next »

[polly_mer]

This seems like it would make an interesting thread on its own, as a lot of people could benefit from discussion of journal pricing, but wouldn't find it under 'VDM'.

Thanks.  I am still learning the ropes here. I hope I am this way now working it like you to quote witin blocks and not pasting as  used to do. I thought the thread is drifting but somebody said it is OK. So maybe somebody can start a new thread, I do not know how?

I have started a new thread to move the discussion since Runwithscissors has a point that more people would likely contribute to a thread that was devoted to the discussion.  The link is http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,69638.0.html

What follows is a tutorial on quoting so that people who are disinterested in that particular lesson may skip to the next post or go to the discussion on the other thread.


Quoting within blocks can be accomplished hitting the reply button, scrolling down the screen to the post that you want to quote, and then clicking the link marked "Insert Quote", which will be to the right of the screen just below the date. 

This will insert a block of text between a header marked <quote author=name link=url date=big number> and a closing value of </quote> (but with [] instead of <>)

This is inside the quotation

This, too, is inside the quotation

this is outside the quotation

Then, you can edit the text inside the quotation block to focus on the parts you want.  If you want to have multiple quotations from the same post to make the discussion easier to follow, just make sure that what you want is between the <quote></unquote> bits (again in brackets).  You can insert quotes from whomever you like.  If the post you want doesn't appear on the scroll, open a new browser window on the same thread, go to the post you want, and then hit "Quote" (again on the right side of the top of the post), which will bring up a new response window with the post quoted between the header and close.  You can copy and paste this text into any response window and it will work.  Be sure to use the preview button underneath your composition response window (it's the middle one) to see if you've got the quotations right (the preview will appear above the composition window just as it will appear when posted on the thread) because it can be tricky, especially for nested quotations.

[anovan]

My VDM book arrived.

I found that all of the  chapters were already published as derivative journal articles I have in my reprint collection. These are properly acknowledged. The articles were published in peer-reviewed journals.
That was their intention anyway when they originally could not find a publisher.  As mentioned, the problem was that no book publisher thought the market was big enough to  justify the risk of conventional publishing.
In the meantime they did publish another  title  with a conventional publisher and a manuscript by one of them was accepted too.

Physically the book is fine, apart from that the binding will probably not withstand  a lot of photocopying. Typesetting is neat, but the font a little bit small for my aging eyes, probably another cost-saving measure.
I have seen no typing error from what I read so far.  The intellectual content should be the same standard as the articles, though the text will differ. There are actually more articles than chapters, so they repackaged the  contents.  I will in due course try to make time to read it (but it will probably require me to take to bed with flu if it will be anytime soon). The book is a social sciences product, a report on my institution that itself concerns itself with natural science. I  have some training in the social sciences, though not on postgradute level. Further I have the advantage of being a long time  employee if the institution.

Since I seem to have basically all the information already,  perhaps the purchase was a waste. Yet, I have a duty to monitor what is written about us (newspapers etc, amongst others, as part of our broader environmental scanning and competitor intelligence activities). So I need everything written on us in full.

[sciencephd]

My VDM book arrived.

Congratulations !  But this statment seems incomplete without the proper emoticons.

[anovan]

I am not sure what you mean, Sciencephd,  it seems to be a sarcastic remark.

Anyway, there is a problem. I took the book home, since as being said many times now, I have an interest in the topic.  Examining it closer, I found the last pages are omitted. The text stops  in the middle of a  sentence.  It should have continued on the page on the right, but that is blank,  with several blank pages thereafter. The table of contents indicates at least 12 more pages up to the bibliography, which is the last entity. Of  course there should be more pages comprising the bibliography itself,  but I will not know how many  since it is   not available.

This has happened only once before with a book during my career and a few times that journal issues were incomplete. Asking for replacement copies is a burden. So I am dissappointed.

I hope that with this "disclosure" you will finally believe I am not a VDM salesperson!

[polly_mer]

I found that all of the  chapters were already published as derivative journal articles I have in my reprint collection. These are properly acknowledged. The articles were published in peer-reviewed journals.
That was their intention anyway when they originally could not find a publisher.  As mentioned, the problem was that no book publisher thought the market was big enough to  justify the risk of conventional publishing.
In the meantime they did publish another  title  with a conventional publisher and a manuscript by one of them was accepted too.

I am uncertain what to do with this comment.  I understand the purpose of having a collection of articles on a given topic solicited from experts in the field for that particular volume to give a snapshot of the field.  What would be the purpose of collecting a bunch of articles that are already published somewhere else now that everyone has the internet and could just put up a page listing links to the papers?  I side with the publishers on this one in failing to see why such a thing would need to be published even if a possible interested market could be identified and why anyone would buy such a product if truth in labeling were applied.

