Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
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Farooq A. Kperogi
May 27, 2012, 1:02:55 AM5/27/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
The other day, a friend of mine on Facebook proudly
announced that his master’s thesis had been published into a book by a German
publishing company called Lambert Academic Publishing. Several people
congratulated him. But I didn’t. I knew he had been scammed—and that he would
in turn unwittingly scam the Nigerian university system where he works as a
lecturer.
Since reading his self-congratulatory post, I have
heard of scores of other Nigerian university teachers who have published “academic
books” through Lambert and other such Euro-American publishing companies.
Before this trend becomes an epidemic, I thought I should call attention to an
emerging, borderline fraudulent publishing model called “print on demand.”
This is the way the model works. Author mills (that
is, deceptive publishing houses that publish ANY work submitted to them) based
in Europe and America use software to crawl the Internet (sometimes real people
do the Web prowling) for any mention of “thesis” or “dissertation” on the
Internet. The web crawler will identify the email addresses associated with the
authors of the theses or dissertations and then send them an
email using a standard email
template that goes something like this:
“I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing.In the course of a research on the … I came across a reference to your thesis on "...". We are an international publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.
LAP would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing from you.Kind regards,Acquisition EditorLAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing AG & Co. KGSaarbrückenDudweiler Landstraße 99, 66123 Saarbrücken Germany.”
I have received many variations of this email
template at least five times in the past few years. If a person agrees to
publish his/her dissertation or thesis with the company, the company will
request that the manuscript be sent to them via email. Within six weeks, the
book will be “out.” Of course, it will neither be peer-reviewed by experts in
the field nor will it be proofread by a copy editor. So it comes out
embarrassingly error-ridden. It’s basically garbage in, garbage out. As an American who
submitted his manuscript to Lambert put it in a blog post, “it is very evident
that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. There are
multiple grammatical errors.”
In
reality, the publishing house merely prepares a
camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s
copy of
the book, and waits for orders. The company makes money when the
author’s friends and relations place
an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra copies of the
book to share with friends and family. Since they print only when an
order is placed (thus the
name “print on demand”), they lose nothing. I am told that authors from
the
Third World are required to pay for their author’s copy.
The front- and back-page prototype of the book will
be displayed on the publishing company’s website and on Amazon.com—and that’s
it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media
publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no
distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
The author is promised royalties if the book
sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells
enough copies for the author to earn any royalties.
Here is why Nigerian university administrators
should be concerned about print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through
any kind of review before they are published. In fact, many people have
experimented with sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing
companies to see if they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published.
No manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as
unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people know, only
peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
Two,
they have limited or no materiality. By this I
mean that there are usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in
circulation. That
means they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas
since they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other
words, they are basically worthless.
Third, our people have been brainwashed into
thinking that anything published in the West must be of high quality. People
may innocently think Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a
German address. Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors
based purely on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American
writer Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic
author mill". That would be unfair to people who
struggle against all odds to produce high-quality scholarship.
Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud
that print-on-demand books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data
Collection (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted
books published by Lambert Academic Publishing.
The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
Related Articles:
Ndi Okereke's Fake Doctorate and Professorship
On Bauchi's Fake Lecturer--and What Should Be Done
Intellectual 419: Philip Emeagwali and Gabriel Oyibo Compared
Andy Uba and the Epidemic of Fakery in Nigeria
On Bauchi's Fake Lecturer--and What Should Be Done
Intellectual 419: Philip Emeagwali and Gabriel Oyibo Compared
Andy Uba and the Epidemic of Fakery in Nigeria
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
kenneth harrow
May 27, 2012, 9:28:32 AM5/27/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
sounds like what we have called "Self-Publishing" presses. this is
not necessarily a fraudulent thing, unless its claims are
misleading. but self-publishing presses have been around forever,
and as� you say, farooq, the books are not vetted, so do not "count"
towards a publication in any real sense. on the other hand, if your
manuscript has not succeeded in getting a publisher, you can go
ahead and do it, and then send copies for reviews to journals. if
the text gets a favorable review, you can build on that.
i don't think this is bad at all, unless it is duplicitous. as long as everyone realizes it is a self-published text, it can enter into the public domain and possibly gain an audience.
fiction authors have done this in the past; and "publishing" with electronic sources has made this even easier--which is a good thing, i believe. for instance, africultures is able to produce an enormous amount of great stuff, without the long process of vetting� print journals go through, which can delay publication by up to two years. africultures is not self-publishing, but it is also not following the rigorous processes of print journals in its vetting.
sort of like blogs, or even comments in major newspapers that follow editorials or articles. often the comments, another form of self-publishing, are much better than the piece on which they comment.
things are changing....
ken
i don't think this is bad at all, unless it is duplicitous. as long as everyone realizes it is a self-published text, it can enter into the public domain and possibly gain an audience.
fiction authors have done this in the past; and "publishing" with electronic sources has made this even easier--which is a good thing, i believe. for instance, africultures is able to produce an enormous amount of great stuff, without the long process of vetting� print journals go through, which can delay publication by up to two years. africultures is not self-publishing, but it is also not following the rigorous processes of print journals in its vetting.
sort of like blogs, or even comments in major newspapers that follow editorials or articles. often the comments, another form of self-publishing, are much better than the piece on which they comment.
things are changing....
ken
On 5/27/12 1:02 AM, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
The other day, a friend of mine on Facebook proudly announced that his master�s thesis had been published into a book by a German publishing company called Lambert Academic Publishing. Several people congratulated him. But I didn�t. I knew he had been scammed�and that he would in turn unwittingly scam the Nigerian university system where he works as a lecturer.
Since reading his self-congratulatory post, I have heard of scores of other Nigerian university teachers who have published �academic books� through Lambert and other such Euro-American publishing companies. Before this trend becomes an epidemic, I thought I should call attention to an emerging, borderline fraudulent publishing model called �print on demand.�
This is the way the model works. Author mills (that is, deceptive publishing houses that publish ANY work submitted to them) based in Europe and America use software to crawl the Internet (sometimes real people do the Web prowling) for any mention of �thesis� or �dissertation� on the Internet. The web crawler will identify the email addresses associated with the authors of the theses or dissertations and then send them an email using a standard email template that goes something like this:
�I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing.In the course of a research on the � I came across a reference to your thesis on "...". We are an international publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.
LAP would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,Acquisition EditorLAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG
Saarbr�ckenDudweiler Landstra�e 99, 66123 Saarbr�cken Germany.�I have received many variations of this email template at least five times in the past few years. If a person agrees to publish his/her dissertation or thesis with the company, the company will request that the manuscript be sent to them via email. Within six weeks, the book will be �out.� Of course, it will neither be peer-reviewed by experts in the field nor will it be proofread by a copy editor. So it comes out embarrassingly error-ridden. It�s basically garbage in, garbage out. As an American who submitted his manuscript to Lambert put it in a blog post, �it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.�
In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author�s copy of the book, and waits for orders. The company makes money when the author�s friends and relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only when an order is placed (thus the name �print on demand�), they lose nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay for their author�s copy.�
The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the publishing company�s website and on Amazon.com�and that�s it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties.
Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.�
Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are usually no more than a few copies of the �books� in circulation. That means they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since they can�t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are basically worthless.
Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address. Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author mill". That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce high-quality scholarship.�
Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic Publishing. The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
Related Articles:
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook:�https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter:�https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
--
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-- kenneth w. harrow distinguished professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 har...@msu.edu
Moses Ochonu
May 28, 2012, 8:23:36 AM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Ken, you make valid points. However, I understand Farooq to be arguing not against self-publishing or print-on-demand (POD) publishing per se. I understand him, rather, to be be critiquing:
1. The growing trend IN NIGERIA to pass off vanity publishing as an academic accomplishment and to proceed to fraudulently ascend the academic ladder on the basis of that. His argument here is not that these publications may not have some insights but that they violate the ethos of peer review, quality control, and editorial oversight, long established as valuational mechanisms in the academy.
2. The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community.
3. That because there is little or no editorial intervention in the work the quality is often poor, and even when one is able to access the book or journal it is a turn off. If you cannot read a text because it is riddled with grammatical, structural, and stylistic problems how can you get to its insights, if any?
I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day.
Sent from my iPad
sounds like what we have called "Self-Publishing" presses. this is not necessarily a fraudulent thing, unless its claims are misleading. but self-publishing presses have been around forever, and as you say, farooq, the books are not vetted, so do not "count" towards a publication in any real sense. on the other hand, if your manuscript has not succeeded in getting a publisher, you can go ahead and do it, and then send copies for reviews to journals. if the text gets a favorable review, you can build on that.
i don't think this is bad at all, unless it is duplicitous. as long as everyone realizes it is a self-published text, it can enter into the public domain and possibly gain an audience.
fiction authors have done this in the past; and "publishing" with electronic sources has made this even easier--which is a good thing, i believe. for instance, africultures is able to produce an enormous amount of great stuff, without the long process of vetting print journals go through, which can delay publication by up to two years. africultures is not self-publishing, but it is also not following the rigorous processes of print journals in its vetting.
sort of like blogs, or even comments in major newspapers that follow editorials or articles. often the comments, another form of self-publishing, are much better than the piece on which they comment.
things are changing....
ken
On 5/27/12 1:02 AM, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
The other day, a friend of mine on Facebook proudly announced that his master’s thesis had been published into a book by a German publishing company called Lambert Academic Publishing. Several people congratulated him. But I didn’t. I knew he had been scammed—and that he would in turn unwittingly scam the Nigerian university system where he works as a lecturer.
Since reading his self-congratulatory post, I have heard of scores of other Nigerian university teachers who have published “academic books” through Lambert and other such Euro-American publishing companies. Before this trend becomes an epidemic, I thought I should call attention to an emerging, borderline fraudulent publishing model called “print on demand.”
This is the way the model works. Author mills (that is, deceptive publishing houses that publish ANY work submitted to them) based in Europe and America use software to crawl the Internet (sometimes real people do the Web prowling) for any mention of “thesis” or “dissertation” on the Internet. The web crawler will identify the email addresses associated with the authors of the theses or dissertations and then send them an email using a standard email template that goes something like this:
“I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing.In the course of a research on the … I came across a reference to your thesis on "...". We are an international publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.
LAP would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,Acquisition EditorLAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG
SaarbrückenDudweiler Landstraße 99, 66123 Saarbrücken Germany.”
I have received many variations of this email template at least five times in the past few years. If a person agrees to publish his/her dissertation or thesis with the company, the company will request that the manuscript be sent to them via email. Within six weeks, the book will be “out.” Of course, it will neither be peer-reviewed by experts in the field nor will it be proofread by a copy editor. So it comes out embarrassingly error-ridden. It’s basically garbage in, garbage out. As an American who submitted his manuscript to Lambert put it in a blog post, “it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.”
In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and waits for orders. The company makes money when the author’s friends and relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only when an order is placed (thus the name “print on demand”), they lose nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay for their author’s copy.
The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the publishing company’s website and on Amazon.com—and that’s it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties.
Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in circulation. That means they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are basically worthless.
Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address. Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author mill". That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce high-quality scholarship.
Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic Publishing. The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
Related Articles:
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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Chidi Anthony Opara
May 28, 2012, 11:23:44 AM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
“The author is promised royalties if
the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book
sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties”.
------------Farooq A. Kperogi
The above statement does not sound to me as referring only to academic
publications. I publish poetry books on the Print On Demand platform and I have been receiving royalties since
2009.
----CAO.
“The fact that these POD and
self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate
beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their
insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community”.
------Moses Ochonu.
Print
On Demand books are available on the online bookshops and can be purchased by
anybody.
------CAO
“In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy
of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and waits
for orders”.
--------Farooq A. Kperogi.
That is what they should do as online bookshops. Are they supposed to
build warehouses, print the books, store them therein and await orders?
-----CAO.
“I recognize that things are changing,
but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established
protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my
issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality,
but we can discuss that another day”.
------Moses
Ochonu.
Here
lies the problem, acceptance of change in all ramifications have always been a
problem. There is always that inclination to orthodoxy.
------CAO.
Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
kenneth harrow
May 28, 2012, 11:36:10 AM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
the real issue here, which i think bears discussion, is what are the
conditions that impose the requirement to publish, and how those
conditions or publications are being met successfully or
unsuccessfully. people desperate to get anything into print so they
can get promoted, with worthless venues and articles, versus solid
publications with real substance. what is influencing this, what is
driving it, how is it working or not working... a question of
importance, and that must have different answers in different
locations. the question obtains for anywhere, but with the penury of
resources in much of africa it becomes more acute, driving us to ask
if there is anything we could do.
i was hoping to see websites formed with research materials made available for students and scholars, a partial solution to this problem.
k
On 5/28/12 11:23 AM, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:
i was hoping to see websites formed with research materials made available for students and scholars, a partial solution to this problem.
k
On 5/28/12 11:23 AM, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:
�The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties�.------------Farooq A. Kperogi�
The above statement does not sound to me as referring only to academic publications. I publish poetry books on the Print On Demand platform and I have been receiving royalties since 2009.----CAO.
��The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community�.------Moses Ochonu.�
Print On Demand books are available on the online bookshops and can be purchased by anybody.------CAO
��In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author�s copy of the book, and waits for orders�.--------Farooq A. Kperogi.�
That is what they should do as online bookshops. Are they supposed to build warehouses, print the books, store them therein and await orders?-----CAO.
��I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day�.------Moses Ochonu.�
Here lies the problem, acceptance of change in all ramifications have always been a problem. There is always that inclination to orthodoxy.------CAO.
From: Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
Ken, you make valid points. However, I understand Farooq to be arguing not against self-publishing or print-on-demand (POD) publishing per se. I understand him, rather, to be be critiquing:
1. The growing trend IN NIGERIA to pass off vanity publishing as an academic accomplishment and to proceed to fraudulently ascend the academic ladder on the basis of that. His argument here is not that these publications may not have some insights but that they violate the ethos of peer review, quality control, and editorial oversight, long established as valuational mechanisms in the academy.
2. The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community.
3. That because there is little or no editorial intervention in the work the quality is often poor, and even when one is able to access the book or journal it is a turn off. If you cannot read a text because it is riddled with grammatical, structural, and stylistic problems how can you get to its insights, if any?
I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day.
Sent from my iPad
�
sounds like what we have called "Self-Publishing" presses. this is not necessarily a fraudulent thing, unless its claims are misleading. but self-publishing presses have been around forever, and as� you say, farooq, the books are not vetted, so do not "count" towards a publication in any real sense. on the other hand, if your manuscript has not succeeded in getting a publisher, you can go ahead and do it, and then send copies for reviews to journals. if the text gets a favorable review, you can build on that.
i don't think this is bad at all, unless it is duplicitous. as long as everyone realizes it is a self-published text, it can enter into the public domain and possibly gain an audience.
fiction authors have done this in the past; and "publishing" with electronic sources has made this even easier--which is a good thing, i believe. for instance, africultures is able to produce an enormous amount of great stuff, without the long process of vetting� print journals go through, which can delay publication by up to two years. africultures is not self-publishing, but it is also not following the rigorous processes of print journals in its vetting.
sort of like blogs, or even comments in major newspapers that follow editorials or articles. often the comments, another form of self-publishing, are much better than the piece on which they comment.
things are changing....
ken
On 5/27/12 1:02 AM, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
The other day, a friend of mine on Facebook proudly announced that his master�s thesis had been published into a book by a German publishing company called Lambert Academic Publishing. Several people congratulated him. But I didn�t. I knew he had been scammed�and that he would in turn unwittingly scam the Nigerian university system where he works as a lecturer.
