2014 Publishing the First Book in the Age of Open Access Dissertations: A Roundtable Discussion
Recent policy statements by scholarly organizations such as the AHA have brought new attention to the complex relationship between a dissertation and a first book in the humanities. When universities increasingly expect their PhD graduates to deposit their dissertations in OA institutional repositories, how can university press editors best counsel their prospective authors about whether to embargo their dissertation? If a dissertation is available in a repository, does it require more revision, or is access a way to generate broader interest? Should the bar be higher for first books based on dissertations that are available OA? Does availability of a dissertation online really create a risk that libraries will decline to purchase it in book form? How should university press editors and other staff communicate these issues? This roundtable session will feature perspectives from a recent first-book author and two university press editorial directors.
Chair: Mark Simpson-Vos, Editorial Director, University of North Carolina Press
Panelists: Angie Maxwell, Diane D. Blair Assistant Professor of Southern Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Arkansas
Alan Thomas, Editorial Director for Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Chicago Press
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