Handbook for Academic Authors

Soon after the first edition of this book appeared, it became clear that publishing practices were changing so rapidly that I needed to begin thinking about a new edition. The most significant change has been in the expanded use of computers for composition and desktop typesetting. A clear majority of academic authors write with computers, and the practice of typesetting from authors' disks has moved beyond the experimental stage.

This edition therefore has a new chapter, Chapter 10 [Chapter 11 in the third edition and Chapter 12 in the fourth and fifth editions], about using the computer and about electronic publishing: databases, CD-ROMs, and the like.

Another change has occurred in the structure of the publishing industry, which has become increasingly global. Commercial scholarly publishing has a greater presence in the United States because of the expansion of British and European houses into the U.S. market both through the opening of new offices and by the acquisition of U.S. firms. Although the long-term implications of internationalization remain unclear, it seems important to provide more information about commercial scholarly publishing and about the practices of transatlantic publishers. You will find most of this information in Chapter 4, but it appears throughout the book wherever it is relevant.

My own experience has expanded over the past three years to include editing the journal Book Research Quarterly, retitled Publishing Research Quarterly in 1991. As a result I have expanded Chapter 2 to add what I have learned.