Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Cambridge Scholars Publishing's putative link to Cambridge is that it was "Founded by former lecturers and researchers from the University of Cambridge." According to the website's description of the 67 advisory board members (9/2/17), exactly one has a current or former connection to the University of Cambridge. (Terri Apter is a Fellow Emerita of Newman College.) The mailing address is in Newcastle. [UPDATE (10/13/18): An email of 12 October 2018 notes that "we remain proud of our roots, and maintain a representative office in Cambridge, the city of our foundation.]

The website states that "We ... do not require any fees be paid to us for publication purposes." Hence, characterizing the business as predatory -- it was on Beall's list of possible predators -- would seem extreme. The quality of the books is debated at Political Science Rumors. A few respondents comment (mostly adversely) on what they have read.

The journals do not look stellar. No editorial boards are listed, although the "editorial advisors" may serve that function. "The International Journal of American Studies is a peer reviewed journal to be launched in spring/summer 2013 ... All manuscripts should be sent electronically to: Irakli Tskhvediani (iraklitskhvediani@yahoo.com; jdpag2012@yahoo.com) by the 30th of April, 2013." The journal is said to be "supported by" the US Embassy in Georgia.This seems to mean that "In 2012 US Department of State and Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, granted him a Federal Assistance Award to set up the publication of a peer-reviewed journal of American Studies." Five years later, the journal is still "awaiting book cover" and has no content

Addendum (9/30/18) in Defense of Cambridge Scholars

In August 2018, I received an email maintaining that CSP's "presence in your ‘flaky journals’ list seems unwarranted." It came from John Peters, who stated that he was "doing some advisory work with Cambridge Scholars Publishing." I offered Mr. Peters the opportunity to present his views in "a guest posting ... providing further information on the publisher and fully disclosing your relationship to Cambridge Scholars." He submitted the following "comment on behalf of Cambridge Scholars Publishing":
Dear all
    I act as an advisor to Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP), and Professor Kaye has kindly invited me to post some information on the publisher. I have spent many years in publishing and on the fringes of academia (mostly with visiting posts); I spent 10 years as Director, then CEO, of Emerald Publishing in the UK; founded GSE Research and acquired Greenleaf Publishing (sustainability and responsible business books and journals), which we sold to Taylor & Francis/Routledge in 2017. I am still associated with T&F, and hold a few other consulting/advisory posts, including CSP, who I first met several years ago. I’m fortunate enough to be able to choose my clients, and not to work for people I don’t care for.
    A couple of preliminary points. Firstly I deeply, deeply dislike predatory journal publishers. They are thieves and con-artists. I am wholly in favour of exposing predatory academic journals which solicit money from academics to publish ‘open access’. My friends at Cabells have done some sterling work there, picking up Jeffrey Beall’s baton, in addition to the good work done by this and other blog sites.
    Secondly, debate is good, and debate about quality, impact, inclusion, diversity etc is vital. So please read this in the spirit in which it is intended; not to shut down debate, but to encourage it.
    Much of the discussion on here is about outbound solicitation of authors to publish books. Of course, all publishers ‘commission’ (that’s what Commissioning Editors do) but that tends to be done very selectively, ie publishers talk to people they have heard of, or who they meet at conferences, or – particularly - who have sold well in the past. CSP’s commissioning works quite differently, and I will try to explain why, and how.
    A few words on the CSP business model. There are no charges to publish. There is no requirement on authors for a buy-back in return for publication. Royalties are accrued to the author from the first sale of a title. Decisions to publish are not taken on likely sales or profitability (which is unusual in a commercial publisher). The commercial risk to publish rests entirely with CSP. Some titles succeed, some do not, but the business model is predicated on the portfolio succeeding in aggregate.
    This is interesting, and quite liberating, in terms of publishing philosophy. From a publisher’s point of view (as opposed to an academic’s) ‘quality’ in a title is a proxy for likely commercial success. Publishers like to pick winners. That means they tend to navigate away from marginal interest, unheralded authors and second-tier institutions. CSP’s approach reverses that, because it isn’t predicated on a few big-sellers carrying the portfolio, but on enough titles selling enough copies to make the thing work as a whole. That means an author who is very niche is as welcome (more or less) as one who is mainstream; an author from Latvia or Laos as welcome as one from USA or UK. Which is why CSP talk about an ‘ecology of knowledge’ – the stirring-in of a diversity of material, ideas and people.
    A business model like CSP’s allows for the net to be cast wider, which means that solicitation moves away from pre-selection of ‘winners’. It isn’t reliant on a few big-sellers to drag the rest over the line. CSP’s invitations to publish are generally drawn from a combination of repeat and referred authors, plus desk research into who is researching or has previously published. All mailers have a clear unsubscribe/opt-out option.
