Two Sides of the Same Coin? Trade and University Press Publishing of Revised Dissertations, 2007–2016: Some Observations

Abstract

In academia, humanists, social scientists, and those in the various sciences, write books that assume major cultural capital for promotion, tenure, and for dissemination of scholarship. For the beginning academic, doctoral education is the acculturative process by which nascent scholars achieve competence in their respective disciplines. The capstone research experience culminates in the doctoral dissertation in the humanities and social sciences, often, and with substantial revision, the first book in professorial life. This study attempts to frame the production, illustrative bibliographic characteristics, and major publishers of revised dissertations published by university and scholarly trade presses. This study is grounded in data provided by YPB’s Gobi database and further articulated by utilization of the Library of Congress Classification system, and further frames the degree of interdisciplinarity, pricing, geographical concentrations, and other aspects of these books and investigates the similarities and dissimilarities between university press and scholarly trade presses. Illustrative examples display trends and provides suggestions for future analysis and research.