholars and experienced publishers might be of use to younger writers. The following document has passed through several revisions and incorporates the observations of thirty-three able consultants. It is hoped that it will save both scholars and their publishers from unnecessary disappointments.

Dissertation-to-Book Publication Patterns Among a Sample of R1 Institutions

“…With limited reference in the library literature to "predatory" monograph publishers, we looked to discussions of scholarly publishing beyond library literature to better define the self-publishing efforts (items 3 and 4 from our list), where we found a focus on "vanity publishing." Vanity publishing has generally been eyed skeptically in academe (Fotheringham, 1998;Henderson, 1984); finding a good publisher for one's work has often been taken as a proxy for the quality of the work (Cargill, Charvat, & Walsh, 1966;Gilman, 2000). Authors who have been otherwise "unable to attract the interest of larger academic presses may seek a to bolster their credentials" by reaching out to an unknown-to-them publisher (Dudley, 2013), which may be a predatory publisher, may also be termed "dubious," "low-credibility," or "deceptive" (Berger, 2017), or may be a "vanity publisher" or "self-publisher."…”