Since reading his self-congratulatory post, I have heard of scores of other Nigerian university teachers who have published �academic books� through Lambert and other such Euro-American publishing companies. Before this trend becomes an epidemic, I thought I should call attention to an emerging, borderline fraudulent publishing model called �print on demand.�
This is the way the model works. Author mills (that is, deceptive publishing houses that publish ANY work submitted to them) based in Europe and America use software to crawl the Internet (sometimes real people do the Web prowling) for any mention of �thesis� or �dissertation� on the Internet. The web crawler will identify the email addresses associated with the authors of the theses or dissertations and then send them an email using a standard email template that goes something like this:
�I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing.In the course of a research on the � I came across a reference to your thesis on "...". We are an international publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.
LAP would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,Acquisition EditorLAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG
Saarbr�ckenDudweiler Landstra�e 99, 66123 Saarbr�cken Germany.�
I have received many variations of this email template at least five times in the past few years. If a person agrees to publish his/her dissertation or thesis with the company, the company will request that the manuscript be sent to them via email. Within six weeks, the book will be �out.� Of course, it will neither be peer-reviewed by experts in the field nor will it be proofread by a copy editor. So it comes out embarrassingly error-ridden. It�s basically garbage in, garbage out. As an American who submitted his manuscript to Lambert put it in a blog post, �it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.�
In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author�s copy of the book, and waits for orders. The company makes money when the author�s friends and relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only when an order is placed (thus the name �print on demand�), they lose nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay for their author�s copy.�
The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the publishing company�s website and on Amazon.com�and that�s it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties.
Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.�
Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are usually no more than a few copies of the �books� in circulation. That means they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since they can�t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are basically worthless.
Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address. Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author mill". That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce high-quality scholarship.�
Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic Publishing. The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
Related Articles:
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook:�https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter:�https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
Tracy Flemming
May 28, 2012, 11:37:11 AM5/28/12
to <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Has anyone taught
Front Line of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of the Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley? I
haven't decided if I'm going to use it for an upcoming underground railroad class. For an On Demand text, I think students might respond well to it.
http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=1958
--
Tracy Flemming, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
African/African-American Studies
Grand Valley State University
107 Lake Ontario Hall
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, Michigan 49401-9403
USA
Ofc: 616/331-8150
Dept: 616/331-8110
Fax: 616/331-8111
E-mail: flem...@gvsu.edu
Moses Ebe Ochonu
May 28, 2012, 3:17:00 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Ken, again, you raise very provocative questions, and you're right that answers will correspond to location and local dynamics. That said, I am disappointed that, once again and quite predictably, your diagnosis and solution congealed to the rather hackneyed cop out of resource dearth. I believe Basil Ugochukwu did a fantastic job of debunking the resource argument, albeit for Nigeria only. Like him, I no longer believe that all problems afflicting the academy in Africa can or should be reduced to the cliche of resource gap. In Nigeria, university funding has improved modestly over the last ten years, and as Basil eloquently argued, the amount that it would take to sustain a rigorously edited and peer-reviewed journal is a drop in the budgetary bucket of the universities, the NUC, and ASUU. The bigger problem, for me, is what Professor Alemika, who is based in Nigeria, outlined: proliferation of journals and the abuse of easy publishing platforms that compromise editorial and evaluative processes. Even the patronage of POD and self-publishing platforms can be streamlined/standardized to solve the problem of sloppy review and editorial oversight if our colleagues at home are self-critical enough to put their minds to it. ASUU can and should lead this charge.
Chidi, of course anyone can order a POD book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but don't they have to know about the book and trust that the book was run through the grind of review and editorial scrutiny before they will order it? With traditional publishing outfits these assurances are a normal part of the process. Traditional publishing outfits already have an audience made up of their own authors, reviewers, and university and other institutional libraries that maintain an account with them. This assures a wide circulation. a POD author has no such reach and has to advertise his/her book with friends, family, and on lists like US-AfricaDialogue. They'd be lucky if anyone outside of this small circle knows about their book let alone order it. And, of course, the vast worldwide library system remains for the most part closed to the POD and self-publishing industry. This is why most POD-published texts rarely circulate and are thus limited in their ability to disseminate whatever insight inheres in them. Traditional publishers also have established marketing and advertising arms and strategies that POD platforms lack. The former often obtain member lists from professional and academic organizations such as the ASA, AHA, MLA, etc., with thousands of members worldwide. Advertising traditionally published books and journals, even if these are electronic publications, to these audiences ensures that even the most obscure or esoteric book or journal will circulate. Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation.
There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.
---Mohandas Gandhi
---Mohandas Gandhi
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 3:12:10 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Varied Communities of Assessment in Writing and Publishing
peer review and editing are very useful for quality, be it an academic book or not.
its also true that not all great works, academic and non-academic, went through such processes.
bypassing such processes implies the need for great vigilance and patience or genius or all of these, on the part of the writer.
if i choose to be an academic, i would expect to be judged by the global standard of contemporary academics, which is centred in peer evaluation.
if i do not wish to be an academic but simply operate as an intellectual, i would i would decide my criteria for evaluation in a different manner.
i dont aspire to be an academic. i have done it it and dont want to return. i want to succeed, professionally and financially, as a scholar, without having to be employed by anybody. i want to spend as much time as i can in research, writing, web construction, film making, publication and distribution, without any professional duties necessitated by being employed. and all done at my time and pace.
i observe however, that the books i enjoy reading most, the books i even often read for relaxation, are the very books published to service the academic market whose central institutions i dont want to belong to. books by academic publishers, often written by highly trained academics.
High Quality of Works from Academic Publishers
for me, these books are the best.
their standard is consistently high in all categories of writing and publishing.
surveying the books i possess, particularly non-fiction, from various academic publishers, Oxford UP, Routledge, Cambridge UP, Princeton UP, SUNY Press, Brill, Heinemann, University of Lagos Press, Yale UP, Edinburgh UP, etc etc
i conclude that the only competitors i see these publishers as having are a few trade publishers like Penguin, who, working with scholars, often academics, integrate the standards of academic publishing into their publishing process and some publishers in what seems to be the boom in publishing sophisticated books in India, as with such publishers as DK Printworld and Motilal Barnasidass.
these books are so good bcs of the rigorous development, often formal training, of their writers and the rigorous publication processes the books undergo.
consequently, for me and many others, having a book published by Oxford UP or any other acclaimed academic publisher says volumes about the book and about the writer.
The Economic Limitations of the Academic Writing and Publishing Model
but there is a catch.
the academic publishing market is geared towards the academic as an employee not as a person who can subsist from selling his or her ideas to the public. the academic is paid though wages by his or her employer.
must this be so?
i suspect not.
i suspect academic books are constructed and marketed in terms of narrow but rigorous parameters. the combination of narrowness and rigour does not help them attract a larger audience.
Parameters in the Construction and Marketing of Academic Works
while noting that changing these parameters might not work for all academics and all kinds of academic books, these parameters could be described as including
1. their exclusive dependence on verbal text. the human being is multi-cognitive and responds best to multiple cognitive stimuli. just like various senses are vital for giving a complete interaction with and understanding of the world, books and essays gain from integrating images and verbal texts.
2. What of sound? Can books not also be presented as films, integrating sound, image, motion and other forms? a number of publishing houses now advertise their books using their Youtube channels.
3. their exclusive dependence on the argumentative and expository essay forms. these are helpful but are only one of the methods used in the world's greatest cognitive productions. Plato used dialogues, with his works being described by his 20th century peers Alfred North Whitehead and Karl Popper, as the greatest examples of Western philosophy across the centuries, and Bertrand Russell declaring that any student of philosophy who fails to study Plato does so at his own risk,; classical Asian philosophers used the sutra, succinct, often one line summations, also used by the Western philosopher Wittgenstein in his Tractatus and the poem; various cognitive traditions integrate these forms and the short story, as was done by philosopher Richard Rorty's use of a short story in a brief section in his Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature.
4. restricting marketing to academic outlets like academic journals and academic publications catalogues. some of the best writing on the most salacious topics, using this term both literally and figuratively, is in academic works.
Tantric Sexuality in Academic Texts
The Hindu and Buddhist body of thought known as Tantra has become synonymous with sexuality in popular Western culture, so much so that an ad i tried to place on the classified site Gumtree for a Tantric theory and meditation workshop was automatically deleted, perhaps bcs it had the term 'Tantric' in the title and Gumtree forbids articles on 'Tantric massage'.
Abhinavgupta on Tantrix Sexuality in Chapter 29 of the Tantraloka,
yet the only translation known to me of the famous chapter 29 of the almost mythic Indian sage Abhinavagupta in his legendary Tantraloka, Light on the Tantras, a chapter where he waxes richly on the practice of ritual sex is John Dupuche's PhD published as The Kula Ritual as Elaborated in Chapter 29 of the Tantraloka published by Motilal Barnasidass. One of the most sublime and yet earthy depictions of sexuality is Abhinavagupta's summation of the Tantric concept of sexuality in that famous chapter, variously translated by Silburn and Dupuche.
From Lilian Silburn's Kundalini [very informative reviews on Amazon ] published by State University of New York Press:
Dupuche's translation is more explicit:
it would require an essay to expound fully on the content and form of these lines, taking us from the logic of the Tantric conception of the relationship between mind and body, between self and cosmos, itself embedded in these lines in an ancient tradition of transformations of conceptions of ritual between the concrete and the abstract in Indian thought and practice. vital in such grounding would be Surendranath Dasgupta's account of transformations of Vedic ritual in vol 1 of his 5 vol History of Indian Philosophy and Martin Skora's "Abhinavagupta’s Erotic Mysticism: TheReconciliation of Spirit and Flesh", among other examples.
How may more people to be encouraged to read such works as those of Dasgupta? how will they get to read Skora , his essay being published in the print only International Journal of Hindu Studies?
Social, Financial and Information Access Benefits of Academic Employment
there is social and financial security in being employed. academics in the Western tradition began from being paid directly by students to the present system, where perhaps a more equitable distribution of income is possible across the board. everyone would not be a Peter Abelard in medieval Europe, whose students flocked wherever he went. Hegel's lectures were described as steadily emptying of students as he expounded his now famous philosophical system, on account of the rigour of the system. the modern academic world is organized differently from that of the Yoruba/Orisa tradition babalawo or the Indian guru who operates in terms of attracting clients or students, at least in the traditional sense. the universities secure huge reserves of academic information not available to the public outside their systems. it seems most journals are not publicly accessible and without these journals certain insights are just not possible.
Crossing the Divide between Academics, the Lay Public and Independent Scholars
how is this divide to be crossed? how can independent scholars have access to subscription only journals? how can institutions be encouraged or made to let any willing person pay a reasonable fee for access unlike the current situation where membership of the institution is necessary for access?
apologies if my approach to the subject is not exactly the route others have taken but this is what scratches me on the issue.
thanks
toyin
peer review and editing are very useful for quality, be it an academic book or not.
its also true that not all great works, academic and non-academic, went through such processes.
bypassing such processes implies the need for great vigilance and patience or genius or all of these, on the part of the writer.
if i choose to be an academic, i would expect to be judged by the global standard of contemporary academics, which is centred in peer evaluation.
if i do not wish to be an academic but simply operate as an intellectual, i would i would decide my criteria for evaluation in a different manner.
i dont aspire to be an academic. i have done it it and dont want to return. i want to succeed, professionally and financially, as a scholar, without having to be employed by anybody. i want to spend as much time as i can in research, writing, web construction, film making, publication and distribution, without any professional duties necessitated by being employed. and all done at my time and pace.
i observe however, that the books i enjoy reading most, the books i even often read for relaxation, are the very books published to service the academic market whose central institutions i dont want to belong to. books by academic publishers, often written by highly trained academics.
High Quality of Works from Academic Publishers
for me, these books are the best.
their standard is consistently high in all categories of writing and publishing.
surveying the books i possess, particularly non-fiction, from various academic publishers, Oxford UP, Routledge, Cambridge UP, Princeton UP, SUNY Press, Brill, Heinemann, University of Lagos Press, Yale UP, Edinburgh UP, etc etc
i conclude that the only competitors i see these publishers as having are a few trade publishers like Penguin, who, working with scholars, often academics, integrate the standards of academic publishing into their publishing process and some publishers in what seems to be the boom in publishing sophisticated books in India, as with such publishers as DK Printworld and Motilal Barnasidass.
these books are so good bcs of the rigorous development, often formal training, of their writers and the rigorous publication processes the books undergo.
consequently, for me and many others, having a book published by Oxford UP or any other acclaimed academic publisher says volumes about the book and about the writer.
The Economic Limitations of the Academic Writing and Publishing Model
but there is a catch.
the academic publishing market is geared towards the academic as an employee not as a person who can subsist from selling his or her ideas to the public. the academic is paid though wages by his or her employer.
must this be so?
i suspect not.
i suspect academic books are constructed and marketed in terms of narrow but rigorous parameters. the combination of narrowness and rigour does not help them attract a larger audience.
Parameters in the Construction and Marketing of Academic Works
while noting that changing these parameters might not work for all academics and all kinds of academic books, these parameters could be described as including
1. their exclusive dependence on verbal text. the human being is multi-cognitive and responds best to multiple cognitive stimuli. just like various senses are vital for giving a complete interaction with and understanding of the world, books and essays gain from integrating images and verbal texts.
2. What of sound? Can books not also be presented as films, integrating sound, image, motion and other forms? a number of publishing houses now advertise their books using their Youtube channels.
3. their exclusive dependence on the argumentative and expository essay forms. these are helpful but are only one of the methods used in the world's greatest cognitive productions. Plato used dialogues, with his works being described by his 20th century peers Alfred North Whitehead and Karl Popper, as the greatest examples of Western philosophy across the centuries, and Bertrand Russell declaring that any student of philosophy who fails to study Plato does so at his own risk,; classical Asian philosophers used the sutra, succinct, often one line summations, also used by the Western philosopher Wittgenstein in his Tractatus and the poem; various cognitive traditions integrate these forms and the short story, as was done by philosopher Richard Rorty's use of a short story in a brief section in his Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature.
4. restricting marketing to academic outlets like academic journals and academic publications catalogues. some of the best writing on the most salacious topics, using this term both literally and figuratively, is in academic works.
Tantric Sexuality in Academic Texts
The Hindu and Buddhist body of thought known as Tantra has become synonymous with sexuality in popular Western culture, so much so that an ad i tried to place on the classified site Gumtree for a Tantric theory and meditation workshop was automatically deleted, perhaps bcs it had the term 'Tantric' in the title and Gumtree forbids articles on 'Tantric massage'.
Abhinavgupta on Tantrix Sexuality in Chapter 29 of the Tantraloka,
yet the only translation known to me of the famous chapter 29 of the almost mythic Indian sage Abhinavagupta in his legendary Tantraloka, Light on the Tantras, a chapter where he waxes richly on the practice of ritual sex is John Dupuche's PhD published as The Kula Ritual as Elaborated in Chapter 29 of the Tantraloka published by Motilal Barnasidass. One of the most sublime and yet earthy depictions of sexuality is Abhinavagupta's summation of the Tantric concept of sexuality in that famous chapter, variously translated by Silburn and Dupuche.
From Lilian Silburn's Kundalini [very informative reviews on Amazon ] published by State University of New York Press:
What is it that should be worshipped?
Women are to be worshipped.