    And regarding some of the comments about ‘robots’ or ‘spam-bots’, I can assure you that the people on the end of the mailers are real people, who will reply cheerfully and politely if you contact them; will generally be upset if you are rude, abusive or obscene (yes, sadly, that does occasionally happen); and will take you off a mail-list if you ask them to.
    Many people in both publishing and research think the traditional system is not completely fit for purpose. There are any number of innovative models, from Faculty of 1000 in London to Social Science Research Network (now part of Reed Elsevier) in New York State, to self-publication with Lulu.com. CSP publish hardback books and ebooks with a relatively short turnaround time, by asking lots of people, both likely and unlikely, to submit proposals, and publishing many (though not all) of proposals received, at their own commercial risk.
    I welcome those innovations. We need, in my view, to encourage different voices in the corpus of knowledge. The status quo should be challenged. We also should, I believe, encourage smaller, independent, non-traditional publishers who operate outside the confines of multinational industries and giant corporations. Bio-diversity works better than mono-culture in most spheres of life, and that includes scholarly research and publishing. There is room for all sorts.
    Finally, the name. Cambridge Scholars Publishing were founded in 2002 by University of Cambridge alumni and faculty, in Cambridge. The business relocated to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northern England, when the then Managing Director took a faculty post at the University of Durham. The current CSP operates from a converted early 1900s public library in quite a deprived area, Walker, in Newcastle, where employment, and particularly ‘knowledge work’ is not easy to find. They also maintain a contact address in Cambridge, with a view to, at some stage, opening an editorial office there. CSP have opened representative offices in Berlin, Barcelona and are about to do so in Hangzhou, China. There is no association, official or otherwise, made or implied with the University of Cambridge or Cambridge University Press.
    Thanks for reading. True to my comments about debate and discourse I should probably offer the opportunity to contact me directly with questions or comments, so please feel free to do so: jvpeters@btconnect.com.
In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that Mr. Peters is paid for his advice to CSP and posted -- anonymously (8/8/18) -- a comment expressing puzzlement over the criticism of CSP. The comments submitted to this blog range from praise for CSP, to skepticism, to harsh criticism. Only a few seem to be based on experience with CSP. Click on "comments" at the bottom of the page to see them.

Email

Soliciting in Decision Science
  • From: Adam Rummens (adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com)
    Sent: Aug 31, 2017, at 9:03 AM
    Subject: Decision Science Books
    Dear Dr. Kaye,
    Firstly, please excuse this unsolicited email. I’m sure that like me you receive too many as it is and so I’ll keep it brief. I was recently appointed as Commissioning Researcher for Cambridge Scholars Publishing (see below) with a brief to expand the subject areas in which we publish books. As such I am in the process of developing collections within the decision sciences. As I believe you already have some experience of academic and scientific writing, I wondered whether you would consider us as your publisher should you decide to put ‘pen to paper’ and write a book at some point in the future?
    We are also developing Editorial Advisory Groups to help ensure that we only publish high quality texts. If this is something that you would like to learn more about, please do let me know.
    As I promised, I have kept this message short, but would be delighted to talk or correspond more if you feel you would like to explore possibilities.
    Kind regards,
    Adam Rummens
    Commissioning Researcher
    About Cambridge Scholars Publishing:
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP) is an independent academic publisher, founded in 2001 by former lecturers and researchers from the University of Cambridge who felt existing publishing companies took too long to publish academic books, monographs, conference proceedings and textbooks.
    CSP has its own printing facility, now publishes 750+ titles each year in both electronic and print formats and is committed to providing a forward-thinking publishing service that champions original thinking, whilst ensuring we put our authors at the heart of everything we do. Our back list catalogue contains approximately 7,500 titles.
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing Ltd is registered in England. Reg. No: 4333775; VAT No: 108280727
    Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this message do not necessarily represent those of Cambridge Scholars Publishing Ltd. The contents of this message are intended for the addressee only. They are confidential and may contain private information. Cambridge Scholars Publishing is not responsible for any damages resulting from the unauthorised use, forwarding or disclosure of this message, and will not be held liable for damages or loss caused by any viruses.
  • From: Adam Rummens [adam.rummens=cambridgescholars.com@mmail1.co.uk]; on behalf of; Adam Rummens [adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com]
    Date: Wed 3/28/2018 9:36 AM (and at 9:51 AM)
    Subject: Publishing Enquiry - Decision Sciences
    Dear Dr. Kaye,
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing are pleased to invite you to consider submitting a proposal to publish a monograph or edited collection in the area of Decision Sciences. As part of our wider expansion as a publisher, we are now accepting book proposals in the categories of Life Sciences, Health Sciences and Physical Sciences, as well as our traditional base in Humanities and Social Sciences.
