Marianne,
It is sad that your dean and chair are so blinkered that they are not
aware of the many disciplines in a university in which books count for
more than articles (especially, but not exclusively in the humanities)
and the moderate number in which top conference presentations count as
much or more than journal articles (especially in some areas of
engineering, computer science, and physics). Equally, it is bizarre
that, being aware of pay-to-publish books, they don't recognize the
proliferation of the same phenomenon among exploitative journals.
Nothing but vigilance and good sense lets us sort out either journals or
books.
Having written many promotion letters as a chair for colleagues with
books and having served on university-wide promotion and tenure
committees at two universities, I have seen up close how books can be
addressed satisfactorily. The normal considerations are similar to
journals. Are the publishers themselves reputable? How extensive is
their review processes? Typically, books from the most famous and
long-established university presses count for more -- e.g., Oxford,
Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago. . . Long-established academic
publishers (e.g., Routledge) are taken seriously, though perhaps with a
more skeptical eye, and commercial academic sharks (e.g., Elsevier or
Springer) somewhat less seriously. And there are even lower level
publishers for which commercial considerations matter more than academic
quality. Book reviews in serious journals, if they do not just
summarize the content, but access the quality, are often offered as
evidence that transcends the reputation of the publisher. Publishers
generally share the assessments of outside reviewers with authors, and
these can be offered as evidence of quality to university
administrators. Citations to books are available in Google Scholar,
just as they are for journals. Naturally, citations to all types of
publications develop only with a lag. In cases such as tenure or
promotion decisions where outside letters are required, the opinions of
the outside evaluators also matter. Typically, textbooks are not taken
as seriously as monographs. Personally, I regard that as a mistake,
because in the long-run textbooks may well be more influential, but it
is a fact. And, of course, in the end, the considered views of one's
colleagues, who have read and assessed the work, matters. It is sad
that this last point is for administrators too often the least. They
would rather ignore the content and serious assessments of the actual
work in favor of outside indicators that may or may not correlate to the
value of the work. One gets enormous credit for a paper published in
the AER, even if it /never/ is cited; and, sadly, less for a paper in a
more obscure journal that is cited widely. The same can be true, for
example, between publishing a book with Princeton vs. some no-name
publisher. But that's life.
Kevin Hoover
On 5/18/2023 12:20 PM, Marianne Johnson wrote:
> Hello SHOE list,
>
> This may be a familiar problem for those of you who work in business
> schools -- so your advice would be much appreciated.
>
> My institution is AACSB accredited, and for decades, we have never
> recognized academic books as a "scholarly publication." Instead, they
> are classified as a "scholarly activity," equivalent to a conference
> presentation.
>
> I would like to change this policy. However, my chair and associate
> dean have asked how they can know if a book publication is
> 'legitimate' given the flood of pay-to-publish offers we receive daily
> from digital 'publishers.' For journals, we use impact factors and Web
> of Science data.
>
> Suggestions and example/actual policies would be much appreciated. You
> can email me directly if you prefer at [log in to unmask]
>
> best wishes,
>
> Marianne
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Marianne Johnson
>
> Distinguished Professor of Economics
>
> College of Business
>
> University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
>
--
**************************************************************
KEVIN D. HOOVER
Professor of Economics and Philosophy
Duke University
Editor, History of Political Economy
[log in to unmask]
Webpagewww.econ.duke.edu/~kdh9/
Telephone (919) 660-1876
Fax (919) 684-8974
Economics: primary mailing address
Department of Economics
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Durham, North Carolina 27708-0097
Philosophy
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