LFB Scholarly Publishing

[Guest]

Anyone have thoughts or experience with LFB Scholarly Publishing (https://www.lfbscholarly.com/)?

I've seen them at the ASAs. Are they ligit?

It seems like a quick way to get a dissertation published as a book but they don't offer peer review. I've heard of people sending in their dissertations and having them accepted with no or little revisions.

Would this be the kiss of death? Are they a vanity press? Do you think a book published with this press would be considered "scholarly" work?

[No]

Seems like a great idea if you want to teach at the University of Phoenix or ITT Tech...

But seriously, one gets credit for scholarly work because it is difficult to get something through the pipeline and it has, at least theoretically, been vetted for major errors by experts. Skipping that process will inevitably harm you. And honestly nobody wants to read a dissertation that hasn't been subject to peer review or proper editing other than maybe the parents of the author.

[Guest]

Hey, thanks "No." I think you're right.

The more I look at LFB the more it appears to me that it does not meet what may generally be considered "scholarship" in our profession. While I'm sure some of the books they publish are good, peer review is essential.

[interesting]

Interesting stuff, but some of the editors are reknowned senior people and the list of authors includes at least one person in what is arguably a top five department. I doubt this is a vanity press.

[Peer Rev]

Yes, but these books are not peer reviewed. I'd place a peer reviewed article in a good journal above a non-peer reviewed book, especially if that book originated as a dissertation and hasn't been reworked substantially.

Also, who cares about the reputation of the book editor? They're paid by the press. Peer reviewers at academic presses are not usually paid and have no financial interest (potentially) guiding their decisions.

I think this press, though probably reputable, does not produce "scholarly" books? They seem geared more toward the textbook market, which is fine but it's not academic scholarship (as traditionally defined)

[lol]

The poster above is correct. If you ask any faculty member that isn't sitting in the corner eating paste, 99% will invariably tell you that publishing at a place like this is worth no scholarly credit.

[Disagree]

Is publishing in a university press a better option than going through lfb? Yes, it is. However, based on the following information provided on their website, I will have to disagree that books by this press are not peer-reviewed:


-------
THE REVIEW PROCESS

Most titles are published in one of our three edited series. All are reviewed by the appropriate editor(s):
•Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship, edited by Nicholas P. Lovrich
•The New Americans, edited by Rubén Rumbaut and Steven Gold
•Law and Society, edited by Melvin I Urofsky

The editors themselves have wide-ranging expertise within their fields (and have served as reviewers and/or associate editors for a wide range of journals) and thoroughly review each submission. In instances where the subject matter or the methodology is outside their expertise, they consult with subject matter experts in the field.

The review process considers the following criteria:
•The research topic is current, policy relevant, and is being examined in a unique way.
•The literature review is thorough and reflective and in and of itself represents a contribution to the field.
•The methodology is not only appropriate but cutting edge and instructive or exemplary in its development. This means that the methodology would be a resource for future students and scholars interested in this area.
•The results and conclusions should be thoughtful, in depth, and inform researchers, policymakers and practitioners as well as students interested in this area of study.
•Finally, the work should be well written and should clarify the relationship of the research to what is already known. Limitations should be honest and clear.
•We will be happy to offer contracts to work appropriate to the list and passing this review process. The series editors stand by their commitment to the books by listing their names as series editors in publicity material and on the books.

www.lfbscholarly.com/for-authors

[Guest]

The description of the this press' review process (above) clearly shows that there is NO peer review. Basically, 4 people have reviewed the majority of the books for this press! That seems odd. Really odd! Do they own the press or something?

Academic presses (like peer reviewed journals) will ask experts in specific (sub)fields to review manuscripts on that topic and will not rely on a core group of 4 people to do this. How can these 4 be considered experts on such a range of topics. Again, very odd.

Also, and now I'll be a mean snob, many of the authors have PhDs but are not employed academics. Many other authors are Assistant Professors (nothing wrong with that) and there seems to be very few Associate or Full Professors. And, in my random browsing, I see no authors from a university with a strong reputation for scholarship.

Maybe the niche of this press is to allow people to publish their doctoral dissertation so they meet their teaching university's scholarship requirement?

[what]

This description says nothing about a peer-review process (and any venue that uses peer-review is clear about stating that). This is not a scholarly press and will not be a benefit on your CV. I have to assume Disagree is a grad student who doesn't have much experience in academia. Everyone else is correct that a publication with this press is not going to be regarded highly, at best as equivalent to book chapter but not even a peer-reviewed article. Rather than taking the easy route, which will get you little to no credit, you are better off reworking your diss and sending it to a real academic press or high quality commercial press.

[All is vanity]

This thread got me interested. I did a search on the Chronicle of Higher Ed and found a post about this publisher:

chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,46401.0.html

It’s on old post (2008), but it appears that the press contacts newly completed PhDs and offers to publish their dissertation. They promise a printing of 200 copies. With a sale of $60 per copy (probably to libraries around the country) LFB grosses $12,000 per dissertation/book, and give the standard 4% royalty to the author.

With no peer evaluations to slow things down they can get many new books printed and sold fairly quickly. They seem to use a generic cover design on ALL their books, which again lowers cost and speeds up the process. Really, that’s a very smart business plan and likely very profitable. Good for Lfb!

I’m just kinda insulted that they’re calling themselves a “scholarly” press when they don’t follow the traditional, quality control practices that constitute scholarship. I’m sure the books are just fine, but their authors are either naïve, don’t understand their profession (if they’re academics), or just want to have their dissertation published and don’t want to do much more work on it. If it’s the last, well, that’s vanity publishing. If it’s the second, someone’s should be embarrassed. If it’s the first, well, I don’t know…

[a teacher]

Two of the editors have pretty strong reputations (I'm talking about Ruben Rumbaut and Steven Gold). Although LFB is certainly not on the same level as Sage or an academic press, I think it would be a decent place to publish IF the standards for publishing/tenure at your institution are not like that of an R1.

[Guest]

One could get away with publishing with a non-peer reviewed press to meet one's institutions tenure requirements, but IMHO this really isn't professional conduct: all academics should meet their home institution's standards and the professional standards of the discipline (i.e., books ought to be peer reviewed). This doesn't make non-peer reviewed books worthless, but it's not a good way to gain the resepct of one's peers.

Also, just because an institution may have low standards, doesn't meet you need to lower yours.

[Wow]

I just found this old thread. Wow. I can't believe there was even debate about this press. It's obviously a vanity press.

I wonder: now that some of you have (hopefully) signed tenure track contracts for 2012-2013, would you consider publishing your dissertation with this press (or any other vanity press)? If so, what do you perceive would be the benefits?

[no way in hell]

Jan 16, 2012 22:24:53 GMT -5 @Wow said:

I just found this old thread. Wow. I can't believe there was even debate about this press. It's obviously a vanity press.

I wonder: now that some of you have (hopefully) signed tenure track contracts for 2012-2013, would you consider publishing your dissertation with this press (or any other vanity press)? If so, what do you perceive would be the benefits?

My new institution would probably change the lock on my office door as soon as my book came to light. I am fairly sure that it would not only not be considered meaningful for tenure, but would actually work against me in the tenure review process because it is clearly a shortcut that is intended to take the path of least resistance and hope nobody looks into it.

[anon46]

I think it is a matter of perspective today == especially given the changes in the academic publishing business. For most junior scholars, there is little chance that a true top tier press will take their work.


So if you want to get your work out, they have reputable editors -- also check if other faculty at real univresities publish with them. I noticed that a prof at Duke and Chicago had books with them .... but also had lots of other publications.