    We offer:
    • Fast, fair and friendly proposal review.
    • A handsome hardback printed book, as well as eBook formats.
    • Worldwide distribution via our international network of booksellers including Amazon, Blackwell, Baker & Taylor, YBP and Ingram.
    • Our titles are always in stock, with our unique, in-house Print on Time global distribution system.
    • An escalating royalty payment from the first copy sold – the more we sell, the higher the royalty rate.
    • We never charge a fee for publication.
    We work hard to give our authors a great publishing experience. We know we succeed most of the time because our authors tell us so, and because, in many cases, we have authors who have written two, three or more titles with us. But here are some things you may not know about us:
    • Our books have been endorsed by Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and “The world’s leading public intellectual” Professor Noam Chomsky of MIT, amongst many others.
    • We are always pleased to hear from first-time authors, but nearly 60 per cent of our monograph authors are full professors or associate professors.
    • In the past few years, we have published authors from 110 different countries. About 33% of our authors are based in the USA and the UK.
    • We are advised and guided by more than 1400 advisory board members across more than 250 different disciplines.
    You can find lots of information on our website ... where you can download a Book Proposal Form and review our Author Promises. Alternatively, contact me and I will be pleased to send a proposal form to you.. And we are always glad to add to our Editorial Advisory Board network across our publishing fields, including Decision Sciences. If this is something that you would like to learn more about, or apply to join, please do let me know. You can also find more details regarding this on our website.
    I look forward to hearing from you.
    Kind regards,
    Adam Rummens
    Commissioning Editor
    ... Email: adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com, Social Media: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Blog
    About Cambridge Scholars Publishing (www.cambridgescholars.com): Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP) is an independent academic publisher, founded in 2001 by former lecturers and researchers from the University of Cambridge who felt existing publishing companies took too long to publish academic books, monographs, conference proceedings and textbooks. CSP has its own printing facility, now publishes 750+ titles each year in both electronic and print formats and is committed to providing a forward-thinking publishing service that champions original thinking, whilst ensuring we put our authors at the heart of everything we do. Our back list catalogue contains approximately 7,500 titles.
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing - Reg. No: 4333775; VAT No: 108280727 Registered Address: Lady Stephenson Library, Welbeck Road, NE6 2PA
Soliciting in Life Sciences, Health Sciences and Physical Sciences
  • Sent: Feb 27, 2018, at 8:52 AM
    From: Adam Rummens [adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com]
    Subject: Further expansion for Cambridge Scholars
    Dear Dr. Kaye,
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing are now accepting book proposals in the categories of Life Sciences, Health Sciences and Physical Sciences, as well as our traditional base in Humanities and Social Sciences. This is part of our wider expansion as a publisher, which includes the recruitment of subject-based Editorial Advisory Boards, and the opening of new representative offices in Berlin and Barcelona, to add to our UK operational offices.
    We would be pleased if you would consider submitting a proposal to publish a monograph or edited collection in the area of Decision Sciences.
    We offer a fair, friendly and fast proposal review. Our titles are all published with a handsome hardback cover, as well as in eBook formats. We distribute worldwide via our international network of booksellers, including Amazon, Blackwell, Baker and Taylor, YBP and Ingram. A title published with Cambridge Scholars Publishing will never be out of stock, with our unique Print on Time global distribution system. We offer an escalating royalty payment—the more we sell, the higher the royalty rate. In addition, we never charge for publication.
    You can find lots of information on our website, www.cambridgescholars.com, where you can download a Book Proposal Form. Alternatively, contact me directly, and I will be pleased to send one to you.
    We are also developing Editorial Advisory Boards across our publishing fields, including Decision Sciences. If this is something that you would like to learn more about, or apply to join, please do let me know. You can find more details regarding this on our website.
    I look forward to hearing from you.
    Kind regards,
    Adam Rummens
    Commissioning Editor
    Email: adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com, Cambridge Scholars Publishing - Reg. No: 4333775; VAT No: 108280727 Registered Address: Lady Stephenson Library, Welbeck Road, NE6 2PA
Soliciting in Social Sciences and Humanities
  • From: Adam Rummens [adam.rummens=cambridgescholars.com@mmail1.co.uk]; on behalf of; Adam Rummens [adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com]
    Date: Wed 6/13/2018 11:18 AM
    Subject: Invitation to submit a book proposal in Social Sciences and Humanities
    Dear Dr Kaye,
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing are now accepting book proposals in Social Sciences and Humanities. To help guide our work, we have established more than 90 subject-based Editorial Advisory Boards in Social Sciences ... . We would be pleased if you would consider submitting a proposal to publish a monograph or edited collection. ... We work hard to give our authors a great publishing experience. We know we succeed most of the time because our authors tell us so ... .