Who is the worshipper?
Man is the worshipper.
Who invokes the deity?
Their mutual love.
Which flower is offered?
The scratches made by the nails.
What are the incense and the oblation?
Embraces and caresses.
What is the mantra? [sacred sound]
The beloved’s flow of words.
What is the recitation?
The pleasure of the lips.
What is the sacrificial pit?
The womb.
What is the wood of the sacrificial ladle?
The linga. [the phallus]
What is the fire?
The sprout in the womb.
What is the clarified butter?
The seed, the sperm.
What is, O Master of the Gods, the
samadhi? [experience of transcendent consciousness]
And Siva answers:
Sound, touch, form, savor and odor,
just as the flow of bliss is released,
what issues from these sensations in a fivefold way,
that is Samadhi.
Having realized this, let one obtain Siva. [ a male deity understood as embodying, among other qualities, the creation, preservation, destruction and recreation of the cosmos through vast cycles of time]
Dupuche's translation is more explicit:
What is to be worshipped,
who is the worshipper,
what sort of invocation should there be?
What flower,
incense and oblation,
which mantra and recitation?
What is the sacrificial pit,
what is the fire
what is the stick
what is the ghee?
What is the divine rapture?
Tell, O Three-Eyed
One! [Siva has three eyes, the two conventional eyes and one between the eyebrows, seeing into various dimensions of time and space]
The young women themselves are worshipped,
the man himself is the worshipper;
their joy is the invocation
and the scratches caused by their finger-nails is the flower.
The embrace mentioned above is the incense;
the ‘oblation’ is produced from their bodies.
The confused language of the beloved woman is the mantra
and the ‘lower nectar’ is the recitation.
The vulva is the sacrificial pit,
the penis is the ladle
and the clitoris is the fire itself and the seed is called ‘ghee’.
So it is said in
the Bhairava tradition. [the sacred tradition of Siva as erotic ascetic, quoting O' Flaherty's book with that title]
Word and touch, form, essence and smell are a set of five.
When bliss is aroused, the five fold universe appears [the 'five fold universe' refers to the various categories that constitute the totality of existence within this school of thought]
it would require an essay to expound fully on the content and form of these lines, taking us from the logic of the Tantric conception of the relationship between mind and body, between self and cosmos, itself embedded in these lines in an ancient tradition of transformations of conceptions of ritual between the concrete and the abstract in Indian thought and practice. vital in such grounding would be Surendranath Dasgupta's account of transformations of Vedic ritual in vol 1 of his 5 vol History of Indian Philosophy and Martin Skora's "Abhinavagupta’s Erotic Mysticism: TheReconciliation of Spirit and Flesh", among other examples.
How may more people to be encouraged to read such works as those of Dasgupta? how will they get to read Skora , his essay being published in the print only International Journal of Hindu Studies?
Social, Financial and Information Access Benefits of Academic Employment
there is social and financial security in being employed. academics in the Western tradition began from being paid directly by students to the present system, where perhaps a more equitable distribution of income is possible across the board. everyone would not be a Peter Abelard in medieval Europe, whose students flocked wherever he went. Hegel's lectures were described as steadily emptying of students as he expounded his now famous philosophical system, on account of the rigour of the system. the modern academic world is organized differently from that of the Yoruba/Orisa tradition babalawo or the Indian guru who operates in terms of attracting clients or students, at least in the traditional sense. the universities secure huge reserves of academic information not available to the public outside their systems. it seems most journals are not publicly accessible and without these journals certain insights are just not possible.
Crossing the Divide between Academics, the Lay Public and Independent Scholars
how is this divide to be crossed? how can independent scholars have access to subscription only journals? how can institutions be encouraged or made to let any willing person pay a reasonable fee for access unlike the current situation where membership of the institution is necessary for access?
apologies if my approach to the subject is not exactly the route others have taken but this is what scratches me on the issue.
thanks
toyin
Ikhide
May 28, 2012, 3:22:58 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
"...a question of
importance, and that must have different answers in different
locations. the question obtains for anywhere, but with the penury of
resources in much of africa it becomes more acute, driving us to ask
if there is anything we could do. i was hoping to see websites formed with research materials made
available for students and scholars, a partial solution to this
problem."
- Kenn Harrow
Ken,
You have gently tapped the nail on the head. I do not know about the other Black African nations, but it is nearly impossible for Nigeria to beg poverty in this instance. I can understand almost, the days before websites and other resources freely available on the Internet. Let us put it bluntly: If a (White) Westerner creates a free website for dumping scholarship unto it, a lotof people dancing panlogo here will be the first to pay something to be quoted there. Go to ASUU's website here and you will find the remains of such a vision. It is pompously christened an E-Library "An E- library and repository of books, papers, journals and official documents has been created for use. Members of the Union and the public are invited to make use of the resource. Click on it and you get this joke: "DB Error: Table 'ejournal.sessions' doesn't exist." I would be the first to trumpet its excellence if there had been any honest attempt to create AND sustain one. What do they care, their kids are safe in some Western institution only returning to thumb their noses at the mess that their parents made in their God awful books.
Nigeria and much of Black Africa is comfirming sadly Naipaul's observation that there is very little intellectual work happening. It is not for lack of resources. It is for lack of principle and conviction. We can complain all we want but there is some truth in the criticisms.
- Ikhide
Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
From: kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
the real issue here, which i think bears discussion, is what are the
conditions that impose the requirement to publish, and how those
conditions or publications are being met successfully or
unsuccessfully. people desperate to get anything into print so they
can get promoted, with worthless venues and articles, versus solid
publications with real substance. what is influencing this, what is
driving it, how is it working or not working... a question of
importance, and that must have different answers in different
locations. the question obtains for anywhere, but with the penury of
resources in much of africa it becomes more acute, driving us to ask
if there is anything we could do.
i was hoping to see websites formed with research materials made available for students and scholars, a partial solution to this problem.
k
On 5/28/12 11:23 AM, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:
i was hoping to see websites formed with research materials made available for students and scholars, a partial solution to this problem.
k
On 5/28/12 11:23 AM, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:
“The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties”.------------Farooq A. Kperogi
The above statement does not sound to me as referring only to academic publications. I publish poetry books on the Print On Demand platform and I have been receiving royalties since 2009.----CAO.
“The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community”.------Moses Ochonu.
Print On Demand books are available on the online bookshops and can be purchased by anybody.------CAO
“In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and waits for orders”.--------Farooq A. Kperogi.
That is what they should do as online bookshops. Are they supposed to build warehouses, print the books, store them therein and await orders?-----CAO.
“I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day”.------Moses Ochonu.
Here lies the problem, acceptance of change in all ramifications have always been a problem. There is always that inclination to orthodoxy.------CAO.
Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
Ken, you make valid points. However, I understand Farooq to be arguing not against self-publishing or print-on-demand (POD) publishing per se. I understand him, rather, to be be critiquing:
1. The growing trend IN NIGERIA to pass off vanity publishing as an academic accomplishment and to proceed to fraudulently ascend the academic ladder on the basis of that. His argument here is not that these publications may not have some insights but that they violate the ethos of peer review, quality control, and editorial oversight, long established as valuational mechanisms in the academy.
2. The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community.
3. That because there is little or no editorial intervention in the work the quality is often poor, and even when one is able to access the book or journal it is a turn off. If you cannot read a text because it is riddled with grammatical, structural, and stylistic problems how can you get to its insights, if any?
I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day.
Sent from my iPad
sounds like what we have called "Self-Publishing" presses. this is not necessarily a fraudulent thing, unless its claims are misleading. but self-publishing presses have been around forever, and as you say, farooq, the books are not vetted, so do not "count" towards a publication in any real sense. on the other hand, if your manuscript has not succeeded in getting a publisher, you can go ahead and do it, and then send copies for reviews to journals. if the text gets a favorable review, you can build on that.
i don't think this is bad at all, unless it is duplicitous. as long as everyone realizes it is a self-published text, it can enter into the public domain and possibly gain an audience.
fiction authors have done this in the past; and "publishing" with electronic sources has made this even easier--which is a good thing, i believe. for instance, africultures is able to produce an enormous amount of great stuff, without the long process of vetting print journals go through, which can delay publication by up to two years. africultures is not self-publishing, but it is also not following the rigorous processes of print journals in its vetting.
sort of like blogs, or even comments in major newspapers that follow editorials or articles. often the comments, another form of self-publishing, are much better than the piece on which they comment.
things are changing....
ken
On 5/27/12 1:02 AM, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
The other day, a friend of mine on Facebook proudly announced that his master’s thesis had been published into a book by a German publishing company called Lambert Academic Publishing. Several people congratulated him. But I didn’t. I knew he had been scammed—and that he would in turn unwittingly scam the Nigerian university system where he works as a lecturer.
Since reading his self-congratulatory post, I have heard of scores of other Nigerian university teachers who have published “academic books” through Lambert and other such Euro-American publishing companies. Before this trend becomes an epidemic, I thought I should call attention to an emerging, borderline fraudulent publishing model called “print on demand.”
This is the way the model works. Author mills (that is, deceptive publishing houses that publish ANY work submitted to them) based in Europe and America use software to crawl the Internet (sometimes real people do the Web prowling) for any mention of “thesis” or “dissertation” on the Internet. The web crawler will identify the email addresses associated with the authors of the theses or dissertations and then send them an email using a standard email template that goes something like this:
“I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing.In the course of a research on the … I came across a reference to your thesis on "...". We are an international publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.
LAP would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,Acquisition EditorLAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG
SaarbrückenDudweiler Landstraße 99, 66123 Saarbrücken Germany.”
I have received many variations of this email template at least five times in the past few years. If a person agrees to publish his/her dissertation or thesis with the company, the company will request that the manuscript be sent to them via email. Within six weeks, the book will be “out.” Of course, it will neither be peer-reviewed by experts in the field nor will it be proofread by a copy editor. So it comes out embarrassingly error-ridden. It’s basically garbage in, garbage out. As an American who submitted his manuscript to Lambert put it in a blog post, “it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.”
In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and waits for orders. The company makes money when the author’s friends and relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only when an order is placed (thus the name “print on demand”), they lose nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay for their author’s copy.
The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the publishing company’s website and on Amazon.com—and that’s it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties.
Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in circulation. That means they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are basically worthless.
Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address. Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author mill". That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce high-quality scholarship.
Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic Publishing. The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
Related Articles:
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
Chidi Anthony Opara
May 28, 2012, 3:47:24 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
“Chidi, of course anyone can order a
POD book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but don't they have to know about the
book and trust that the book was run through the grind of review and editorial
scrutiny before they will order it? With traditional publishing outfits these
assurances are a normal part of the process. Traditional publishing outfits
already have an audience made up of their own authors, reviewers, and
university and other institutional libraries that maintain an account with
them. This assures a wide circulation. a POD author has no such reach and has
to advertise his/her book with friends, family, and on lists like
US-AfricaDialogue. They'd be lucky if anyone outside of this small circle knows
about their book let alone order it. And, of course, the vast worldwide library
system remains for the most part closed to the POD and self-publishing
industry. This is why most POD-published texts rarely circulate and are thus
limited in their ability to disseminate whatever insight inheres in them. Traditional
publishers also have established marketing and advertising arms and strategies
that POD platforms lack. The former often obtain member lists from professional
and academic organizations such as the ASA, AHA, MLA, etc., with thousands of
members worldwide. Advertising traditionally published books and journals, even
if these are electronic publications, to these audiences ensures that even the
most obscure or esoteric book or journal will circulate. Traditional publishers
also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again
ensuring publicity and circulation”.
---------Moses Ochonu.
Moses, the
constraints you mentioned above are not peculiar to Print On Demand books, they also apply to self–published traditional
books.
----CAO.
Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 8:17 PM
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 4:39:29 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
I suspect that Moses is thinking purely in terms of traditional publishing strategies, the boundaries of which are being reconfigured.
He also seems to mix academic and trade publishing, which operate by different strategies in significant instances.
I think that the presence of the Internet enables one, with time, effort and money, to approach the reach of traditional publishing companies, if one is willing to do the work.
At the heart of marketing is convincing as many people as possible or as you would like that they should part with money for something you are providing.
How do you reach these people?
It has never been more readily possible to do so.
The social culture of the Internet is composed of both general and special interest groups. An online marketer would do well to establish a presence in both of these.
The Internet provides a range of platforms, from social media to Youtube, that facilitate such a process.
Can a POD author not do this?:
'Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation'.
If one wants to do that, then why not go to a traditional publisher?
Perhaps you prefer a do-it-yourself route.
is it worth it in the long run?
i dont know.
but if you have difficulties getting a publisher, you might want to consider such a route.
As for academic works- why do they often cost significantly more than trade texts?
Why are some of them produced through POD?
On cost, one reason might be to make up for expected low revenue.
On use of POD, to accommodate the fact that demand level does not seem to justify significant or any hard copy printing.
I suspect that current model of academic marketing is not as efficient as it could be. There is a need to inspire greater demand for works produced in terms of the rigour of academic texts.
thanks
toyin
He also seems to mix academic and trade publishing, which operate by different strategies in significant instances.
I think that the presence of the Internet enables one, with time, effort and money, to approach the reach of traditional publishing companies, if one is willing to do the work.
At the heart of marketing is convincing as many people as possible or as you would like that they should part with money for something you are providing.
How do you reach these people?
It has never been more readily possible to do so.
The social culture of the Internet is composed of both general and special interest groups. An online marketer would do well to establish a presence in both of these.
The Internet provides a range of platforms, from social media to Youtube, that facilitate such a process.
Can a POD author not do this?:
'Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation'.
If one wants to do that, then why not go to a traditional publisher?
Perhaps you prefer a do-it-yourself route.
is it worth it in the long run?
i dont know.
but if you have difficulties getting a publisher, you might want to consider such a route.
As for academic works- why do they often cost significantly more than trade texts?
Why are some of them produced through POD?
On cost, one reason might be to make up for expected low revenue.
On use of POD, to accommodate the fact that demand level does not seem to justify significant or any hard copy printing.
I suspect that current model of academic marketing is not as efficient as it could be. There is a need to inspire greater demand for works produced in terms of the rigour of academic texts.
thanks
toyin
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 9:12 PM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder where Ikhide gets the data for this statement he keeps directing against ASUU, a statement that looks to me like pure fiction:
"What do they care, their kids are safe in some Western institution only returning to thumb their noses at the mess that their parents made in their God awful books. "
Western universities are very, very expensive, even for their own citizens.The fees go into thousands of pounds and dollars. The fees for foreign students in England are at least are more than double those for citizens. Foreign students, particularly from Africa, often have little or no financial support from anywhere.
How many ASUU staff can afford such fees? Then factor in living costs and cost of books, all in foreign currencies with the Nigerian naira abysmally low compared to the dollar and the pound.
Ikhide, please stick to what you can substantiate when referring to ASUU.
Toyin
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 4:12:15 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
I wonder where Ikhide gets the data for this statement he keeps directing against ASUU, a statement that looks to me like pure fiction:
"What do they care, their kids are safe in some Western institution only returning to thumb their noses at the mess that their parents made in their God awful books. "
Western universities are very, very expensive, even for their own citizens.The fees go into thousands of pounds and dollars. The fees for foreign students in England are at least are more than double those for citizens. Foreign students, particularly from Africa, often have little or no financial support from anywhere.
How many ASUU staff can afford such fees? Then factor in living costs and cost of books, all in foreign currencies with the Nigerian naira abysmally low compared to the dollar and the pound.
