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

Abstract

INTRODUCTION A common concern about openly available electronic theses and dissertations is that their "openness" will prevent graduate student authors from publishing their work commercially in the future. A handful of studies have explored aspects of this topic; this study reviewed dissertation-to-book publication patterns at Carnegie Classification R1 academic institutions. METHODS This study analyzed over 23,000 dissertations from twelve U.S. universities to determine how frequently dissertations were subsequently published as books matching the original dissertation in pagination, chapters, and subject matter. WorldCat and several other resources were used to make publication determinations. RESULTS Across the sample set, a very small percentage of dissertations were published as books that matched the original dissertation on pagination, chapters, and subject matter. The average number of years for dissertations in the study to be published as books was determined for broad subject categories and for select academic disciplines. Results were compared across public and private institutions, and books that were self-published or published by questionable organizations were identified. DISCUSSION Dissertation-to-book trends occur primarily in the social sciences, humanities, and arts. With dissertations for which the author is actively working to publish as a book, the commonly offered 6-to 24-month embargo periods appear sufficient, provided that extensions or renewals continue to be available. CONCLUSION This study has implications for librarians providing services to graduate students, faculty advisors, and graduate colleges/schools in regard to dissertation embargo lengths, self-publishing, and what we have termed questionable publishers, as these areas continue to provide opportunities for librarians to educate these stakeholders.

Normative drift and self‐correction in scholarly book publishing: The case of Makerere University

“…Figure shows that, of the 31 scholarly books authored or edited by academics at Makerere University, 14 (45%) were published by Lambert Academic Publishing, 2 (6%) by Vdm Verlag, and 1 by InTech Open (3%), all of which are regarded as either suspect or predatory publishers (Kaye, ; Rupp‐Serrano & Waller, ; University of the Witwatersrand, ). In other words, more than half (54%) of books authored or edited by academics at Makerere University were published by publishers that do not follow accepted scholarly publishing practice.…”

“…That local scholarly publishers are not publishing scholarly books leads to a second observation in relation to the choices made by academics at Makerere University: before 2014, a large number of academics at Makerere University are choosing book publishers that are reported to ignore accepted scholarly publishing practices (Kaye, ; Rupp‐Serrano & Waller, ; Stromberg, ). To some extent, whether these submissions can be classified as unethical depends on the motivations and awareness of scientists when submitting their manuscripts to publishers.…”