Demythologizing Scholarly Publishing

Several myths about scholarly publishing are described and examined in this article, insofar as the absence of relevant data and space permit. Is it a myth or a fact that the university presses own scholarly publishing or are essential for the continued publication of scholarship? Is it a myth or true that scholarly publishing is in trouble— and, if so, what kind of trouble? Does every well-researched and well-written manuscript have, in fact, an equal chance to be considered and published? The roles of the senior scholar broker, the college traveler and the sponsoring editor are briefly sketched, as well as the connections between publishing decisions and tenure. No conclusions are reached, since the data do not permit objective analysis. However, this article argues that a full-fledged sociology of publishing is badly needed and raises the question of whether “society gets the scholarly publications it is willing to pay for,†and what this means.