Scholarly Publication in a Changing Academic Landscape: Models for Success

Due to the changing and unpredictable situations academic institutions are experiencing, they have to manage their performance from different perspectives particularly those human resources known as contingent faculty (non-tenure-track faculty). Based on a win-win approach both for universities and faculty under the shadow of demands for greater scholarly productivity, this eight-chapter book aims to motivate such human resources to resume scholarly pursuits, seek venues for disseminating their work, identify allies and collaborations and discover new projects. Chapter 1 defines contingent faculty, reviews the current shifting landscape of faculty positions, underscores why contingent faculty should publish and justifies the need for an additional time commitment to meet professional development goals. In line with balancing professional work (blending teaching, research and service) and being more successful academics, Chapter 2 deals with a variety of ways by which academic professionals can connect their work to personal interests as well as social engagements. Chapter 3 examines the many genres and opportunities for scholarly publication, from conference presentations, book reviews, review essays, to grants and so on. As a step forward, Chapter 4 provides the researchers with ideas on how and where they can more successfully submit their work. Chapter 5 covers some ethical considerations concerning making better relationships among material, audience (human subjects, reviewers and students) and scholarly venues. Taking a synergetic approach, Chapter 6 highlights the role of academic collaboration and co-authorship in the advancement of scholarly publication. With scholars affected by the digital revolution (fueled by information and communication technologies), Chapter 7 examines digital publishing and some related topics including online journals, digital scholarship, copyright, open access, creative commons, distance learning, intellectual property and academic freedom. Finally, Chapter 8 focuses on creating a community of scholars through holding workshops, providing intellectual services, making writing groups and holding local conferences. In addition, it emphasizes seeking out mentorships and partnerships with colleagues. The content of this well-written and well-organized book reminds me Churchill’s motto, that is, “Empires of the future are the empires of the mind” because it concentrates on the mind(s) of the faculty members in theory and practice. Equipped with some skills, scenarios, experiences, models and strategies, it can help such teaching staff take more successful steps in individual, organizational and social levels. What the authors wish for contingent faculty is to help them recognize the opportunities to empower themselves and build capability and added value in their job. This instructive valuable book can be considered as a complementary work for who are interested in scholarly publication and as a start point for further endeavours in their research interests.