Trend Among Publishers to Restrict Republishing Rights Is Preposterous
Letter published in Chronicle of Higher Education (click here for link)
April 14, 2021
To the Editor:
I want to call attention to a phenomenon that I find deeply troubling and that merits wide discussion.
I have been publishing in academic journals for over half a century and contributing to collections of papers for almost that long. When I write a paper for a collection, I do so with the hope that the collection will reach a different, and perhaps wider public, than an article in a standard scholarly journal.
When an essay is accepted, I am asked to initial a contract. While I don’t expect payment, I expect to receive one or more copies of the volume and perhaps a discount on related publications. While it has not necessarily been on my mind, I have assumed that I can quote from the article and reprint it in a collection of my writings.
Recently, I have been astounded to discover that these assumptions no longer hold. In two separate contracts from university presses, I have been promised one copy of the book, in return for which I have to agree not to republish the article in a collection of my own articles — or to pay a fee for doing so! Pay to draw on my own work seems preposterous.
As scholars, we are expected to carry out many professional duties without compensation. I cannot count how many times I have reviewed manuscripts or grant applications without any compensation, or for a token fee, or a discount on related books. I see this as part of good professional citizenship.
These publishers have abandoned a professional stance. If collections of articles are no longer economically viable, they should be subsidized or not published. Should such collections accordingly be consigned to scholarly journals or to postings via social media? That decision should be made through discussion within the scholarly and publishing communities and not through legal or auditing considerations.
Howard Gardner
Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambridge, Mass.
