THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND VALUES
The Berglund Center for Internet Studies at Pacific University, the American Association for History and Computing, and M.E. Sharpe, Inc., announce a dynamic new partnership for publishing works dealing with the effects of the Internet on the ways we work, communicate, teach, and learn.
The Berglund-AAHC-Sharpe consortium will make possible the publishing and distribution in electronic format of works that would otherwise be denied distribution because of the perception of hard-copy publishers that many works, while fully meritorious, nonetheless lack commercial viability. The consortium also is opening a new means of developing projects for possible hard-copy publication that has hitherto fore been denied to potential authors, as discussed below.
The multiple approaches for publication of the consortium are also intended to protect and extend the current utility of publication in academic processes for certification, promotion, and tenure. All works published through the consortium will be fully peer reviewed according to the highest scholarly standards under double-blind protocols. These works will be certified by all three members of the consortium as fully meritorious of hard copy publication in every regard save that the intended audience is perceived as too small or specialized to permit hard-copy distribution.
All submissions of completed manuscripts published by the consortium will be posted on the servers at the Berglund Center for Internet Studies at Pacific University. All authors will retain copyright and will be paid one thousand U.S. dollars ($1000) upon posting. Authors may continue to submit their manuscripts for hard copy publication and if successful, upon repaying the initial subvention, the works will be removed from the Berglund servers. Berglund will provide information on reader traffic and commentary on the works at any time to either academic committees or prospective publishers. M. E. Sharpe, however, retains the right of first refusal for the hard-copy publication of submissions.
Manuscripts may also be developed in several ways, given the wide range of publishing options that the consortium can provide. Some works will be nominated by M. E. Sharpe from among meritorious submissions that they themselves would issue, had commercial considerations not precluded publication. Such submissions will have previously been peer-reviewed at Sharpe and will undergo an additional abbreviated peer-review process at the AAHC and Berglund, then be posted at the Berglund Center for Internet Studies at Pacific University. We are also prepared to evaluate submissions that have been rejected by other publishers out of concerns for commercial viability.
The consortium is also willing to work with authors in developing manuscripts via a more dynamic and extended BLOG process. In this case, manuscripts will be accepted following traditional practices for possible publication. That is, authors will submit outlines, first and last chapters, and a discussion of possible audience and competing works. (See the M. E. Sharpe protocols at: http://www.mesharpe.com/submission.htm )
Outlines and initial chapters first will be published in blog format at the Berglund Center, and then followed by postings at the approximate rate of one per month for ten months.
Editors from Berglund, the AAHC, and M.E. Sharpe all will participate in commenting upon the projects as they develop and will make suggestions for improvement, as will, we hope, interested readers.
Authors will be paid one hundred dollars ($100) for each of the ten postings, as long as, in the opinion of the editors, the work continues to develop in a viable fashion that promises timely completion of a meritorious manuscript. Berglund will provide all information on traffic and blogged commentary to the author and to any publishers he or she might approach. However, at the completion of the project, M.E. Sharpe again has rights of first refusal for hard-copy publication.
At present the Berglund servers have more than five million visits per year. It is expected, however, that as all three partners of the consortium will be publicizing the nature and location of the works that even this sizeable traffic will increase rapidly.
The members of the consortium each believe that this process has the potential for changing the way in which publication, particularly for academic manuscripts, now proceeds. We believe that this dynamic process will permit a much wider range of manuscripts to reach interested audiences, while preserving, even enhancing, the current value of publication for purposes of academic promotion and tenure.
All inquiries are welcome: barlowj@pacificu.edu
About the members of the consortium:
The Berglund Center at Pacific University, financed by a generous grant from Jim and Mary Berglund, facilitates both theoretical discussion and practical action relating to the impact of the Internet upon individuals and their communities worldwide. We are interested in the effects of the Internet on the ways we work, communicate, teach, and learn. Our electronic journal, Interface, is now in its sixth year of publication. We support original research as well as publishing reviews and review articles. See us on the WWW at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/
The American Association for History and Computing (AAHC) is dedicated to the reasonable and productive marriage of history and computer technology and new media for teaching, researching and representing history through scholarship and public history. To support and promote these goals, the AAHC sponsors a number of activities, including an annual meeting, annual prizes, an electronic journal - the Journal of the American Association for History and Computing (JAHC), and a continuing publication series. See us on the WWW at: http://www.theaahc.org/main.htm
Founded in 1958, M.E. Sharpe is a privately held publisher of books and journals in the social sciences and humanities, including titles in economics, media studies, political science, management and public administration, and history. We also publish both original works and translations in Asian and East European studies. Several Nobel Prize winners, including Oe Kenzaburo and Wasily Leontief, are among our authors. Our East Gate Books imprint is widely recognized as representing the best in Asian Studies. In addition, we also publish single and multi-volume reference works designed to meet the needs of students and researchers from high school through college under the Sharpe Reference imprint. See us on the WWW at: http://www.mesharpe.com/
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