More, Less or Better: The Problem of Evaluating Books in SSH Research

Abstract

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To What Extent Do Successive Cohorts Adopt Different Publication Patterns? Peer Review, Language Use, and Publication Types in the Social Sciences and Humanities

“…Such ambiguity may translate into changes in publication patterns if, e.g., authors start to avoid publication channels like books, for which the peer review status is not made explicit. Indeed, Williams et al (2018) report that younger authors in particular mention the lack of clarity regarding peer review of books as a reason to focus more on journal articles. Moreover, ambiguity may encourage authors, decision makers and/or publishers to take initiative to turn formerly non-peer-reviewed publication channels or types into peer-reviewed ones.…”

Language, Culture and Traversing the Scholarly Evaluation Landscape

“…Instead, she focuses on the metrics: "evidence is found in the lack of correlation between cites to books and journal articles" (p. 482). Williams et al (2018) have taken a more detailed approach to exploring what a book is, first by appealing to the reader's common sense (e.g., How many pages are counted before a work is declared a book rather than an article? ), then, by examining a definition of 'book' (e-book included), and noting that books are different from long reports and periodicals because they "do not qualify for an ISBN".…”

“…For instance, in some African countries, a book published by a scholar does not necessarily "adhere to the ISBN". Also, in Lithuania, where books do adhere to an ISBN, Williams et al (2018) have found that for evaluation purposes, the item still has to be "4,000 characters multiplied by a field based coefficient 8".…”

“…The evaluation culture dictates why, when, where, and how any given label is to be valued. Williams et al (2018) use parts of their chapter to examine different national evaluation systems (e.g., the Dutch, British, Polish, Spanish, etc.) and conclude that qualitative and quantitative approaches each have unique drawbacks.…”

Are book publications disappearing from scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities?

“…In terms of publication process, the delay that may occur when publishing edited volumes or book chapters therein may be a reason for avoiding such publications. Indeed, a survey by Williams et al (2018) reports that the preference of junior authors for journal articles is motivated by the speed of publication, as well as the formal peer review process. Delays in publication may be even more prominent for monographs, as one or a few authors take on the entire working load whereas in the case of edited volumes the workload is more distributed (Edwards, 2012).…”