Mellen Press Publishing Policy
1)
The Edwin Mellen Press, founded in
1974, publishes books which advance
scholarly and scientific research.
Since that time, Mellen has published
over 5,000 titles, all of which it
still maintains in print.
2) The Edwin Mellen
Press appreciates that an author's
time is very valuable. Therefore,
we evaluate all proposals within
sixty days, and publish an author's manuscript
within six months of its final submission
and approval.
3)
The Edwin Mellen Press does not accept
any grants, subsidies, or payments
from institutions or authors because
we believe that such financial
inducements interfere with the objectivity
of the editorial process.
4)
The Edwin Mellen Press publishes books
intended for scholars: e.g.,
monographs, edited primary sources,
translations, concordances, bibliographies,
dictionaries, grammars, methodological
and critical studies, statistical
and
experimental research, multi-authored
works, constructive proposals in
all
academic disciplines, and (occasionally)
biographies and memoirs.
5) Mellen publishes
authors from North and Latin America,
Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia,
China and Japan. Mellen books may be
written in English, German, French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian, Hebrew, Welsh, and
(in principle) any other language appropriate
to the research topic of a particular
book.
6)
Mellen sells its books primarily to research
libraries worldwide, and sells
on average 300 copies of its monograph
titles. Approximately 200 copies
are sold
during the first five years, with
a few additional copies every year
thereafter.
These 300 copies sold to research
libraries will eventually be used by
12,000
readers. (This is a larger number
than the sales of most non-fiction hardcover
books.)
The Publication Process
7) The Edwin Mellen Press, like all publishers,
will evaluate a book proposal on
the basis of an outline, a sample chapter,
or an entire manuscript. Our
Editorial Board meets monthly and, if
it judges your book will make a
contribution to scholarship, it will
send you a contract proposing specific
conditions and terms.
8) Because scholars present their publications
to tenure and promotion
committees, Mellen requests its authors
to have their academic deans or
department heads approve their contract
before publishing with The Edwin Mellen
Press.
9) The author (or editor) must submit
to the Press three printed copies (LPC)
of
the final draft of their manuscript,
plus an identically formatted computer
disk. (The LPC should be prepared to
the Press' technical specifications supplied
by our production department.)
10) The final draft of your manuscript
must be evaluated and recommended for
publication by at least four outside
scholars. Two of these reviewers will
be
anonymous while the names of the other
two reviewers will be made available
to
the academic community.
11) A senior scholar must write and sign
a commendatory Foreword describing your
book’s contribution to
income, but they put titles out of print
quickly. Mellen offers a compromise,
paying royalties on sales over 500 copies
for the first five years but
maintaining the book in print without
royalties thereafter. This provision
protects our authors in those unusual
cases when their books attract attention
beyond the library market.
12) The Press will determine, in consultation
with the author, the title of the
published work.
13) After the entire peer review process
has been completed, the lector of the
Mellen Press will review the manuscript
and recommendations, and judge whether
the work is ready for publication. The
Lector will then set a publication date
within the next six months.
Marketing
14)
Mellen's advertising and promotion are
not directed toward bookstore sales and
the general public,
but toward two other groups: the libraries
which buy books and the scholars who
read them.
15)
Mellen markets books to libraries by
sending out for each title an individualized
colour announcement, by including all
new titles in a twice yearly new titles
catalogue, by re-announcing them in
annual catalogues specific to every
academic discipline, by listing them
(including review comments) in our
annual
comprehensive catalogue, and through
our approved booksellers such as Blackwell
and Baker & Taylor.
16)
Mellen markets your book to scholars
by including it in Nielsen BookData (a
topic search CD ROM catalogue), by displaying
it at professional conferences
(where it may be purchased at a low conference
price), and by presenting it
together with extensive reviews on our
Internet website.
17)
Your book will be assigned an ISBN
number and listed in Nielsen Book Data.
Your book can be special ordered through
any bookstore in the world.
Mellen sells to bookstores at a discount
so they can mark up the book to list
price. Therefore,
bookstores have a financial incentive
to handle special orders since they can
make a profit on such sales.
Pricing and
Royalties
18)
Our prices begin at £64.95 for 129
to 200 pages and rise to £84.95 for
501 to 600 pages. (Since each library
copy is frequently used, the price
per use is about £1) Mellen books are
intended for libraries and therefore
printed on acid free paper and bound
in cloth hardcover with library corners.
19) Mellen scholarly books are usually
too advanced for text use,
but are sometimes assigned for seminars
or advanced classes. Therefore,
we do offer a competitive text price
on all our titles.
20) Most scholarly publishers pay no
royalties on the first few hundred
sales and some pay none at all. Commercial
publishers usually pay royalties of
10% of
their net sales
Reviews and Copyrights
21) The review
process for scholarly books is slow;
therefore, it is important to keep
them in print for as long as possible.
Mellen promotes review of your
book by inviting scholarly journals
to request free copies. (Unsolicited
free copies are less likely to be
reviewed.) Authors may send "free review copy"
request forms to as many scholarly
journals as they choose. Most Mellen
books
eventually receive several reviews.
22) Most Mellen titles are copyrighted
in the name of the author, who then
grants exclusive publication rights
to The Edwin Mellen Press. If authors
have previously granted permission
to another publisher or to University
Microfilms to sell their work, this
permission must be withdrawn before
Mellen can proceed.
Editorial Guidelines
23) Mellen does
not allow short, catchy, or metaphorical
titles. Rather we want the title to
be literally and comprehensively informative
so that a potential reader will be
able to understand the book's method,
contents and scope even before opening.24)
Mellen authors should follow
standard conventions of scholarship.
For example, they should
(a)
include a review of the literature
and a statement of the problem to be
solved,
(b)
employ the preferred style of the
author's scholarly professional association,
(c) document every source the author
has used at every point where it
has been used,
(d)
contain bibliographies of all
sources relevant to the author's
subject (and not merely all sources
the author has cited),
(e)
provide full topic and personal
name indices, and
(f)
for
manuscripts written in English
provide English translations of all
foreign languages quoted, plus the
original text. For manuscripts in
other languages, it is desirable
to include an English summary of
the book's argument.
25) Authors should provide a succinct,
descriptive single page abstract of the
argument of their book suitable for international
publication and for website promotion.
26)
The Author should provide an analytical
Table of Contents (i.e., a full listing
in the Table of Contents of the topics
which the book discusses).
The reason for this requirement is
that this Table of Contents will be
included in Nielsen-BookData, a CD
ROM catalogue,
to facilitate "keyword" computer
search by scholars.
27) Authors should provide an appropriate
dedication for their books,
usually to some person or persons.
Mellen does not permit dedications
to animals, deities,
or ideological causes.
Permissions
28)
The Edwin Mellen Press receives many
requests from other publishers to quote,
to translate, and to reprint from
our books. Mellen routinely grants
permission for these uses, charging
only a modest administration fee.
Notice
of Policy
29) This statement
outlines the publishing policy of
The Edwin Mellen Press as of April,
2006. The Press reserves the right
to augment, amend, or make exceptions
to this policy,
at any time, without notice.
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