Ikhide, please stick to what you can substantiate when referring to ASUU.
Toyin
"What do they care, their kids are safe in some Western institution only returning to thumb their noses at the mess that their parents made in their God awful books. "
Western universities are very, very expensive, even for their own citizens.The fees go into thousands of pounds and dollars. The fees for foreign students in England are at least are more than double those for citizens. Foreign students, particularly from Africa, often have little or no financial support from anywhere.
How many ASUU staff can afford such fees? Then factor in living costs and cost of books, all in foreign currencies with the Nigerian naira abysmally low compared to the dollar and the pound.
Ikhide, please stick to what you can substantiate when referring to ASUU.
Toyin
Farooq A. Kperogi
May 28, 2012, 5:50:48 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
As Moses has artfully articulated in his first intervention, this isn't so much about the model of publishing as it is about the absence of any sort of quality control for putatively academic books published by Lambert and other POD publishers. Note that my article is SOLELY concerned with ACADEMIC books that university teachers present to the Tenure and Promotion committees of their departments to advance to the next rank in the professional hierarchy. It's NOT about non-academic books, although even non-academic books could some copy-editing before they are published.
If POD books work for creative or other kinds of writers, all well and good. But the tradition of the academe, which hasn't changed at the time of sending this email, privileges books and journal articles that are peer-reviewed. Books published by Lambert Academic Publishing and other POD publishers are NOT peer-reviewed. They are not even copy-edited. These facts ALONE make them unworthy of being used as bases for promotion in the university.
If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
It's as simple as that.
Farooq
If POD books work for creative or other kinds of writers, all well and good. But the tradition of the academe, which hasn't changed at the time of sending this email, privileges books and journal articles that are peer-reviewed. Books published by Lambert Academic Publishing and other POD publishers are NOT peer-reviewed. They are not even copy-edited. These facts ALONE make them unworthy of being used as bases for promotion in the university.
If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
It's as simple as that.
Farooq
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 5:54:57 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
i dont think anybody is disputing the validity of your points.
i get the impression that other issues evoked by your points are also being discussed.
toyin
i get the impression that other issues evoked by your points are also being discussed.
toyin
Ikhide
May 28, 2012, 6:07:27 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
It is pure madness for anyone in academia to even think of starting a journal of scholarship without peer review. Folks know what Professor Kperogi is talking about but it is easier to dance around the truth than to acknowledge it. Our scholarship is stuck in a dank dark corner. It is an easy fix; folks should stop the bs and do the work. If ASUU started a peer-reviewed journal for free on its site, and the articles had rigor in them, eventually they would make so much money and acquire so much fame, it would virtually run itself. Nope. All we have are BROKEN links, three or so years after I initially complained on this forum. How it is possible to respect such nonsense is a mystery to me. What is the excuse? These are not scholars.
What stops local universities from collaborating to do a peer reviewed journal? Nope, there is no money to "share" in such a project. Besides, our kids are not in those "institutions," who cares?
- Ikhide
Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
From: Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
As Moses has artfully articulated in his first intervention, this isn't so much about the model of publishing as it is about the absence of any sort of quality control for putatively academic books published by Lambert and other POD publishers. Note that my article is SOLELY concerned with ACADEMIC books that university teachers present to the Tenure and Promotion committees of their departments to advance to the next rank in the professional hierarchy. It's NOT about non-academic books, although even non-academic books could some copy-editing before they are published.
If POD books work for creative or other kinds of writers, all well and good. But the tradition of the academe, which hasn't changed at the time of sending this email, privileges books and journal articles that are peer-reviewed. Books published by Lambert Academic Publishing and other POD publishers are NOT peer-reviewed. They are not even copy-edited. These facts ALONE make them unworthy of being used as bases for promotion in the university.
If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
It's as simple as that.
Farooq
If POD books work for creative or other kinds of writers, all well and good. But the tradition of the academe, which hasn't changed at the time of sending this email, privileges books and journal articles that are peer-reviewed. Books published by Lambert Academic Publishing and other POD publishers are NOT peer-reviewed. They are not even copy-edited. These facts ALONE make them unworthy of being used as bases for promotion in the university.
If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
It's as simple as that.
Farooq
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@yahoo.com> wrote:
“Chidi, of course anyone can order a POD book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but don't they have to know about the book and trust that the book was run through the grind of review and editorial scrutiny before they will order it? With traditional publishing outfits these assurances are a normal part of the process. Traditional publishing outfits already have an audience made up of their own authors, reviewers, and university and other institutional libraries that maintain an account with them. This assures a wide circulation. a POD author has no such reach and has to advertise his/her book with friends, family, and on lists like US-AfricaDialogue. They'd be lucky if anyone outside of this small circle knows about their book let alone order it. And, of course, the vast worldwide library system remains for the most part closed to the POD and self-publishing industry. This is why most POD-published texts rarely circulate and are thus limited in their ability to disseminate whatever insight inheres in them. Traditional publishers also have established marketing and advertising arms and strategies that POD platforms lack. The former often obtain member lists from professional and academic organizations such as the ASA, AHA, MLA, etc., with thousands of members worldwide. Advertising traditionally published books and journals, even if these are electronic publications, to these audiences ensures that even the most obscure or esoteric book or journal will circulate. Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation”.---------Moses Ochonu.Moses, the constraints you mentioned above are not peculiar to Print On Demand books, they also apply to self–published traditional books.----CAO.Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 6:23:22 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
But...
there are peer reviewed journals in Nigerian universities.
so, what is the source of this-
'What stops local universities from collaborating to do a peer reviewed journal? Nope, there is no money to "share" in such a project. Besides, our kids are not in those "institutions," who cares?'
how can a person think they can reasonably make sweeping statements about practices in academic institutions in an entire nation without doing any research?
there is a world of difference between the kind of focused criticism of a specific practice that Kperogi is addressing and Ikhide's love of general mudslinging at ASUU, some of which is based on pure fantasy.
some of the anti-ASUU fantasies Ikhide likes to declaim
1. that ASUU members have their children in Western universities
2. that there are no peer reviewed journals run by Nigerian universities.
these are examples of pure delusion.
also, nobody on this thread is arguing that it is realistic to run academic journals without peer review.
there are peer reviewed journals in Nigerian universities.
so, what is the source of this-
'What stops local universities from collaborating to do a peer reviewed journal? Nope, there is no money to "share" in such a project. Besides, our kids are not in those "institutions," who cares?'
how can a person think they can reasonably make sweeping statements about practices in academic institutions in an entire nation without doing any research?
there is a world of difference between the kind of focused criticism of a specific practice that Kperogi is addressing and Ikhide's love of general mudslinging at ASUU, some of which is based on pure fantasy.
some of the anti-ASUU fantasies Ikhide likes to declaim
1. that ASUU members have their children in Western universities
2. that there are no peer reviewed journals run by Nigerian universities.
these are examples of pure delusion.
also, nobody on this thread is arguing that it is realistic to run academic journals without peer review.
Moses Ochonu
May 28, 2012, 6:43:16 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Toyin, my definition of traditional publishing makes no distinction between trade and academic publishers because both satisfy the two criteria I outlined: rigorous peer and editorial review and mechanisms for effective circulation.
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
Olabode Ibironke
May 28, 2012, 6:53:05 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
The presumption here is that "peer review" in the context of Farooq's argument will result in "quality control". I am not so sure that has always being the case, especially with the phenomenon of god-fatherism and the politics of academic publishing in general. If any thing, it seems in most disciplines, and especially in medical sciences, these peer reviews are gatekeeping measures really that invalidate methods and truths that challenge or are outside disciplinary orthodoxy. I am therefore equally uncomfortable with the apparent conservatism of this defense of conventional academic practices at the same time as I sympathize with the sentiment to call attention to the problems of academic self-publishing.
Bode
kenneth harrow
May 28, 2012, 7:15:08 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
farooq,
toyin is right, i was trying to make a leap from your original point, which is pretty clear.
but publishing is changing for us, anyway, even in academe. partly because as a condition for tenure and promotion it is getting more and more difficult, and the mla is trying to propose alternative modes, including webbased publications that don't take 2 years.
self-publishing in academe doesn't count. but what can we do to change and improve a culture that is grounded so much in older conventional models of peer-review? my son is a physicist, and they publish stuff on-line, and then comment on it; apparently that counts more than publications in paper format, and there is an alternative understanding of vetting which comes from the profession itself.
i wish we could have all our academic materials available on line; i promise i would stop talking about resource penury in africa when that day comes, and it is coming everywhere.
but there is another issue, which i would really want to know more about. that is not simply penury, or lazy academics, or even poor standards; it is a question of how rigor comes to be instituted, normalized, in an academic setting. for a long time, in francophone africa, profs were underpaid and always, always supplemented their incomes by taking on other jobs, like translation, other teaching or consulting gigs, etc. not all, but most.
the teaching became part-time, while there was a fiction being perpetrated by the actual practices. what fiction? the same books were being taught, over and over, for decades. i kid not. and publications were ultimately a form of self-publication, with local venues that did not exercise proper vetting. so, some pieces were sharp, others worthless. no one seemed to know how or care how to impose real standards.
how does that culture change?
in the u.s., it changed over the course of my career, 40 years, where the "professionalization" of the university imposed a uniformity, a set of codes, many of which i hated, like dress codes, interview codes, cv codes, on and on, that grad students now have to learn and adhere to. but at the same time, as theory replaced literature as the core of substantial publications, the quality and challenge of thought generated an enormous change in the quality of the work. not all of it, to be sure. but an intellectual mountain was created, and readings of african literature along with the rest of the field developed, improved, advanced...became much more informed, solid, compelling, instead of merely validating notions of authentic representation.
this list discusses nigeria mostly, and ghana secondarily. what is going on there in academe? it can't be the same in all the schools. what drives the standards, where is it working, where is it not, and why?
ken
On 5/28/12 5:54 PM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU wrote:
toyin is right, i was trying to make a leap from your original point, which is pretty clear.
but publishing is changing for us, anyway, even in academe. partly because as a condition for tenure and promotion it is getting more and more difficult, and the mla is trying to propose alternative modes, including webbased publications that don't take 2 years.
self-publishing in academe doesn't count. but what can we do to change and improve a culture that is grounded so much in older conventional models of peer-review? my son is a physicist, and they publish stuff on-line, and then comment on it; apparently that counts more than publications in paper format, and there is an alternative understanding of vetting which comes from the profession itself.
i wish we could have all our academic materials available on line; i promise i would stop talking about resource penury in africa when that day comes, and it is coming everywhere.
but there is another issue, which i would really want to know more about. that is not simply penury, or lazy academics, or even poor standards; it is a question of how rigor comes to be instituted, normalized, in an academic setting. for a long time, in francophone africa, profs were underpaid and always, always supplemented their incomes by taking on other jobs, like translation, other teaching or consulting gigs, etc. not all, but most.
the teaching became part-time, while there was a fiction being perpetrated by the actual practices. what fiction? the same books were being taught, over and over, for decades. i kid not. and publications were ultimately a form of self-publication, with local venues that did not exercise proper vetting. so, some pieces were sharp, others worthless. no one seemed to know how or care how to impose real standards.
how does that culture change?
in the u.s., it changed over the course of my career, 40 years, where the "professionalization" of the university imposed a uniformity, a set of codes, many of which i hated, like dress codes, interview codes, cv codes, on and on, that grad students now have to learn and adhere to. but at the same time, as theory replaced literature as the core of substantial publications, the quality and challenge of thought generated an enormous change in the quality of the work. not all of it, to be sure. but an intellectual mountain was created, and readings of african literature along with the rest of the field developed, improved, advanced...became much more informed, solid, compelling, instead of merely validating notions of authentic representation.
this list discusses nigeria mostly, and ghana secondarily. what is going on there in academe? it can't be the same in all the schools. what drives the standards, where is it working, where is it not, and why?
ken
On 5/28/12 5:54 PM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU wrote:
i dont think anybody� is disputing the validity of your points.
i get the impression that other issues evoked by your points are also being discussed.
toyin
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 10:50 PM, Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com> wrote:
�As Moses has artfully articulated in his first intervention, this isn't so much about the model of publishing as it is about the absence of any sort of quality control for putatively academic books published by Lambert and other POD publishers. Note that my article is SOLELY concerned with ACADEMIC books that university teachers present to the Tenure and Promotion committees of their departments to advance to the next rank in the professional hierarchy. It's NOT about non-academic books, although even non-academic books could some copy-editing before they are published.
�If POD books work for creative or other kinds of writers, all well and good. But the tradition of the academe, which hasn't changed at the time of sending this email, privileges books and journal articles that are peer-reviewed. Books published by Lambert Academic Publishing and other POD publishers are NOT peer-reviewed. They are not even copy-edited. These facts ALONE make them unworthy of being used as bases for promotion in the university.
If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
It's as simple as that.
Farooq
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook:�https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter:�https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@yahoo.com> wrote:
�Chidi, of course anyone can order a POD book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but don't they have to know about the book and trust that the book was run through the grind of review and editorial scrutiny before they will order it? With traditional publishing outfits these assurances are a normal part of the process. Traditional publishing outfits already have an audience made up of their own authors, reviewers, and university and other institutional libraries that maintain an account with them. This assures a wide circulation. a POD author has no such reach and has to advertise his/her book with friends, family, and on lists like US-AfricaDialogue. They'd be lucky if anyone outside of this small circle knows about their book let alone order it. And, of course, the vast worldwide library system remains for the most part closed to the POD and self-publishing industry. This is why most POD-published texts rarely circulate and are thus limited in their ability to disseminate whatever insight inheres in them. Traditional publishers also have established marketing and advertising arms and strategies that POD platforms lack. The former often obtain member lists from professional and academic organizations such as the ASA, AHA, MLA, etc., with thousands of members worldwide. Advertising traditionally published books and journals, even if these are electronic publications, to these audiences ensures that even the most obscure or esoteric book or journal will circulate. Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation�.---------Moses Ochonu.�Moses, the constraints you mentioned above are not peculiar to Print On Demand books, they also apply to self�published traditional books.----CAO.�Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
Ken, again, you raise very provocative questions, and you're right that answers will correspond to location and local dynamics. That said, I am disappointed that, once again and quite predictably, your diagnosis and solution congealed to the rather hackneyed cop out of resource dearth. I believe Basil Ugochukwu did a fantastic job of debunking the resource argument, albeit for Nigeria only. Like him, I no longer believe that all problems afflicting the academy in Africa can or should be reduced to the cliche of resource gap. In Nigeria, university funding has improved modestly over the last ten years, and as Basil eloquently argued, the amount that it would take to sustain a rigorously edited and peer-reviewed journal is a drop in the budgetary bucket of the universities, the NUC, and ASUU. The bigger problem, for me, is what Professor Alemika, who is based in Nigeria, outlined: proliferation of journals and the abuse of easy publishing platforms that compromise editorial and evaluative processes. Even the patronage of POD and self-publishing platforms can be streamlined/standardized to solve the problem of sloppy review and editorial oversight if our colleagues at home are self-critical enough to put their minds to it. ASUU can and should lead this charge.
