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Edwin Mellen Press
The Edwin Mellen Press, sometimes stylised as Mellen Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1972 by theology professor Herbert W. Richardson. It has been involved in a number of notable legal and academic controversies, sometimes being labeled as a vanity press.
Following its founding in 1972, the publishing house was initially meant to publish specialized scholarship produced in Richardson's department at the University of St Michael's College, Early publications included bibliographies, translations, and dissertations completed by faculty and doctoral students at the University of Toronto. The house was named after Richardson's grandfather, Edwin Mellen, whom he describes as a lover of books, as was Edwin Mellen University, a private university located on Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands operated by Richardson since 1992.
Under Richardson, the publishing house grew and began publishing works by scholars outside of the University of Toronto, widening its range of topics to the broader humanities and social sciences. By 1979 it had moved to new locations in Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Canada. Its office in Lampeter, Wales opened in 1987. By 1990 it was publishing up to 150 titles a year. Following Richardson's professional parting with St. Michael's College following a gross misconduct investigation and subsequent dismissal in October 1994, he expanded his publishing business, raising the annual number of works published to 350.
Mellen Press describes its goals in selecting works as valuing "scholar-for-scholar research more than anything", stating: "The manuscript must make a contribution to scholarship," and states that its publications are peer-reviewed, with research libraries constituting its primary customer base.
Its Adèle Mellen Prize is awarded to an author for a book which, in the judgment of its peer reviewers, makes a "distinguished contribution to scholarship".
Although some critics have described Edwin Mellen Press as a vanity press, the publisher maintains that it is a "non-subsidy academic publisher" and does not accept payments from authors for publication. It has often taken legal action against critics alleging it to be a vanity press — which, some critics claim, has further damaged its reputation.
The publisher's litigiousness began in 1993, when its former employee Robert West urged the American academic magazine Lingua Franca to publish an exposé, describing the publisher's founder, Richardson, as a "rogue professor" operating a "vanity press".[citation needed] Lingua Franca published "Vanity's Fare: The Peripatetic Professor and His Peculiarly Profitable Press" by Warren St. John as the cover story of its September–October 1993 issue. The article described the publisher as a "quasi-vanity press cunningly disguised as an academic publishing house" and, in particular, ridiculed the work Rulers of Reality and the Ruled Races (1990) by Joseph R. Washington Jr. In response, the publisher, in 1994, sued West and Lingua Franca for libel. West sent a letter of regret to Richardson for "the difficulties he had with Lingua Franca magazine and the University of Toronto", stating: "I do not believe Herbert Richardson to be a 'rogue professor,' nor do I believe that the Edwin Mellen Press was organized to be a vanity operation." However, in 1996, the publisher lost its lawsuit against Lingua Franca, on grounds that the article in dispute was "supported by an honest assessment of the facts at hand when the article was published".
In a 1995 conference talk, Brock University philosopher Murray Miles quoted Edwin Mellen Press material, noting the press says it "accepts no author subsidies but also pays no royalties" and expects authors to provide "error-free, camera-ready copy" by themselves — which, according to Miles, means that "a considerable expense is borne by the author." He described his own experience of having a manuscript accepted without having sent a requested short statement about the academic merits of the work, concluding that the press is "neither a traditional 'vanity press' nor a typical academic press either .... Here, then, is a puzzle worthy of the efforts of an investigative reporter."
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Edwin Mellen Press
The Edwin Mellen Press, sometimes stylised as Mellen Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1972 by theology professor Herbert W. Richardson. It has been involved in a number of notable legal and academic controversies, sometimes being labeled as a vanity press.
Following its founding in 1972, the publishing house was initially meant to publish specialized scholarship produced in Richardson's department at the University of St Michael's College, Early publications included bibliographies, translations, and dissertations completed by faculty and doctoral students at the University of Toronto. The house was named after Richardson's grandfather, Edwin Mellen, whom he describes as a lover of books, as was Edwin Mellen University, a private university located on Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands operated by Richardson since 1992.
Under Richardson, the publishing house grew and began publishing works by scholars outside of the University of Toronto, widening its range of topics to the broader humanities and social sciences. By 1979 it had moved to new locations in Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Canada. Its office in Lampeter, Wales opened in 1987. By 1990 it was publishing up to 150 titles a year. Following Richardson's professional parting with St. Michael's College following a gross misconduct investigation and subsequent dismissal in October 1994, he expanded his publishing business, raising the annual number of works published to 350.
Mellen Press describes its goals in selecting works as valuing "scholar-for-scholar research more than anything", stating: "The manuscript must make a contribution to scholarship," and states that its publications are peer-reviewed, with research libraries constituting its primary customer base.
Its Adèle Mellen Prize is awarded to an author for a book which, in the judgment of its peer reviewers, makes a "distinguished contribution to scholarship".
Although some critics have described Edwin Mellen Press as a vanity press, the publisher maintains that it is a "non-subsidy academic publisher" and does not accept payments from authors for publication. It has often taken legal action against critics alleging it to be a vanity press — which, some critics claim, has further damaged its reputation.
The publisher's litigiousness began in 1993, when its former employee Robert West urged the American academic magazine Lingua Franca to publish an exposé, describing the publisher's founder, Richardson, as a "rogue professor" operating a "vanity press".[citation needed] Lingua Franca published "Vanity's Fare: The Peripatetic Professor and His Peculiarly Profitable Press" by Warren St. John as the cover story of its September–October 1993 issue. The article described the publisher as a "quasi-vanity press cunningly disguised as an academic publishing house" and, in particular, ridiculed the work Rulers of Reality and the Ruled Races (1990) by Joseph R. Washington Jr. In response, the publisher, in 1994, sued West and Lingua Franca for libel. West sent a letter of regret to Richardson for "the difficulties he had with Lingua Franca magazine and the University of Toronto", stating: "I do not believe Herbert Richardson to be a 'rogue professor,' nor do I believe that the Edwin Mellen Press was organized to be a vanity operation." However, in 1996, the publisher lost its lawsuit against Lingua Franca, on grounds that the article in dispute was "supported by an honest assessment of the facts at hand when the article was published".
In a 1995 conference talk, Brock University philosopher Murray Miles quoted Edwin Mellen Press material, noting the press says it "accepts no author subsidies but also pays no royalties" and expects authors to provide "error-free, camera-ready copy" by themselves — which, according to Miles, means that "a considerable expense is borne by the author." He described his own experience of having a manuscript accepted without having sent a requested short statement about the academic merits of the work, concluding that the press is "neither a traditional 'vanity press' nor a typical academic press either .... Here, then, is a puzzle worthy of the efforts of an investigative reporter."