THE PUBLISHING OF SCHOLARLY MONOGRAPHS
| Date | 01 January 1980 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb026687 |
| Pages | 1-10 |
| Published date | 01 January 1980 |
| Author | P.H. MANN |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
THE
Journal of
Documentation
VOLUME 36 NUMBER 1 MARCH 1980
THE PUBLISHING OF SCHOLARLY MONOGRAPHS
P. H. MANN
Department
of
Sociological
Studies,
University
of Sheffield
Monographs are conventionally books which report specialized research
work to a restricted
readership.
The publishing of such books requires special
publishing skills of both an editorial and financial
type.
Many scholarly pub-
lishers make great use of academic advisers and scouts who seek out research
workers and
can
actually bring about the writing of new
books.
Scholars and
publishers exist in a symbiotic relationship which contains areas of potential
mutual benefit but also potential conflict. Good publishers are greatly appre-
ciated by authors who themselves become a part of the communication net-
work.
INTRODUCTION
THIS ARTICLE is about one part of the larger whole of scholarly publishing
and
is
restricted to the type of book conventionally referred to as a 'monograph'.
There are many types of publication within the general field of scholarly pub-
lishing and most publishers would include the publishing of scholarly journals,
review studies and even student textbooks under the general heading of 'scho-
larly'. However, journals and textbooks raise particular problems which arc
quite different from those of the monograph and in this article I shall restrict
myself to considering only the monograph form.
Firstly, then, what is a monograph? The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
defines it as 'a separate treatise on a single, object or class of objects' and most
scholars who have written or read
a
monograph will readily recognize the empha-
sis on a single area of study and will agree that a monograph is conventionally a
research document rather than a teaching book. This distinction is crucial if one
is to appreciate the particular elements in the writing and publishing of this type
of book.
Monographs, before anything else, are works of scholarship in which the
author is able to develop a theme at length, certainly at more length than would
Journal
of
Documentation,
Vol. 36, No. 1, March
1980,
pp. 1-10.
1
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