Eric Freedman at al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Getting published is an important marker of academic success for many researchers, and is often essential for promotion and tenure, whether in the United States or elsewhere. An article by Knight Center director Eric Freedman is intended to help researchers successfully deal with the processes of proposing and editing multi-authored scholarly books and dealing with academic and university publishers.

Freedman described those processes in a recent article, “From Conception to Bookshelf: Developing and Publishing an Edited Scholarly Book,” published by the al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Kazakhstan. He works with the university’s Department of Journalism on a variety of projects, including research mentoring and media literacy.

The article begins with the researcher’s conception of the idea. It then discusses how to solicit authors to write chapters; identify suitable academic publishers; organize and submit proposals; the peer review process; timely completion of the manuscript; and marketing.

It draws from Freedman’s experience as the lead editor of two volumes on international journalism – After the Czars and Commissars: Journalism in Authoritarian Post-Soviet Central Asia (Michigan State University Press) and Critical Perspectives on Journalistic Beliefs and Actions: Global Experiences (Routledge) – and two volumes on international environmental issues: Environmental Crises in Central Asia: From Steppes to Seas, from Deserts to Glaciers (Routledge) and Biodiversity, Conservation and Environmental Management in the Great Lakes Basin (Routledge).