[Air-L] Advice on dissertation publishing?

Mon Sep 23 19:28:08 PDT 2013

First-time book author (and long-time list lurker) here. Finished my diss in 2011, which is available online for free through my school's library repository. About a year later, I landed a contract to publish as a book, which will come out early 2014.

There was no discussion with the publisher about whether or not a freely-available diss has a market impact. In part, I think this is due to the subject material and relative lack of work in the area, so YMMV. 

But more importantly, to expand on Rob's last point, a diss is not a book, so I feel like there's an apples/oranges thing happening here. Though I wrote it with book-publication as the ultimate goal, the diss was still constructed on a tight deadline primarily to convince four people that I was smart enough to be called "Dr." That is not what the book is—it's 56,000 words lighter yet incorporates recent developments and gave me the space to explore those fundamental observations that eluded me the first time around.

I think the same thing applies to diss chapters vs. journal articles. Sure, your submission may be "verbatim from the diss," but the end-product almost certainly won't be. The evolutionary process that is publication changes things in a way that ultimately improves or extends upon the initial research work, to make for a unique and valuable contribution to the body of knowledge. 

I can't wrap my head around where the AHA's coming from. Are dissertations in history generally so awesome that they come out pretty much as books? Doesn't the same evolutionary process apply? Where's the fire?

-John

--------------------
John Anderson, etc.
http://www.diymedia.net

On Sep 23, 2013, at 7:29 PM, Robert W. Gehl wrote:

> Hello, Barry and all -
> 
> I had to go through the same thing when I got my PhD in 2010. I chose
> the open option, and yet I remember I also got a $30 check at one point
> from royalties. (I'm guessing libraries bought access to my diss?)
> 
> I also posted my diss on my Web site.
> 
> I have had not one bit of trouble publishing from my dissertation. I
> have 2 articles drawn from it, another couple under review, and a
> forthcoming book under contract.
> 
> I think in terms of journals, they don't seem to be very concerned when
> a piece is available online. Conference proceedings and SSRN are online,
> and yet pieces appearing there end up in journals. I believe this is
> because the article that ultimately ends up in a journal is different
> from any previous version as a result of going through peer review and
> revision.
> 
> I have heard that academic book publishers are leery of publishing
> dissertations that have been posted online for free. The recent American
> Historical Association policy suggesting students consider embargoing
> their dissertations reflects this.
> 
> At GMU, we have a few blog posts exploring these issues:
> http://edges.gmu.edu/open-access-notes-on-knowledge-and-recompense/
> 
> My 2 American cents.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rob Gehl
> 
> -- 
> Robert W. Gehl
> Assistant Professor, Department of Communication
> The University of Utah
> www.robertwgehl.org | @robertwgehl
> Sent from our OS on our Internet
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 09/23/2013 04:03 PM, Barry Wellman wrote:
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> 
>> I got an interesting query from a new colleague today. It is her
>> specific issue, but I think a more general one for journals.
>> 
>> See below for my edited version of the query. Please respond to the
>> list in general
>> 
>>  Barry Wellman
>> _______________________________________________________________________
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>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> 
>> The university where I got my PhD requires publishing through ProQuest
>> - either "traditional" or "open access." For traditional, it is closed
>> and people must pay to access it (and I would receive a royalty, but I
>> don't know who in their right mind might actually purchase a
>> dissertation), and in open it is freely available for download. In
>> either case I retain the copyright.
>> 
>> *** My question is this: does either option impact my ability to
>> publish journal articles from the document? Specifically, I have four
>> papers I'd like to pull from it and much of each would be verbatim
>> from the diss.
>> 
>> *** Will journals see papers from an open access diss as "already
>> published" or as somehow less desirable? I'd prefer to put it out open
>> access, but not at the risk of not being able to publish from it.
>> 
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> 
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