Chidi, of course anyone can order a POD book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but don't they have to know about the book and trust that the book was run through the grind of review and editorial scrutiny before they will order it? With traditional publishing outfits these assurances are a normal part of the process. Traditional publishing outfits already have an audience made up of their own authors, reviewers, and university and other institutional libraries that maintain an account with them. This assures a wide circulation. a POD author has no such reach and has to advertise his/her book with friends, family, and on lists like US-AfricaDialogue. They'd be lucky if anyone outside of this small circle knows about their book let alone order it. And, of course, the vast worldwide library system remains for the most part closed to the POD and self-publishing industry. This is why most POD-published texts rarely circulate and are thus limited in their ability to disseminate whatever insight inheres in them. Traditional publishers also have established marketing and advertising arms and strategies that POD platforms lack. The former often obtain member lists from professional and academic organizations such as the ASA, AHA, MLA, etc., with thousands of members worldwide. Advertising traditionally published books and journals, even if these are electronic publications, to these audiences ensures that even the most obscure or esoteric book or journal will circulate. Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation.
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 10:37 AM, Tracy Flemming <flem...@gvsu.edu> wrote:
Has anyone taught Front Line of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of the Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley?�I haven't decided if I'm going to use it for an upcoming underground railroad class. For an On Demand text, I think students might respond well to it.�
http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=1958
--Tracy Flemming, Ph.D.Visiting Assistant Professor
African/African-American Studies�
Grand Valley State University107 Lake Ontario Hall1 Campus DriveAllendale, Michigan 49401-9403USAOfc: 616/331-8150Dept: 616/331-8110Fax: 616/331-8111E-mail: flem...@gvsu.edu
�The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties�.------------Farooq A. Kperogi�
The above statement does not sound to me as referring only to academic publications. I publish poetry books on the Print On Demand platform and I have been receiving royalties since 2009.----CAO.
��The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community�.------Moses Ochonu.�
Print On Demand books are available on the online bookshops and can be purchased by anybody.------CAO
��In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author�s copy of the book, and waits for orders�.--------Farooq A. Kperogi.�
That is what they should do as online bookshops. Are they supposed to build warehouses, print the books, store them therein and await orders?-----CAO.
��I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day�.------Moses Ochonu.�
Here lies the problem, acceptance of change in all ramifications have always been a problem. There is always that inclination to orthodoxy.------CAO.
From: Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
Ken, you make valid points. However, I understand Farooq to be arguing not against self-publishing or print-on-demand (POD) publishing per se. I understand him, rather, to be be critiquing:
1. The growing trend IN NIGERIA to pass off vanity publishing as an academic accomplishment and to proceed to fraudulently ascend the academic ladder on the basis of that. His argument here is not that these publications may not have some insights but that they violate the ethos of peer review, quality control, and editorial oversight, long established as valuational mechanisms in the academy.
2. The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community.
3. That because there is little or no editorial intervention in the work the quality is often poor, and even when one is able to access the book or journal it is a turn off. If you cannot read a text because it is riddled with grammatical, structural, and stylistic problems how can you get to its insights, if any?
I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day.
Sent from my iPad
�
sounds like what we have called "Self-Publishing" presses. this is not necessarily a fraudulent thing, unless its claims are misleading. but self-publishing presses have been around forever, and as� you say, farooq, the books are not vetted, so do not "count" towards a publication in any real sense. on the other hand, if your manuscript has not succeeded in getting a publisher, you can go ahead and do it, and then send copies for reviews to journals. if the text gets a favorable review, you can build on that.
i don't think this is bad at all, unless it is duplicitous. as long as everyone realizes it is a self-published text, it can enter into the public domain and possibly gain an audience.
fiction authors have done this in the past; and "publishing" with electronic sources has made this even easier--which is a good thing, i believe. for instance, africultures is able to produce an enormous amount of great stuff, without the long process of vetting� print journals go through, which can delay publication by up to two years. africultures is not self-publishing, but it is also not following the rigorous processes of print journals in its vetting.
sort of like blogs, or even comments in major newspapers that follow editorials or articles. often the comments, another form of self-publishing, are much better than the piece on which they comment.
things are changing....
ken
On 5/27/12 1:02 AM, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
The other day, a friend of mine on Facebook proudly announced that his master�s thesis had been published into a book by a German publishing company called Lambert Academic Publishing. Several people congratulated him. But I didn�t. I knew he had been scammed�and that he would in turn unwittingly scam the Nigerian university system where he works as a lecturer.
Since reading his self-congratulatory post, I have heard of scores of other Nigerian university teachers who have published �academic books� through Lambert and other such Euro-American publishing companies. Before this trend becomes an epidemic, I thought I should call attention to an emerging, borderline fraudulent publishing model called �print on demand.�
This is the way the model works. Author mills (that is, deceptive publishing houses that publish ANY work submitted to them) based in Europe and America use software to crawl the Internet (sometimes real people do the Web prowling) for any mention of �thesis� or �dissertation� on the Internet. The web crawler will identify the email addresses associated with the authors of the theses or dissertations and then send them an email using a standard email template that goes something like this:
�I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing.In the course of a research on the � I came across a reference to your thesis on "...". We are an international publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.
LAP would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,Acquisition EditorLAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG
Saarbr�ckenDudweiler Landstra�e 99, 66123 Saarbr�cken Germany.�
I have received many variations of this email template at least five times in the past few years. If a person agrees to publish his/her dissertation or thesis with the company, the company will request that the manuscript be sent to them via email. Within six weeks, the book will be �out.� Of course, it will neither be peer-reviewed by experts in the field nor will it be proofread by a copy editor. So it comes out embarrassingly error-ridden. It�s basically garbage in, garbage out. As an American who submitted his manuscript to Lambert put it in a blog post, �it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.�
In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author�s copy of the book, and waits for orders. The company makes money when the author�s friends and relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only when an order is placed (thus the name �print on demand�), they lose nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay for their author�s copy.�
The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the publishing company�s website and on Amazon.com�and that�s it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties.
Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.�
Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are usually no more than a few copies of the �books� in circulation. That means they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since they can�t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are basically worthless.
Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address. Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author mill". That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce high-quality scholarship.�
Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic Publishing. The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
Related Articles:
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook:�https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter:�https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
Farooq A. Kperogi
May 28, 2012, 8:07:50 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Bode,
I acknowledged, as Moses did before me, that peer-review isn't fool-proof. This was what I wrote: "If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
Having said that, it is still the case that peer-review, with all its imperfections, certainly does ensure better quality control than the current model of POD academic publishing.
Farooq
I acknowledged, as Moses did before me, that peer-review isn't fool-proof. This was what I wrote: "If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
Having said that, it is still the case that peer-review, with all its imperfections, certainly does ensure better quality control than the current model of POD academic publishing.
Farooq
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 7:40:29 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
is that exactly true, Moses?
i wonder if i am addressing your point adequately, though.
of course, traditional trade and academic publishers operate as you described them.
i did state that these functions are not performed in the same way in academic and trade contexts.
even then, that might not affect your argument that such processes are in place in those contexts while they are not in operation in self publishing, which is not necessarily identical with POD, since some academic works are POD and some self publishing is not POD.
peer review in an academic press would not be identical with the same process in a non-academic press. the academic press is likely to be more interested in a greater degree of originality and rigor and even a different style of presentation than the non-academic press. compare the various books on the same subject published by these two kinds of presses.
secondly, your examples seemed not to distinguish between the two kinds of publishing. academic publishing in its present form is more specialized, relying for its audience on people who often seek their texts in specialized locations.
comparing two of my favorite bookshops as examples, if the examples are relevant, Borders when it still existed in England, had a not insignificant selection of academic books, but, as more of a general bookshop, it was not equal in its academic holdings to the fantastic Blackwell's academic bookshop in Oxford, the bookshop describing itself as entering the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest concentration of academic books in one space.
i am not arguing that i am deconstructing your argument or debunking your analysis. i am suggesting that the current state in both academic and non-academic publishing might be more fluid than you have described and while the points you make are valid, publishers are addressing them in a variety of ways.
i think i get why Ikhide thinks i was suggesting that its possible to publish an academic journal without peer review.
academic journals are collections of works by different people and so a review process is necessary to ensure quality of content and uniformity of style.
it is not always the same for single authored books.
academic publishers pass their books through a rigorous peer review process that helps to ensure their high quality.
this has not always been the case with the canonical texts in the Western academic tradition, the global model.
My point is that the current system is a very good one but it does not have a monopoly of success with scholarly book publishing.
i wonder if i am addressing your point adequately, though.
of course, traditional trade and academic publishers operate as you described them.
i did state that these functions are not performed in the same way in academic and trade contexts.
even then, that might not affect your argument that such processes are in place in those contexts while they are not in operation in self publishing, which is not necessarily identical with POD, since some academic works are POD and some self publishing is not POD.
peer review in an academic press would not be identical with the same process in a non-academic press. the academic press is likely to be more interested in a greater degree of originality and rigor and even a different style of presentation than the non-academic press. compare the various books on the same subject published by these two kinds of presses.
secondly, your examples seemed not to distinguish between the two kinds of publishing. academic publishing in its present form is more specialized, relying for its audience on people who often seek their texts in specialized locations.
comparing two of my favorite bookshops as examples, if the examples are relevant, Borders when it still existed in England, had a not insignificant selection of academic books, but, as more of a general bookshop, it was not equal in its academic holdings to the fantastic Blackwell's academic bookshop in Oxford, the bookshop describing itself as entering the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest concentration of academic books in one space.
i am not arguing that i am deconstructing your argument or debunking your analysis. i am suggesting that the current state in both academic and non-academic publishing might be more fluid than you have described and while the points you make are valid, publishers are addressing them in a variety of ways.
i think i get why Ikhide thinks i was suggesting that its possible to publish an academic journal without peer review.
academic journals are collections of works by different people and so a review process is necessary to ensure quality of content and uniformity of style.
it is not always the same for single authored books.
academic publishers pass their books through a rigorous peer review process that helps to ensure their high quality.
this has not always been the case with the canonical texts in the Western academic tradition, the global model.
My point is that the current system is a very good one but it does not have a monopoly of success with scholarly book publishing.
Moses Ochonu
May 28, 2012, 9:16:43 PM5/28/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Bode, you're right that sometimes peer review is little more than the tyranny of orthodoxy. And this is not just true of the medical sciences but also of the humanities and social sciences. I have my own story in that regard as I am sure others do. I alluded to the politics of peer review and godfatherism earlier but left it alone to be broached for discussion another day. But it should, as you said, be a caveat in this discussion. Peer review should not be advanced as a perfect antidote to the problems that Farooq articulated. And Farooq was mindful of this in his post, which contains a far from uncritical endorsement of peer review as a guarantor of quality. Having made these observations in agreement with your point, let me also add that...
1. It is not always about content and quality control. Sometimes is a simple matter of readability, of the book not being copy edited to add flow and ease to the prose and to correct familiar writing errors that make reading tedious. This is what the traditional publishing protocol offers that self publishing and POD do not.
2. A critique of the familiar processes of peer review raises the question of what is the alternative, which clearly is not self-publishing as we all agree. I have no answer, neither do those for whom journal and book editing are a part of their professional profiles. I recall the case of the prestigious social theory journal, SOCIAL TEXT, which briefly dispensed with peer review in deference to the compelling critiques of traditional peer review, only allowing the editors to made acceptance decisions on a case by case basis on the basis of their evaluation of a paper's strength. Long story short, it was a disaster, and the editors quickly reestablished the traditional peer review process. I am in favor of searching for a creative alternative that ensures quality control but does not devolve into an exercise in gatekeeping and the enforcement of orthodoxy. I don't know what shape this creative solution might take.
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
Dare Afolabi
May 29, 2012, 1:27:52 AM5/29/12
to USA Africa Dialogue Series
Of PODs, JITs, and Quality Control
I think the issue is quality control of the finished product, and not
the business model (self publication, production on demand, etc) on
which the production is based. If a book has something important to
say and is written, edited, designed, and manufactured very well--if
it is a pleasure to hold and read--most people would not care what
business model produced it.
Perhaps it should be pointed out that Publish on Demand (POD) is
merely an instance (in the literary domain) of Just in Time (JIT)
manufacturing in engineering. Dell's computer model would probably not
have succeeded as much as it did but for its foundation on JIT. When
using a JIT model, the businessman or woman does not need to have a
warehouse, nor is there a need to commit funds to estimating future
demand. If there is no demand, there is no manufacturing (of a
computer, or a book, or any manufactured product). In 1984, Michael
Dell was able to "customize" each computer because, using a JIT model,
no product was assembled until the customer placed the order. An
excellent computer can be "self-manufactured" just as an excellent
book can be "self-published."
An example of an excellent "self-published" book is _The Elements of
Style_ by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White. The book was written
while the first author was a professor at Cornell in 1918 for the use
of his students. Later, one of his former students (the second author)
collaborated with Strunk until Macmillan the commercial publisher got
involved.
Often, commercial publishers, being business men and women, are not
interested in committing capital to manufacturing a book unless it is
likely to sell in somewhat large numbers and thus make some profit.
Yet, one of the most important series of books, _Principia
Mathematica_ by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, could not
have been published by a commercially motivated house if judged by the
small number of offprints; it was published by the non-profit-driven
Cambridge University Press.
Donald Knuth could have become a "self-published" author because,
among other reasons, he was not sufficiently happy with the
inconsistent style of type, or fonts, used by the publisher in his
monumental work, _The Art of Computer Programming_. Instead, he made a
detour to study font design, wrote mathematical algorithms for
creating fonts and setting type, and came up with the book _Metafont_
in the process. This led to TeX, and its derivative, LaTeX
subsequently adopted by the American Mathematical Society for setting
mathematical text and now used world wide in scientific publishing.
So, the focus should be on the quality of the finished product and not
its pedigree.
On May 27, 1:02 am, "Farooq A. Kperogi" <farooqkper...@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> *By Farooq A. Kperogi*
> post<http://utsavmaden.com.np/blog/2011/04/11/behind-lambert-academic-publ...>,
>
> Personal website:www.farooqkperogi.com<http://www.farooqkperogi.blogspot.com>
I think the issue is quality control of the finished product, and not
the business model (self publication, production on demand, etc) on
which the production is based. If a book has something important to
say and is written, edited, designed, and manufactured very well--if
it is a pleasure to hold and read--most people would not care what
business model produced it.
Perhaps it should be pointed out that Publish on Demand (POD) is
merely an instance (in the literary domain) of Just in Time (JIT)
manufacturing in engineering. Dell's computer model would probably not
have succeeded as much as it did but for its foundation on JIT. When
using a JIT model, the businessman or woman does not need to have a
warehouse, nor is there a need to commit funds to estimating future
demand. If there is no demand, there is no manufacturing (of a
computer, or a book, or any manufactured product). In 1984, Michael
Dell was able to "customize" each computer because, using a JIT model,
no product was assembled until the customer placed the order. An
excellent computer can be "self-manufactured" just as an excellent
book can be "self-published."
An example of an excellent "self-published" book is _The Elements of
Style_ by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White. The book was written
while the first author was a professor at Cornell in 1918 for the use
of his students. Later, one of his former students (the second author)
collaborated with Strunk until Macmillan the commercial publisher got
involved.
Often, commercial publishers, being business men and women, are not
interested in committing capital to manufacturing a book unless it is
likely to sell in somewhat large numbers and thus make some profit.
Yet, one of the most important series of books, _Principia
Mathematica_ by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, could not
have been published by a commercially motivated house if judged by the
small number of offprints; it was published by the non-profit-driven
Cambridge University Press.
Donald Knuth could have become a "self-published" author because,
among other reasons, he was not sufficiently happy with the
inconsistent style of type, or fonts, used by the publisher in his
monumental work, _The Art of Computer Programming_. Instead, he made a
detour to study font design, wrote mathematical algorithms for
creating fonts and setting type, and came up with the book _Metafont_
in the process. This led to TeX, and its derivative, LaTeX
subsequently adopted by the American Mathematical Society for setting
mathematical text and now used world wide in scientific publishing.