I am not sure what you mean, Sciencephd,  it seems to be a sarcastic remark.

It is definitely a sarcastic remark.  Good call on that one.

Anyway, there is a problem. I took the book home, since as being said many times now, I have an interest in the topic.  Examining it closer, I found the last pages are omitted. The text stops  in the middle of a  sentence.  It should have continued on the page on the right, but that is blank,  with several blank pages thereafter. The table of contents indicates at least 12 more pages up to the bibliography, which is the last entity. Of  course there should be more pages comprising the bibliography itself,  but I will not know how many  since it is   not available.

This has happened only once before with a book during my career and a few times that journal issues were incomplete. Asking for replacement copies is a burden. So I am dissappointed.

Printing errors happen.  I have a copy of a standard reference in my field (big name authors, Oxford University Press) that has some blank pages in the middle that I keep meaning to do something about (I bought it used for $5, which is probably why this $50 new paperback book was so cheap).  The question is what happens when you point out the printing error in a brand-new book ordered directly from the publisher.  That would be the test of whether VDM is an acceptable outlet for some purposes or are just a fancy photocopying outfit.

I hope that with this "disclosure" you will finally believe I am not a VDM salesperson!

For the record, your last several posts here before the arrival of the book indicated to me that you were unlikely to be a VDM salesperson, but that you were also too optimistic on alternative publishing venues as being useful to practicing scientists.

[totoro]

I found that all of the  chapters were already published as derivative journal articles I have in my reprint collection. These are properly acknowledged. The articles were published in peer-reviewed journals.
That was their intention anyway when they originally could not find a publisher.  As mentioned, the problem was that no book publisher thought the market was big enough to  justify the risk of conventional publishing.
In the meantime they did publish another  title  with a conventional publisher and a manuscript by one of them was accepted too.

I am uncertain what to do with this comment.  I understand the purpose of having a collection of articles on a given topic solicited from experts in the field for that particular volume to give a snapshot of the field.  What would be the purpose of collecting a bunch of articles that are already published somewhere else now that everyone has the internet and could just put up a page listing links to the papers?  I side with the publishers on this one in failing to see why such a thing would need to be published even if a possible interested market could be identified and why anyone would buy such a product if truth in labeling were applied.

This publisher does a lot of that:

http://www.e-elgar.co.uk

Republishing already published journal articles in expensive collected works. I've always wondered about the market for that.

[infopri]

I found that all of the  chapters were already published as derivative journal articles I have in my reprint collection. These are properly acknowledged. The articles were published in peer-reviewed journals.
That was their intention anyway when they originally could not find a publisher.  As mentioned, the problem was that no book publisher thought the market was big enough to  justify the risk of conventional publishing.
In the meantime they did publish another  title  with a conventional publisher and a manuscript by one of them was accepted too.

I am uncertain what to do with this comment.  I understand the purpose of having a collection of articles on a given topic solicited from experts in the field for that particular volume to give a snapshot of the field.  What would be the purpose of collecting a bunch of articles that are already published somewhere else now that everyone has the internet and could just put up a page listing links to the papers?  I side with the publishers on this one in failing to see why such a thing would need to be published even if a possible interested market could be identified and why anyone would buy such a product if truth in labeling were applied.

This publisher does a lot of that:

http://www.e-elgar.co.uk

Republishing already published journal articles in expensive collected works. I've always wondered about the market for that.

FWIW, the music industry has been doing the equivalent for decades--and they've found a huge market for it.

[anovan]

@Pollymer:
"I am uncertain what to do with this comment.  I understand the purpose of having a collection of articles on a given topic solicited from experts in the field for that particular volume to give a snapshot of the field.  What would be the purpose of collecting a bunch of articles that are already published somewhere else now that everyone has the internet and could just put up a page listing links to the papers?  I side with the publishers on this one in failing to see why such a thing would need to be published even if a possible interested market could be identified and why anyone would buy such a product if truth in labeling were applied."

It is not actually a collection of the articles. Sorry, I must have phrased it wrongly. Again, English is not my native langauge and I have to think carefully before I write, and there is not always time. The history of the book is as follows. The completed the research and on leaving,  indicated the intention was that the output will be a book, with one or 2 spin-off articles. They later complained that they could not find a publisher / market for their manuscript. That I expected. They then published several journal articles that I collected over the years, and  I thought  that was it. We are speaking of a few years ago. I have  never  seen the manuscript. That is why I was quite amazed when the book turned up all of a sudden during a search I did for one of my patrons. Also seeing it  was published by the "notorious" VDM I investigated further. I have not yet discussed it with the authors. I thought of teasing them and telling them "don't you know about these people and their reputation?"  But I do not know them well enough. One will be here later this year and I will ask him, by bringing up the topic tactfully. So, I cannot say why they now gave  the book to VDM  after their knowledge had been transfered in  by other, more reputable means. It is somewhat of a mystery to me. I must say,  there is an introductory chapter that is new to me and I learned a few things not known by me before.  Thereafter,  the chapter titles correspond very much to the article titles, apart from one chapter that was made into 2 articles. I will have to retrieve the articles and put it alongside the book for a good comparison. First, tonight I will attempt to read the first "real" chapter.

