Scholarly Book Authors’ Bill of Rights

Abstract

I published my first single-authored book in 1979, my first edited book the same year; my most recent in September 2022. Although there never was “a golden age” of scholarly publishing, many elements have deteriorated significantly since that date. I write about some aspects of change in a continuing series of essays. (See my “Peer Reviewing is Becoming More Cavalier, Self-Serving and Ignorant,” Times Higher Education, June 2, 2022; “Editors Have Become So Wayward that Academic Authors Need a Bill of Rights,” Times Higher Education, August18, 2022; “The US’ New Open Access Mandate Must Not Line the Pockets of Grifters,” Times Higher Education, Nov. 17, 2022; “Demythifying: An Author and Retired Professor Challenges Some Long-Held University Press Assumptions,” Publishers Weekly, Dec. 19, 2022; “Demythifying the University Press,” Publishers Weekly (online), Dec. 16, 2022; “Pay to Play—Publish for a Price: The Myths and Manipulation of the New Corporate Open-Access Journals,” forthcoming.)