So, the focus should be on the quality of the finished product and not
its pedigree.
On May 27, 1:02 am, "Farooq A. Kperogi" <farooqkper...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Saturday, May 26, 2012 Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian
> Universities<http://www.farooqkperogi.com/2012/05/print-on-demand-book-scams-and-n...>
>
> *By Farooq A. Kperogi*
> “it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any
> editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.”
>
> <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LxR6ph1wFqo/T8Bbo-KsuEI/AAAAAAAABsw/RmrOqyh...>
> editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.”
>
>
> In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of
> the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and
> waits for orders. The company makes money when the author’s friends and
> relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra
> copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only
> when an order is placed (thus the name “print on demand”), they lose
> nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay
> for their author’s copy.
>
> The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the
> publishing company’s website and on Amazon.com—and that’s it. You will
> never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media
> publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no
> distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
>
> The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of
> copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the
> author to earn any royalties.
>
> <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I9YNtPrT5Gc/T8BbxJZ1RmI/AAAAAAAABs4/vH_TH2W...>
> In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of
> the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and
> waits for orders. The company makes money when the author’s friends and
> relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra
> copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only
> when an order is placed (thus the name “print on demand”), they lose
> nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay
> for their author’s copy.
>
> The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the
> publishing company’s website and on Amazon.com—and that’s it. You will
> never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media
> publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no
> distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
>
> The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of
> copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the
> author to earn any royalties.
>
>
> Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about
> print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review
> before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with
> sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if
> they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No
> manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as
> unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people
> know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
>
> Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are
> usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in circulation. That means
> they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since
> they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are
> basically worthless.
>
> Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything
> published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think
> Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address.
> Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely
> on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer
> Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author
> mill"<http://www.webcitation.org/5nrn6wu3o>.
> Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about
> print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review
> before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with
> sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if
> they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No
> manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as
> unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people
> know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
>
> Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are
> usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in circulation. That means
> they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since
> they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are
> basically worthless.
>
> Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything
> published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think
> Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address.
> Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely
> on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer
> Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author
> That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce
> high-quality scholarship.
>
> Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand
> books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection
> (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic
> Publishing <http://www.csu.edu.au/research/performance/herdc/criteria>. The
> high-quality scholarship.
>
> Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand
> books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection
> (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic
> Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
>
> *Related Articles:*
>
> Bait-and-Switch Publishing: New Face of Academic
> Fraud<http://www.farooqkperogi.com/2011/08/bait-and-switch-publishing-new-f...>
> Ndi Okereke's Fake Doctorate and
> Professorship<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2011/06/ndi-okereke-onyiukes-fake-d...>
> On Bauchi's Fake Lecturer--and What Should Be
> Done<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-bauchis-fake-lecturerand...>
> Intellectual 419: Philip Emeagwali and Gabriel Oyibo
> Compared<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2010/11/intellectual-419-philip-eme...>
> Andy Uba and the Epidemic of Fakery in
> Nigeria<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-bauchis-fake-lecturerand...>
>
> Personal website:www.farooqkperogi.com<http://www.farooqkperogi.blogspot.com>
Chidi Anthony Opara
May 29, 2012, 5:02:34 AM5/29/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
The constraints of extensive reviews and promotions in the Print On Demand books platform which Dr.
Moses Ebe Ochonu raised here yesterday are also applicable to books published
by small traditional publishing outfits as well as to self-published traditional
books.
The Print On Demand
books platform is however, not without extensive reviews and promotions
facilities.
I-Proclaim and Wordclay where I publish give authors
the option of paying for these services, which are comparable to what is
obtainable in traditional publishing.
But, why should I pay for reviews when I can post my works
on Free Internet platforms with millions of visitors from all over the world, across
segments and languages (Google
Translate) and get comments from the highly informed, the informed, the not
so informed and of course, the un-informed?
Why should I pay for promotions when Facebook and Twitter
alone can give me free access to over one hundred million peoples spread across
continents, not to talk of blogs and
other Internet portals?
With clicks, in my spare time, I can have free access to millions
of peoples, from the pundits to the proletariat, to read my works prior to
publishing in book form and make comments and when published in book form, the
information is made available to them same way.
This situation can also apply to anybody who can make
optimum use of new media, who
publishes on the Print On Demand
books platform.
------CAO.
Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 8:47 PM
shina7...@yahoo.com
May 29, 2012, 7:17:46 AM5/29/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
I ahree with you, Bode. Of course, people still get bad academic papers published through the so called peer review mechanism. All I need to do is to send the papers to a journal where I know someone or some journals that asked you to nominate a reviewer. But all the same serious scholarship requires seriousness in publishing. Nothing stops a scholar from sending a paper to a first rate journal in his discipline for critical review rather than patronising a third or fourth rate journal. In philosophy for instance, journals like Philosophy, Mind, Nous, Analysis are deadly. Though those of us in the third world resent their elitism and inability to respond to mundane needs which philosophy addresses.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu>
Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 18:53:05 -0400
ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 29, 2012, 2:54:02 AM5/29/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Dear Kenneth Harrow,
I find this summation of yours compelling:
"...as theory replaced literature as the core of substantial publications, the quality and challenge of thought generated an enormous change in the quality of the work. not all of it, to be sure. but an intellectual mountain was created, and readings of african literature along with the rest of the field developed, improved, advanced...became much more informed, solid, compelling, instead of merely validating notions of authentic representation."
I am not well informed about this shift in scholarly discourse in the humanities, and literature in particular, even though I know about it. A history scholar seemed to be referring to a similar situation in her reference to the state of the field Before and After the Shipwreck in which it seems the fundamentals of humanities disciplines were challenged. Can you recommend any representative texts that can give one an over view of these developments and perhaps some texts that provide some in-depth reading?
thanks
Toyin
I find this summation of yours compelling:
"...as theory replaced literature as the core of substantial publications, the quality and challenge of thought generated an enormous change in the quality of the work. not all of it, to be sure. but an intellectual mountain was created, and readings of african literature along with the rest of the field developed, improved, advanced...became much more informed, solid, compelling, instead of merely validating notions of authentic representation."
I am not well informed about this shift in scholarly discourse in the humanities, and literature in particular, even though I know about it. A history scholar seemed to be referring to a similar situation in her reference to the state of the field Before and After the Shipwreck in which it seems the fundamentals of humanities disciplines were challenged. Can you recommend any representative texts that can give one an over view of these developments and perhaps some texts that provide some in-depth reading?
thanks
Toyin
On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 12:15 AM, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
farooq,
toyin is right, i was trying to make a leap from your original point, which is pretty clear.
but publishing is changing for us, anyway, even in academe. partly because as a condition for tenure and promotion it is getting more and more difficult, and the mla is trying to propose alternative modes, including webbased publications that don't take 2 years.
self-publishing in academe doesn't count. but what can we do to change and improve a culture that is grounded so much in older conventional models of peer-review? my son is a physicist, and they publish stuff on-line, and then comment on it; apparently that counts more than publications in paper format, and there is an alternative understanding of vetting which comes from the profession itself.
i wish we could have all our academic materials available on line; i promise i would stop talking about resource penury in africa when that day comes, and it is coming everywhere.
but there is another issue, which i would really want to know more about. that is not simply penury, or lazy academics, or even poor standards; it is a question of how rigor comes to be instituted, normalized, in an academic setting. for a long time, in francophone africa, profs were underpaid and always, always supplemented their incomes by taking on other jobs, like translation, other teaching or consulting gigs, etc. not all, but most.
the teaching became part-time, while there was a fiction being perpetrated by the actual practices. what fiction? the same books were being taught, over and over, for decades. i kid not. and publications were ultimately a form of self-publication, with local venues that did not exercise proper vetting. so, some pieces were sharp, others worthless. no one seemed to know how or care how to impose real standards.
how does that culture change?
in the u.s., it changed over the course of my career, 40 years, where the "professionalization" of the university imposed a uniformity, a set of codes, many of which i hated, like dress codes, interview codes, cv codes, on and on, that grad students now have to learn and adhere to. but at the same time, as theory replaced literature as the core of substantial publications, the quality and challenge of thought generated an enormous change in the quality of the work. not all of it, to be sure. but an intellectual mountain was created, and readings of african literature along with the rest of the field developed, improved, advanced...became much more informed, solid, compelling, instead of merely validating notions of authentic representation.
this list discusses nigeria mostly, and ghana secondarily. what is going on there in academe? it can't be the same in all the schools. what drives the standards, where is it working, where is it not, and why?
ken
On 5/28/12 5:54 PM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU wrote:
i dont think anybody is disputing the validity of your points.
i get the impression that other issues evoked by your points are also being discussed.
toyin
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 10:50 PM, Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com> wrote:
As Moses has artfully articulated in his first intervention, this isn't so much about the model of publishing as it is about the absence of any sort of quality control for putatively academic books published by Lambert and other POD publishers. Note that my article is SOLELY concerned with ACADEMIC books that university teachers present to the Tenure and Promotion committees of their departments to advance to the next rank in the professional hierarchy. It's NOT about non-academic books, although even non-academic books could some copy-editing before they are published.
If POD books work for creative or other kinds of writers, all well and good. But the tradition of the academe, which hasn't changed at the time of sending this email, privileges books and journal articles that are peer-reviewed. Books published by Lambert Academic Publishing and other POD publishers are NOT peer-reviewed. They are not even copy-edited. These facts ALONE make them unworthy of being used as bases for promotion in the university.
If POD publishers can submit books sent to them to the crucible of the peer-review process (with all its drawbacks)--and properly copy-edit them before publishing--many people will have no problems with them.
It's as simple as that.
Farooq
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@yahoo.com> wrote:
“Chidi, of course anyone can order a POD book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but don't they have to know about the book and trust that the book was run through the grind of review and editorial scrutiny before they will order it? With traditional publishing outfits these assurances are a normal part of the process. Traditional publishing outfits already have an audience made up of their own authors, reviewers, and university and other institutional libraries that maintain an account with them. This assures a wide circulation. a POD author has no such reach and has to advertise his/her book with friends, family, and on lists like US-AfricaDialogue. They'd be lucky if anyone outside of this small circle knows about their book let alone order it. And, of course, the vast worldwide library system remains for the most part closed to the POD and self-publishing industry. This is why most POD-published texts rarely circulate and are thus limited in their ability to disseminate whatever insight inheres in them. Traditional publishers also have established marketing and advertising arms and strategies that POD platforms lack. The former often obtain member lists from professional and academic organizations such as the ASA, AHA, MLA, etc., with thousands of members worldwide. Advertising traditionally published books and journals, even if these are electronic publications, to these audiences ensures that even the most obscure or esoteric book or journal will circulate. Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation”.---------Moses Ochonu.Moses, the constraints you mentioned above are not peculiar to Print On Demand books, they also apply to self–published traditional books.----CAO.
Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
Ken, again, you raise very provocative questions, and you're right that answers will correspond to location and local dynamics. That said, I am disappointed that, once again and quite predictably, your diagnosis and solution congealed to the rather hackneyed cop out of resource dearth. I believe Basil Ugochukwu did a fantastic job of debunking the resource argument, albeit for Nigeria only. Like him, I no longer believe that all problems afflicting the academy in Africa can or should be reduced to the cliche of resource gap. In Nigeria, university funding has improved modestly over the last ten years, and as Basil eloquently argued, the amount that it would take to sustain a rigorously edited and peer-reviewed journal is a drop in the budgetary bucket of the universities, the NUC, and ASUU. The bigger problem, for me, is what Professor Alemika, who is based in Nigeria, outlined: proliferation of journals and the abuse of easy publishing platforms that compromise editorial and evaluative processes. Even the patronage of POD and self-publishing platforms can be streamlined/standardized to solve the problem of sloppy review and editorial oversight if our colleagues at home are self-critical enough to put their minds to it. ASUU can and should lead this charge.
Chidi, of course anyone can order a POD book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but don't they have to know about the book and trust that the book was run through the grind of review and editorial scrutiny before they will order it? With traditional publishing outfits these assurances are a normal part of the process. Traditional publishing outfits already have an audience made up of their own authors, reviewers, and university and other institutional libraries that maintain an account with them. This assures a wide circulation. a POD author has no such reach and has to advertise his/her book with friends, family, and on lists like US-AfricaDialogue. They'd be lucky if anyone outside of this small circle knows about their book let alone order it. And, of course, the vast worldwide library system remains for the most part closed to the POD and self-publishing industry. This is why most POD-published texts rarely circulate and are thus limited in their ability to disseminate whatever insight inheres in them. Traditional publishers also have established marketing and advertising arms and strategies that POD platforms lack. The former often obtain member lists from professional and academic organizations such as the ASA, AHA, MLA, etc., with thousands of members worldwide. Advertising traditionally published books and journals, even if these are electronic publications, to these audiences ensures that even the most obscure or esoteric book or journal will circulate. Traditional publishers also advertise their books in trade, academic, and popular publications, again ensuring publicity and circulation.
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 10:37 AM, Tracy Flemming <flem...@gvsu.edu> wrote:
Has anyone taught Front Line of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of the Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley? I haven't decided if I'm going to use it for an upcoming underground railroad class. For an On Demand text, I think students might respond well to it.
http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=1958
--Tracy Flemming, Ph.D.Visiting Assistant ProfessorAfrican/African-American Studies
Grand Valley State University107 Lake Ontario Hall1 Campus DriveAllendale, Michigan 49401-9403USAOfc: 616/331-8150Dept: 616/331-8110Fax: 616/331-8111E-mail: flem...@gvsu.edu
“The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties”.------------Farooq A. Kperogi
The above statement does not sound to me as referring only to academic publications. I publish poetry books on the Print On Demand platform and I have been receiving royalties since 2009.----CAO.
“The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community”.------Moses Ochonu.
Print On Demand books are available on the online bookshops and can be purchased by anybody.------CAO
“In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and waits for orders”.--------Farooq A. Kperogi.
That is what they should do as online bookshops. Are they supposed to build warehouses, print the books, store them therein and await orders?-----CAO.
“I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day”.------Moses Ochonu.
Here lies the problem, acceptance of change in all ramifications have always been a problem. There is always that inclination to orthodoxy.------CAO.
Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
Ken, you make valid points. However, I understand Farooq to be arguing not against self-publishing or print-on-demand (POD) publishing per se. I understand him, rather, to be be critiquing:
1. The growing trend IN NIGERIA to pass off vanity publishing as an academic accomplishment and to proceed to fraudulently ascend the academic ladder on the basis of that. His argument here is not that these publications may not have some insights but that they violate the ethos of peer review, quality control, and editorial oversight, long established as valuational mechanisms in the academy.
2. The fact that these POD and self-published books and journals, whatever their insight, do not circulate beyond the author/editor and their family and friends. As a result, their insights are lost to the academic and intellectual community.
3. That because there is little or no editorial intervention in the work the quality is often poor, and even when one is able to access the book or journal it is a turn off. If you cannot read a text because it is riddled with grammatical, structural, and stylistic problems how can you get to its insights, if any?
I recognize that things are changing, but I would hate to see that change occur at the expense of long established protocols for disseminating ideas in a readable, edifying form. I have my issues with academic review, which is by no means a perfect arbiter of quality, but we can discuss that another day.
