Comments on: Tell Me Why This Couldn’t Work

By: Owen

Owen — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:46:39 +0000

This campaign began in the UK last year, but I don’t know whether it has gone anywhere:

http://www.freeourbooks.org.uk/

Perhaps reflects a rather different situation here since all universities are public and funded from tax money (or at least in theory).

By: john theibault

john theibault — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:34:07 +0000

You've hit on an enthusiasm of mine, that professional organizations will have to take a more central role in publishing scholarship. Jon Dresner may be right about the structural problems with implementing your entire plan. The AHA certainly made it clear that they remain dependent on the income from the print version of AHR, which is published by U of Chicago Press. Relatedly, are you aware of Kathleen Fitzpatrick's Planned Obsolescence, which deals with some of these issues, especially the role of university presses?

By: Graham Webster

Graham Webster — Sun, 02 May 2010 04:34:34 +0000

Great thoughts. Not so much a reason why this wouldn’t work as a question: Why would a model such as this apply only to monograph-length works or collections of chapters?

A related thought is that many articles or longer works go through many attempts before finding a publisher. This is not necessarily because of the quality of the work on some objective scale, but also is affected by the differing priorities of judging bodies. Thus in this structure, and especially if it were expanded to deal with articles, where journals vary in disciplinary or specialist prominence, there is a need for a reputation system of different “professional organizations,” as you call them.

The bottom line may be that professional organizations would have to be radically restructured and possibly fragmented as well to make this work.

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Sun, 02 May 2010 04:12:18 +0000

It could, but I don’t think the professional associations will do it because their economic relationship with university publishers (who will, indeed, be obliterated by this shift) (Don’t think they have a relationship? Who pays for the advertising in programs and journals?).

It’s possible, though, that the university presses themselves might do this, or a consortium of them. At this point, even though they often require substantial subventions from authors, they’re looking for any cost-cutting measures they can get away with: eliminating the actual publishing would be a gold mine. They’ve already got the network of volunteer reviewers and the name recognition.