The Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme: Contributions to Canadian Sociology

Abstract

Abstract: The Aid to Scholarly Publication Programme (ASPP) of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada (HSSFC) has played a major role in the production of sociological research monographs in Canada. Here the Programme analysed and assessed for the magnitude and significance of participation in it by Canadian sociologists. Also highlighted are subsidized books of special importance; they constitute evidence of the critical role the Programme plays in developing Canadian sociology and advancing knowledge of key aspects of Canadian society. This leads to consideration of the future of monograph publishing in Canada. Resume: La contribution a la production des monographies sociologiques au Canada du programme d'aide a l'edition savante [much less than]PAES[much greater than] de la Federation canadienne des sciences humaines et sociales [much less than]FCSHS[much greater than] a ete primordiale. Ici, j'analyse et j'evalue lampleur de la participation dans le programme des sociologues Canadiens. Aussi, j'identifie les livres subventionnes d une importance distincte; ils temoignent le role central du programme dans le developpement de la discipline. Ceci mene a la consideration de l'avenir au Canada de l'edition des monographies. The Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme (ASPP) of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada has enormous import for Canadian sociology. Although impossible to conclusively demonstrate, it nevertheless likely that many, if not, most of the monographs it has subsidized would not have been released by a Canadian scholarly publishing outlet were it not for this program. The following analysis and assessment of ASPP-supported publications in sociology reveal that both francophone and anglophone sociologists owe a great deal to ASPP. Data supplied by the Programme also demonstrate that the sociological publications it has supported over the years have been highly varied; they have been quantitative and qualitative, theoretical and empirical, pure and applied, and have embraced a vast range of branches of the discipline. Recently, however, the Programme has fallen on hard times, precisely when its need has never been greater. This unhappy situation raises the spectre of possible dramatic declin e in Canada of the scholarly monograph in sociology as traditionally conceived of, accompanied by a likely increase in, among other things, such literary hybrids as monographs designed as course textbooks, referred to here as monotexts, and monographs written for the general public, referred to as popographs. The Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme: The Programme The ASPP directed by the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada (HSSFC) with funds granted for this purpose by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). According to a recent brochure, the Programme is designed to assist the publication of works of advanced scholarship which make an important contribution to knowledge, but which are unlikely to be self-supporting. Scholarly monographs are by definition specialized, detailed research reports directed to specialists rather than the general public. Although ASPP has provided subventions to a large number of publishers, it noteworthy that it mainly scholarly presses rather than textbook publishers who have received them. In this regard, University of Toronto Press and McGill-Queen's University Press have published most of these works. Manuscripts in the various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences in both official languages are considered if they meet ASPP eligibility criteria. In general, only book-length manuscripts to be published in Canada written by an author normally resident in this country are eligible for consideration. Grants are given only for publication and marketing expenses and not for manuscript preparation of any kind. Manuscripts considered for subvention are evaluated by at least two reviewers selected by the Aid to Scholarly Publications, or ASP, Committee, typically in collaboration with a publishing house when it rather than the author submits the manuscript. …