Sent from my iPad
sounds like what we have called "Self-Publishing" presses. this is not necessarily a fraudulent thing, unless its claims are misleading. but self-publishing presses have been around forever, and as you say, farooq, the books are not vetted, so do not "count" towards a publication in any real sense. on the other hand, if your manuscript has not succeeded in getting a publisher, you can go ahead and do it, and then send copies for reviews to journals. if the text gets a favorable review, you can build on that.
i don't think this is bad at all, unless it is duplicitous. as long as everyone realizes it is a self-published text, it can enter into the public domain and possibly gain an audience.
fiction authors have done this in the past; and "publishing" with electronic sources has made this even easier--which is a good thing, i believe. for instance, africultures is able to produce an enormous amount of great stuff, without the long process of vetting print journals go through, which can delay publication by up to two years. africultures is not self-publishing, but it is also not following the rigorous processes of print journals in its vetting.
sort of like blogs, or even comments in major newspapers that follow editorials or articles. often the comments, another form of self-publishing, are much better than the piece on which they comment.
things are changing....
ken
On 5/27/12 1:02 AM, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
The other day, a friend of mine on Facebook proudly announced that his master’s thesis had been published into a book by a German publishing company called Lambert Academic Publishing. Several people congratulated him. But I didn’t. I knew he had been scammed—and that he would in turn unwittingly scam the Nigerian university system where he works as a lecturer.
Since reading his self-congratulatory post, I have heard of scores of other Nigerian university teachers who have published “academic books” through Lambert and other such Euro-American publishing companies. Before this trend becomes an epidemic, I thought I should call attention to an emerging, borderline fraudulent publishing model called “print on demand.”
This is the way the model works. Author mills (that is, deceptive publishing houses that publish ANY work submitted to them) based in Europe and America use software to crawl the Internet (sometimes real people do the Web prowling) for any mention of “thesis” or “dissertation” on the Internet. The web crawler will identify the email addresses associated with the authors of the theses or dissertations and then send them an email using a standard email template that goes something like this:
“I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing.In the course of a research on the … I came across a reference to your thesis on "...". We are an international publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.
LAP would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,Acquisition EditorLAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG
SaarbrückenDudweiler Landstraße 99, 66123 Saarbrücken Germany.”
I have received many variations of this email template at least five times in the past few years. If a person agrees to publish his/her dissertation or thesis with the company, the company will request that the manuscript be sent to them via email. Within six weeks, the book will be “out.” Of course, it will neither be peer-reviewed by experts in the field nor will it be proofread by a copy editor. So it comes out embarrassingly error-ridden. It’s basically garbage in, garbage out. As an American who submitted his manuscript to Lambert put it in a blog post, “it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.”
In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and waits for orders. The company makes money when the author’s friends and relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases extra copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print only when an order is placed (thus the name “print on demand”), they lose nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay for their author’s copy.
The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the publishing company’s website and on Amazon.com—and that’s it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library. There is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or popular journals.
The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the author to earn any royalties.
Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in circulation. That means they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they are basically worthless.
Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently think Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address. Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based purely on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author mill". That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce high-quality scholarship.
Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert Academic Publishing. The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do the same.
Related Articles:
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogiTwitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 30, 2012, 3:17:19 AM5/30/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
By 'deadly, Shina, i suppose you mean 'uncompromising in their very high standards'?
Chidi has a very important point but i wonder if he not overstating the case for the dissemination capacities of the Internet.
The Web demonstrates both expansiveness and diffusion, qualities that may both enable scope of penetration of various audiences and dissipate the capacity for such penetration.
Yes, theoretically, the web gives unfettered access to a global audience.
But, in practical terms, this scope is not necessarily automatic.The sheer, ever increasing volume and diversity of Web traffic implies that so much is available to so many that much is missed by many.
It takes real commitment to random web crawling, directed Web searching and archiving, and skill in these activities to keep tabs on all one finds of interest online.
Also, the sheer volume of data and speed of emergence of data means that peoples' Internet behavior may be likened to islands of mutual interest in a dynamic sea of information, as people come together in communities to share interests.
How does one penetrate maximally these interest communities of interests similar to one's own? There are so many such communities.
There is also a world of difference between a skilled reviewer and the average reader, as evident, for example, from the various qualities of review visible at Amazon and the various levels of sophistication in threads on Facebook.
A skilled reviewer can sum up in a few words what the average reader might be unable to do in so many words.
That can make the difference btw a book being bought or not by particular readers.
Look at this for example on Charles Jencks' The Universe in the Landscape
Jencks seeks to define a new landscape iconography based on forms and themes that may be eternal,
in the sense that they crystallise nature's laws, some of which have been recently discovered. To see a
world in a grain of sand was a poetic quest of William Blake and, in a different sense, to find the universe
After reading that, I just had to buy the book.
toyin
Chidi has a very important point but i wonder if he not overstating the case for the dissemination capacities of the Internet.
The Web demonstrates both expansiveness and diffusion, qualities that may both enable scope of penetration of various audiences and dissipate the capacity for such penetration.
Yes, theoretically, the web gives unfettered access to a global audience.
But, in practical terms, this scope is not necessarily automatic.The sheer, ever increasing volume and diversity of Web traffic implies that so much is available to so many that much is missed by many.
It takes real commitment to random web crawling, directed Web searching and archiving, and skill in these activities to keep tabs on all one finds of interest online.
Also, the sheer volume of data and speed of emergence of data means that peoples' Internet behavior may be likened to islands of mutual interest in a dynamic sea of information, as people come together in communities to share interests.
How does one penetrate maximally these interest communities of interests similar to one's own? There are so many such communities.
There is also a world of difference between a skilled reviewer and the average reader, as evident, for example, from the various qualities of review visible at Amazon and the various levels of sophistication in threads on Facebook.
A skilled reviewer can sum up in a few words what the average reader might be unable to do in so many words.
That can make the difference btw a book being bought or not by particular readers.
Look at this for example on Charles Jencks' The Universe in the Landscape
Jencks seeks to define a new landscape iconography based on forms and themes that may be eternal,
in the sense that they crystallise nature's laws, some of which have been recently discovered. To see a
world in a grain of sand was a poetic quest of William Blake and, in a different sense, to find the universe
in a ritual landscape was a goal of
prehistoric cultures. Jencks allies these spiritual affinities with the
view
of science that stresses the common patterns that underlie all parts of the cosmos, thus making them like
our home planet, and the universe in a landscape.
of science that stresses the common patterns that underlie all parts of the cosmos, thus making them like
our home planet, and the universe in a landscape.
After reading that, I just had to buy the book.
toyin
Chidi Anthony Opara
May 30, 2012, 9:37:42 AM5/30/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
"But, in practical terms, this scope is not necessarily automatic.The
sheer, ever increasing volume and diversity of Web traffic implies that
so much is available to so many that much is missed by many".
---------OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU.
In practical terms, is the situation substantially different in the traditional media?
-------CAO.
Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 8:17 AM
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 30, 2012, 12:54:56 PM5/30/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
thanks, Chidi.
thinking about that.
my own approach to the issues might not be one of claiming one platform is superior to the other. it seems my interest is in the similarities and differences between both platforms.
as for print media, the publishers often have specific strategies for reaching particular communities.
such strategies are also being developed by purely online media, but it seems the process is still quite new. the methods too might not be identical.
toyin
thinking about that.
my own approach to the issues might not be one of claiming one platform is superior to the other. it seems my interest is in the similarities and differences between both platforms.
as for print media, the publishers often have specific strategies for reaching particular communities.
such strategies are also being developed by purely online media, but it seems the process is still quite new. the methods too might not be identical.
toyin
shina7...@yahoo.com
May 30, 2012, 6:37:32 PM5/30/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Yes, my characterisation of these journals as deadly refers to their very high standard. Yet, the question is at what point does 'high standard' becomes elitist and beyond accessibility? This point is really crucial with the discipline of Philosophy which suffers eternally from a self-reflexivity that hurts its very disciplinary image. Philosophy is essentially a critical understanding of the universe and man's place in it in search of a wisdom befitting action. Yet, this has been turned into a close, obtuse and esoteric arguments amongst professional philosophers that makes their discipline less relevant.
The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it. That is why the 'off-shore' /'on-shore' distinction sometimes appear nonsensical. Contributing to a debate that achieves nothing does not appear serious to me. And that is the sum of what you get from a typical 'highbrow' philosophy journal like Nous.
Adeshina Afolayan
The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it. That is why the 'off-shore' /'on-shore' distinction sometimes appear nonsensical. Contributing to a debate that achieves nothing does not appear serious to me. And that is the sum of what you get from a typical 'highbrow' philosophy journal like Nous.
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com>
Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 30 May 2012 08:17:19 +0100
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 31, 2012, 9:57:29 AM5/31/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Memorable:
"Philosophy is essentially a critical understanding of the universe and man's place in it in search of a wisdom befitting action."
Could you please explain this : 'off-shore' /'on-shore' distinction' ?
Big food for thought:
'The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it.'
thank you very much.
toyin
"Philosophy is essentially a critical understanding of the universe and man's place in it in search of a wisdom befitting action."
Big food for thought:
'The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it.'
thank you very much.
toyin
shina7...@yahoo.com
May 31, 2012, 11:38:13 AM5/31/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Thanks. By the 'on-shore'/'off-shore' distinction, I mean the dimension of the 'publish or perish' syndrome which insists that a large part of your publication must be in foreign journals while a certain percentage must be local. Not minding that there are bad journals outside Nigeria (just as we have many within), and also not minding the relevance of whatever is written and its context. So, in most cases, colleagues dig out journals from every nooks and crannies of everywhere to publish. Consequently, teaching, for instance, suffer.
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinv...@gmail.com>
Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 14:57:29 +0100
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
Jun 2, 2012, 5:10:46 AM6/2/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
hmmmm....
thanks, Shina.
i wonder how Western universities adress the question of
offshore/onshore publication.
since their journals are read by everyone, does one need to publish
anywhere else to establish a global reputation?
thanks
toyin
On 5/31/12, shina7...@yahoo.com <shina7...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Thanks. By the 'on-shore'/'off-shore' distinction, I mean the dimension of
> the 'publish or perish' syndrome which insists that a large part of your
> publication must be in foreign journals while a certain percentage must be
> local. Not minding that there are bad journals outside Nigeria (just as we
> have many within), and also not minding the relevance of whatever is written
> and its context. So, in most cases, colleagues dig out journals from every
> nooks and crannies of everywhere to publish. Consequently, teaching, for
> instance, suffer.
>
> Adeshina Afolayan
> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
>
>> *From: * OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com>
>> *Sender: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>> *Date: *Wed, 30 May 2012 08:17:19 +0100
>> *To: *<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>> *ReplyTo: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>> *Subject: *Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>> Landscape<http://issuu.com/cjencks/docs/uil_blurb?mode=window&backgroundColor=#222222>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From: * Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu>
>>> *Sender: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Date: *Mon, 28 May 2012 18:53:05 -0400
>>> *To: *usaafric...@googlegroups.com<
>>> usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>>> *ReplyTo: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Subject: *Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>> *From:* Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>
>>> *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 5:50 PM
>>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>> www.farooqkperogi.com<http://www.farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/>
>>> Moses, the constraints you mentioned above are not peculiar to *Print On
>>> Demand* books, they also apply to self–published traditional books.
>>> ----CAO.
>>>
>>> Publisher At
>>> PublicInformationProjects<http://www.publicinformationprojects.blogspot.com/>
>>>
>>> *From:* Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
>>> *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 8:17 PM
>>>
>>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>> publications. I publish poetry books on the *Print On Demand *platform
>>> PublicInformationProjects<http://www.publicinformationprojects.blogspot.com/>
>>>
>>> *From:* Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
>>> *To:* "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <
>>> usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>>> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 1:23 PM
>>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>> Universities<http://www.farooqkperogi.com/2012/05/print-on-demand-book-scams-and-nigerian.html>
>>>
>>> *By Farooq A. Kperogi*
>>> post<http://utsavmaden.com.np/blog/2011/04/11/behind-lambert-academic-publishings-marketing-gimmick/>,
>>>
>>> Personal website:
>>> www.farooqkperogi.com<http://www.farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/>
thanks, Shina.
i wonder how Western universities adress the question of
offshore/onshore publication.
since their journals are read by everyone, does one need to publish
anywhere else to establish a global reputation?
thanks
toyin
On 5/31/12, shina7...@yahoo.com <shina7...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Thanks. By the 'on-shore'/'off-shore' distinction, I mean the dimension of
> the 'publish or perish' syndrome which insists that a large part of your
> publication must be in foreign journals while a certain percentage must be
> local. Not minding that there are bad journals outside Nigeria (just as we
> have many within), and also not minding the relevance of whatever is written
> and its context. So, in most cases, colleagues dig out journals from every
> nooks and crannies of everywhere to publish. Consequently, teaching, for
> instance, suffer.
>
> Adeshina Afolayan
> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinv...@gmail.com>
> Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 14:57:29
> To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
> Reply-To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and
> Nigerian Universities
>
> Memorable:
>
> "Philosophy is essentially a critical understanding of the universe and
> man's place in it in search of a wisdom befitting action."
>
> Could you please explain this : 'off-shore' /'on-shore' distinction' ?
>
> Big food for thought:
>
> 'The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the
> quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it.'
>
> thank you very much.
>
> toyin
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 11:37 PM, <shina7...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> **
> From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinv...@gmail.com>
> Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 14:57:29
> To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
> Reply-To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams and
> Nigerian Universities
>
> Memorable:
>
> "Philosophy is essentially a critical understanding of the universe and
> man's place in it in search of a wisdom befitting action."
>
> Could you please explain this : 'off-shore' /'on-shore' distinction' ?
>
> Big food for thought:
>
> 'The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the
> quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it.'
>
> thank you very much.
>
> toyin
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 11:37 PM, <shina7...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes, my characterisation of these journals as deadly refers to their very
>> high standard. Yet, the question is at what point does 'high standard'
>> becomes elitist and beyond accessibility? This point is really crucial
>> with
>> the discipline of Philosophy which suffers eternally from a
>> self-reflexivity that hurts its very disciplinary image. Philosophy is
>> essentially a critical understanding of the universe and man's place in
>> it
>> in search of a wisdom befitting action. Yet, this has been turned into a
>> close, obtuse and esoteric arguments amongst professional philosophers
>> that
>> makes their discipline less relevant.
>>
>> The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the
>> quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it. That is why the
>> 'off-shore' /'on-shore' distinction sometimes appear nonsensical.
>> Contributing to a debate that achieves nothing does not appear serious to
>> me. And that is the sum of what you get from a typical 'highbrow'
>> philosophy journal like Nous.
>>
>> Adeshina Afolayan
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
>> ------------------------------
>> high standard. Yet, the question is at what point does 'high standard'
>> becomes elitist and beyond accessibility? This point is really crucial
>> with
>> the discipline of Philosophy which suffers eternally from a
>> self-reflexivity that hurts its very disciplinary image. Philosophy is
>> essentially a critical understanding of the universe and man's place in
>> it
>> in search of a wisdom befitting action. Yet, this has been turned into a
>> close, obtuse and esoteric arguments amongst professional philosophers
>> that
>> makes their discipline less relevant.
>>
>> The seriousness of academic publishing, for me, must also touch on the
>> quality of what you are saying and HOW you say it. That is why the
>> 'off-shore' /'on-shore' distinction sometimes appear nonsensical.
>> Contributing to a debate that achieves nothing does not appear serious to
>> me. And that is the sum of what you get from a typical 'highbrow'
>> philosophy journal like Nous.