"The question is what happens when you point out the printing error in a brand-new book ordered directly from the publisher.  That would be the test of whether VDM is an acceptable outlet for some purposes or are just a fancy photocopying outfit."

In our case we had to use an agent since we cannot pay in other currencies due to limitions in our admin systems. So it is not a totally direct order. The problem has been reported to the agent and I am awaiting the reply.  They will of course have to contact VDM first. There was nothing said about VDM's customer service in this thread so far (of what  I read) , so this is an opportunity to test it. If they require us to return the faulty copy there will be trouble, as that will be a cost to us. Airmail will be some 10% of the purchasing cost and surface mail can take up to 3 months to get it  back there.  

"For the record, your last several posts here before the arrival of the book indicated to me that you were unlikely to be a VDM salesperson, but that you were also too optimistic on alternative publishing venues as being useful to practicing scientists."

It is up to an author to decide where s/he  wants to publish. Quality control is of course a good thing. However, in my environment I cannot limit myself to just formally published matter. My shelves are full of reports of all kinds, all requested on purpose by patrons. Aesthetically all the ringbound stuff is not pleasing.  
Grey literature is my bane,  but I have to deliver it when required.  I have to accept information  in whatever format it comes, from what-ever source may have issued it. Maybe VDM is just a fancy photocopy service, I cannot argue against that. The reproduction service here in my library has  manufactured  up to 200 copies of documents like course material.  So I can write to VDM and say "you bunch with your impression of between 1 and 5", Anovans Publishing House can do much better, he he. And we copy the full damn  thing!

[anovan]

I have to return the book.  However,  it will be without cost to my budget. Further, with the workings of the supply chain through agents, the complaint did not actually reach VDM.  Our agent got it from a "distributor", and the latter set the policy of returning it. How a "print-on demand" work through a distributor I do not know, as my concept of a distributor is what it says: take large print runs and get it out. Maybe they are  a secondary printer like Amazon like reported here, I don't know. 

[polly_mer]

Thanks for the update, Anovan.

Let us know what the new book looks like.

[anovan]

BTW, this distributor is in Britain, not Germany. Sometimes British mail comes via a Danish postal service, so I really give up how things work nowadays.  Do the Danes fetch mail in bulk and quote cheaper tariffs than Her Majesty's  Postal Service  or whatever they call it?  But how long is the delay when things have to go up north first before it can travel south?

[totoro]

Every year our department puts together a list of publications which is used for obtaining government research funding (the "research quantum"). One is a book published by Verlag Dr Muller.

[tenured_feminist]

Every year our department puts together a list of publications which is used for obtaining government research funding (the "research quantum"). One is a book published by Verlag Dr Muller.

I have a tween son, so I say to your colleague: "Derp!"

I'm so happy to see this thread revived.

[minimimi]

Hello, Forumites! As of yesterday, I have arrived.

At last, I was contacted by a rep from VDM:

While researching interesting academic works at [Grad University], I came upon a mention of your end-of-studies paper entitled [Witty-Ass Title Here].

For your information, our company is an international academic publisher specialized in the publication and sale of printed theses and dissertations on the world market. I am therefore wondering if you would be interested in a cooperation to make your work available in printed form.

It would be highly appreciated if you could confirm your interest in receiving further information about our catalogue, policies and marketing measures.

I wasn't going to respond to this atrocious prose, but I couldn't help myself. I informed this apparently tireless researcher that my "end-of-studies paper" was revised and published by [OMG] UP in 2000-frakkin-6 and has received flattering reviews.

But these are nothing next to recognition from VDM.

[neilkumar86]

Hi all,

I've recently been contacted by LAP Academic Publishing (which seems to be a subsidiary of VDM) to publish my undergraduate thesis (!!). While I found it tough to get through the 40 pages of this thread, it seems that the general consensus is that this publisher really confers no academic benefit, and could in fact be a negative.

What I was wondering, however, as a student embarking upon a phD and hopefully a career in academia, is whether it would be in any way harmful to use VDM to publish an undergraduate work that I don't think could be used for any other further purpose. And if I did get it published, would it be something that would be worthwhile mentioning on my CV at any point?

Sorry if this is reviving a debate that no one wishes to revive, just wanted some advice from people who seem to know a lot about this outfit.

Thanks!