>>
>> Adeshina Afolayan
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
>> *From: * OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com>
>> *Sender: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>> *Date: *Wed, 30 May 2012 08:17:19 +0100
>> *To: *<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>> *ReplyTo: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>> *Subject: *Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>> *From: * Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu>
>>> *Sender: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Date: *Mon, 28 May 2012 18:53:05 -0400
>>> *To: *usaafric...@googlegroups.com<
>>> usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>>> *ReplyTo: * usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Subject: *Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>> *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 5:50 PM
>>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>> Demand* books, they also apply to self–published traditional books.
>>> ----CAO.
>>>
>>> Publisher At
>>> PublicInformationProjects<http://www.publicinformationprojects.blogspot.com/>
>>>
>>> *From:* Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
>>> *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 8:17 PM
>>>
>>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>>
>>> *From:* Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
>>> *To:* "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <
>>> usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>>> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 1:23 PM
>>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Print-on-demand Book Scams
>>>
>>> *By Farooq A. Kperogi*
>>> “it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do
>>> any
>>> editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.”
>>> <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LxR6ph1wFqo/T8Bbo-KsuEI/AAAAAAAABsw/RmrOqyh47nk/s1600/LambertAcademicPublishing.jpg>
>>> any
>>> editing. There are multiple grammatical errors.”
>>>
>>> In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of
>>> the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and
>>> waits for orders. The company makes money when the author’s friends and
>>> relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases
>>> extra
>>> copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print
>>> only
>>> when an order is placed (thus the name “print on demand”), they lose
>>> nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay
>>> for their author’s copy.
>>>
>>> The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the
>>> publishing company’s website and on Amazon.com <http://amazon.com/>—and
>>> In reality, the publishing house merely prepares a camera-ready copy of
>>> the manuscript, prints and mails a free author’s copy of the book, and
>>> waits for orders. The company makes money when the author’s friends and
>>> relations place an order for the book--or when the author purchases
>>> extra
>>> copies of the book to share with friends and family. Since they print
>>> only
>>> when an order is placed (thus the name “print on demand”), they lose
>>> nothing. I am told that authors from the Third World are required to pay
>>> for their author’s copy.
>>>
>>> The front- and back-page prototype of the book will be displayed on the
>>> that’s it. You will never find the book in any bookstore or library.
>>> There
>>> is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no
>>> marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or
>>> popular
>>> journals.
>>>
>>> The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of
>>> copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the
>>> author to earn any royalties.
>>> <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I9YNtPrT5Gc/T8BbxJZ1RmI/AAAAAAAABs4/vH_TH2Wuh2Y/s1600/books.jpg>
>>> There
>>> is no media publicity for the book by the publisher, no advertising, no
>>> marketing, no distribution, and no critical reviews in academic or
>>> popular
>>> journals.
>>>
>>> The author is promised royalties if the book sells a certain number of
>>> copies. Of course, no print-on-demand book sells enough copies for the
>>> author to earn any royalties.
>>>
>>> Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about
>>> print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review
>>> before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with
>>> sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if
>>> they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No
>>> manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as
>>> unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people
>>> know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
>>>
>>> Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are
>>> usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in circulation. That
>>> means
>>> they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since
>>> they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they
>>> are
>>> basically worthless.
>>>
>>> Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything
>>> published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently
>>> think
>>> Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address.
>>> Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based
>>> purely
>>> on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer
>>> Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author
>>> mill"<http://www.webcitation.org/5nrn6wu3o>.
>>> Here is why Nigerian university administrators should be concerned about
>>> print-on-demand books. One, they do not go through any kind of review
>>> before they are published. In fact, many people have experimented with
>>> sending a farrago of mumbo jumbo to these publishing companies to see if
>>> they will be published. And, sure enough, they often get published. No
>>> manuscript sent to print-on-demand publishers is ever returned as
>>> unpublishable, however awfully it may have been written. As most people
>>> know, only peer-reviewed books can count toward promotion in academia.
>>>
>>> Two, they have limited or no materiality. By this I mean that there are
>>> usually no more than a few copies of the “books” in circulation. That
>>> means
>>> they add nothing to the disciplinary conversations of their areas since
>>> they can’t be found in libraries and bookstores. In other words, they
>>> are
>>> basically worthless.
>>>
>>> Third, our people have been brainwashed into thinking that anything
>>> published in the West must be of high quality. People may innocently
>>> think
>>> Lambert is a legitimate academic press because it has a German address.
>>> Before you know it, many people will be promoted to professors based
>>> purely
>>> on fraudulent books they publish with the company, which American writer
>>> Victoria Strauss aptly called "an academic author
>>> That would be unfair to people who struggle against all odds to produce
>>> high-quality scholarship.
>>>
>>> Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand
>>> books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection
>>> (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert
>>> Academic
>>> Publishing<http://www.csu.edu.au/research/performance/herdc/criteria>.
>>> high-quality scholarship.
>>>
>>> Many countries are waking up to the academic fraud that print-on-demand
>>> books are. The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection
>>> (HERDC), for instance, has blacklisted books published by Lambert
>>> Academic
>>> The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has a responsibility to do
>>> the
>>> same.
>>>
>>> *Related Articles:*
>>> the
>>> same.
>>>
>>> Bait-and-Switch Publishing: New Face of Academic
>>> Fraud<http://www.farooqkperogi.com/2011/08/bait-and-switch-publishing-new-face-of.html>
>>> Ndi Okereke's Fake Doctorate and
>>> Professorship<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2011/06/ndi-okereke-onyiukes-fake-doctorate-and.html>
>>> On Bauchi's Fake Lecturer--and What Should Be
>>> Done<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-bauchis-fake-lecturerand-what-should.html>
>>> Intellectual 419: Philip Emeagwali and Gabriel Oyibo
>>> Compared<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2010/11/intellectual-419-philip-emeagwali-and.html>
>>> Andy Uba and the Epidemic of Fakery in
>>> Nigeria<http://farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-bauchis-fake-lecturerand-what-should.html>
>>>
>>> Personal website:
>>> www.farooqkperogi.com<http://www.farooqkperogi.blogspot.com/>
>>> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogi
>>> Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
>>>
>>> "The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either
>>> proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa
>>> Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at
>>> Austin.
>>> For current archives, visit
>>> http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
>>> For previous archives, visit
>>> http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
>>> To post to this group, send an email to
>>> USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
>>> unsub...@googlegroups.com
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> kenneth w. harrow
>>> distinguished professor of english
>>> michigan state university
>>> department of english
>>> east lansing, mi 48824-1036
>>> ph. 517 803 8839h...@msu.edu
>>> Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/farooqkperogi
>>>
>>> "The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either
>>> proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa
>>> Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at
>>> Austin.
>>> For current archives, visit
>>> http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
>>> For previous archives, visit
>>> http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
>>> To post to this group, send an email to
>>> USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
>>> unsub...@googlegroups.com
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> kenneth w. harrow
>>> distinguished professor of english
>>> michigan state university
>>> department of english
>>> east lansing, mi 48824-1036
shina7...@yahoo.com
Jun 2, 2012, 12:25:06 PM6/2/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Definitely not. And that's the tragedy: that (a) we don't have strong journals that would address local needs; and (b) consequently, we extrovert our concerns and challenges and the solutions to our problems to western audiences.
Sad.
Sad.
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
Jun 3, 2012, 2:58:20 PM6/3/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
'(a) we don't have strong journals that would address local needs; and
(b) consequently, we extrovert our concerns and challenges and the
solutions to our problems to western audiences.'
this local/Western dialectic needs to be handled with a lot of caution. at the heart of Western global academic dominance is the idea, both real and contrived, of its universality.
what do you think of this dialectic in the light of the ideal of universal knowledge central to a good number of the world's cognitive traditions, including classical African, but systematized in a particularly self conscious manner in the Western academy, developing this ideal from roots in Greek and Arab/Persian cognitive traditions?
the Western academy has become a house for all cultures. it presents a set of approaches, developing inn terms of greater flexibility over time, from colonialist style scholarship to the plurality of post-modernism,to contemporary developments in interdisciplinarity, along with very powerful databases, libraries, both print and digital, plus a general readiness to study anything, anywhere.
allied to the central positioning of Western civilisation in technology, economics and social engineering, their societies are truly international, in spite of the presence of racism.
thanks
toyin
this local/Western dialectic needs to be handled with a lot of caution. at the heart of Western global academic dominance is the idea, both real and contrived, of its universality.
what do you think of this dialectic in the light of the ideal of universal knowledge central to a good number of the world's cognitive traditions, including classical African, but systematized in a particularly self conscious manner in the Western academy, developing this ideal from roots in Greek and Arab/Persian cognitive traditions?
the Western academy has become a house for all cultures. it presents a set of approaches, developing inn terms of greater flexibility over time, from colonialist style scholarship to the plurality of post-modernism,to contemporary developments in interdisciplinarity, along with very powerful databases, libraries, both print and digital, plus a general readiness to study anything, anywhere.
allied to the central positioning of Western civilisation in technology, economics and social engineering, their societies are truly international, in spite of the presence of racism.
thanks
toyin
OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
Jun 3, 2012, 2:45:15 PM6/3/12
to Onyemaechi Valentine EKECHUKWU, usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Prof. O. V. EKECHUKWU,
have you contacted Toyin Falola, the group moderator?
thats what i do when i have such problems
thanks
toyin
have you contacted Toyin Falola, the group moderator?
thats what i do when i have such problems
thanks
toyin
On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 4:13 PM, Onyemaechi Valentine EKECHUKWU <oveke...@yahoo.com> wrote:
I am not able to post to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com. I keep getting a message “Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: usaafric...@googlegroups.com.The account oveke...@yahoo.com is disabled.I have subscribed to this group since 2003.I need to contribute to some of the current debates particularly the one on Print-on-demand Book Scams and Nigerian UniversitiesKindly assist.Prof. O. V. EKECHUKWU
Director, Research and Innovation
National Universities Commission
No. 26 [Plot 430] Aguiyi-Ironsi Street
Maitama District
PMB 237 Garki GPO Abuja
NIGERIA
E-mail: oveke...@yahoo.com
Tel: +234 (0) 803 080 2213[handy], +234 (0) 703 809 1414[handy]
shina7...@yahoo.com
Jun 4, 2012, 1:49:31 PM6/4/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
I agree with you that the local-Western dialectics demands a dose of caution. But I was hoping you would say 'local-global'. The two binaries are actually not the same, though we have a lot of third world scholars who strongly believe that the global is actually the western.
"...at the heart of Western global academic dominance is the idea, both real and contrived, of its universality"
Yes, but then it is more contrived and essentialist than real. And scholars like Mudimbe, for instance, have excavated its spuriousness. It has been the basis of the debate in African Philosophy even till now (with people like Mbembe pushing for immersion in the postmodern!).
Of course, there is much to be said for what you called "the ideal of universal knowledge central to a good number of the world's cognitive traditions, including classical African' . The task however is to flesh what that enabling universalism should be outside of Western essentialist pontifications. Permit me this: For instance, in an essay in Human Affairs, Vol, 19, 2009, I argue for a resignification of the universal by exploring Seyla Benhabib's call for an anti-essentialist idea of universalism-what she calls "the problem of the concrete universal". This problem, for her, attempts to distinguish between two visions of universalism: The first 'considers the Other as a generalised other, as a being entitled to the same rights and duties which we [Westerners] would grant ourselves'. The other vision of universalism, which obviously underlies my claim, 'sees the human person as a "concrete other" with specific histories, needs, and trajectories'.
From this perspective of concrete universalism, we can begin to situate the necessity of local journals which speak to the specific needs of a particular context while avoiding the dangers of parochialism. I even suspect that your own concern would fit into the second vision much more than the first.
"...at the heart of Western global academic dominance is the idea, both real and contrived, of its universality"
Yes, but then it is more contrived and essentialist than real. And scholars like Mudimbe, for instance, have excavated its spuriousness. It has been the basis of the debate in African Philosophy even till now (with people like Mbembe pushing for immersion in the postmodern!).
Of course, there is much to be said for what you called "the ideal of universal knowledge central to a good number of the world's cognitive traditions, including classical African' . The task however is to flesh what that enabling universalism should be outside of Western essentialist pontifications. Permit me this: For instance, in an essay in Human Affairs, Vol, 19, 2009, I argue for a resignification of the universal by exploring Seyla Benhabib's call for an anti-essentialist idea of universalism-what she calls "the problem of the concrete universal". This problem, for her, attempts to distinguish between two visions of universalism: The first 'considers the Other as a generalised other, as a being entitled to the same rights and duties which we [Westerners] would grant ourselves'. The other vision of universalism, which obviously underlies my claim, 'sees the human person as a "concrete other" with specific histories, needs, and trajectories'.
From this perspective of concrete universalism, we can begin to situate the necessity of local journals which speak to the specific needs of a particular context while avoiding the dangers of parochialism. I even suspect that your own concern would fit into the second vision much more than the first.
Adeshina Afolayan
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From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com>
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Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 19:58:20 +0100
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OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
Jun 6, 2012, 8:06:00 AM6/6/12
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Very interesting, Shina.
I think I identify with both perspectives.
I am interested in specificity as contributions to the strands that make up universality.
Example in a project im working on- a study of cosmographic visual symbols that demonstrate similarities of form and purpose within different cosmologies.
My search convinces me that 'the human', perhaps even 'the terrestrial' [ a more complex and more mysterious category] is not difficult to identify in its simplicity in multiplicity, a complexity and variety seemingly built on a fundamental simplicity and correlation.
Example-from a science fiction story- another dimension where people smile when they are unhappy and laugh when they are not pleased.
Is there anywhere on earth where people do that?
No.
We all smile and laugh to the same emotions.
More complex correlations emerge in our various human cultures.
The terrestrial- can two things occupy one space?
Can something be dead and alive at the same time?
thanks
toyin
I think I identify with both perspectives.
I am interested in specificity as contributions to the strands that make up universality.
Example in a project im working on- a study of cosmographic visual symbols that demonstrate similarities of form and purpose within different cosmologies.
My search convinces me that 'the human', perhaps even 'the terrestrial' [ a more complex and more mysterious category] is not difficult to identify in its simplicity in multiplicity, a complexity and variety seemingly built on a fundamental simplicity and correlation.
Example-from a science fiction story- another dimension where people smile when they are unhappy and laugh when they are not pleased.
Is there anywhere on earth where people do that?
No.
We all smile and laugh to the same emotions.
More complex correlations emerge in our various human cultures.
The terrestrial- can two things occupy one space?
Can something be dead and alive at the same time?
thanks
toyin
Bosoma Sheriff
Jun 7, 2012, 2:20:34 AM6/7/12
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shina7...@yahoo.com
Jun 8, 2012, 11:40:58 AM6/8/12
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"I am interested in specificity as contributions to the strands that make up universality"
With this statement, you can't be interested in the two strands of universalism. I think your statement is the real crux of the second strand, and I think we should stay with that.
Related to the journal issue, it becomes clear that, except for the quality issue which we don't really take serious here, the onshore/offshore dichotomy collapses. Nigeria and her universities are part of the globe and their intellectual and existential mediation of the human condition contributes to the universal.
Again, I suspect this is what your project is aiming at.
Related to the journal issue, it becomes clear that, except for the quality issue which we don't really take serious here, the onshore/offshore dichotomy collapses. Nigeria and her universities are part of the globe and their intellectual and existential mediation of the human condition contributes to the universal.
Again, I suspect this is what your project is aiming at.
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com>
Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2012 13:06:00 +0100
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