    With over 7,500 publications, we are always adding new titles to the field of Social Sciences. ... [W]e are currently offering a time limited discount of 35% on all of our titles, which will expire at the end of June. ... I look forward to hearing from you.
    Kind regards,
    Adam Rummens
    Commissioning Editor
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing publishes in Health Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. Established in 2001, our operational headquarters are in the historic Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, with representative offices in Berlin, Germany, and Barcelona, Spain. We maintain an office in the city of our foundation, Cambridge, UK. Cambridge Scholars Publishing Ltd is registered in England. Reg. No: 4333775; VAT No: 108280727 ... Registered Address: Lady Stephenson Library, Welbeck Road, NE6 2PA
  • From: Adam Rummens [adam.rummens=cambridgescholars.com@mmail1.co.uk]; on behalf of; Adam Rummens [adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com]
    Date: Mon 7/30/2018 9:15 AM (and again 11:17 AM)
    Subject: Invitation to submit a book proposal in Social Sciences and Humanities
    Dear Dr Kaye,
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing are now inviting book proposals in Social Sciences and Humanities.
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing dates from 2001, when a group of graduates from Cambridge University decided to come together to start a publishing firm, intending to offer a different type of publication opportunity to a wide range of scholars, not just those from elite institutions. Over the years, we have grown and expanded, resulting in the restoration of our operational HQ, the historic Lady Stephenson Library in Newcastle.
    This year, we opened regional representative offices in Barcelona and Berlin, and we will soon be opening our first offices in Asia, based at the historic Zhejiang Gongshang University in Hangzhou, China.
    We would like to invite you to consider submitting a proposal to publish a monograph or edited collection. You can download a proposal form here. Alternatively, contact me directly, and I will be pleased to send one to you.
    We offer a fast, fair and friendly proposal review. Our titles are distributed worldwide via our international network of booksellers including Amazon, Blackwell, Baker & Taylor, YBP and Ingram, in handsome hardback, as well as eBook formats. We offer an escalating royalty payment—the more titles we sell, the higher the royalty rate. Your book will never be out of stock, with our unique Print on Time global distribution system. Furthermore, we never charge for publication.
    To help guide our work, we have established over 100 subject-based Editorial Advisory Boards in Social Sciences and Humanities, which you can see here.
    I look forward to hearing from you.
    Kind regards,
    Adam Rummens
    Commissioning Editor ...
  • From: Adam Rummens [adam.rummens@cambridgescholars.com]
    Date: Oct 12, 2018, at 12:15 PM, Nov. 29, 2018, at 8:45 AM
    Subject: Invitation to submit a book proposal
    Dear Dr Kaye,
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing are now accepting book proposals in Humanities and Social Sciences, and we would be pleased if you would consider submitting a proposal to publish a monograph or edited collection.
    With more than 750 titles due to be released this year, and sales in more than 120 countries worldwide, Cambridge Scholars Publishing is one of the world’s leading academic publishers. We publish in all major fields of scholarly research and practice, namely Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Health Sciences. You can find more information on our website, www.cambridgescholars.com.
    We put our authors first in everything we do. We offer a fast, fair and friendly proposal review, and we aim to use this as part of the process to encourage and improve. Our titles are all published in handsome hardback, as well as eBook formats. We distribute worldwide via our international network of booksellers including Amazon, Blackwell, Baker & Taylor, YBP and Ingram. A title published with Cambridge Scholars Publishing will never be out of stock, with our unique Print on Time global distribution system. We offer an escalating royalty payment—the more we sell, the higher the royalty rate, from the first copy sold. We make no charge for publication.
    To help guide our work, we have established more than 100 advisory boards in Social Sciences, and more than 300 Advisory Boards across all our areas of publication. We are always pleased to consider additions to our Editorial Advisory Boards. If you would like to learn more, or apply to join one, please let me know.
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing was founded in 2001 by University of Cambridge alumni and faculty, and relocated to the historic Lady Stephenson Library in Newcastle upon Tyne a few years later.
    Though not connected to Cambridge University in any way, we remain proud of our roots, and maintain a representative office in Cambridge, the city of our foundation. This year, we also opened regional representative offices in Barcelona, Berlin, and Hangzhou, China.
    Please visit our website, where you can download a Book Proposal Form, and find out more information about our Advisory Boards.
    I look forward to hearing from you.
    Kind regards,
    Adam Rummens
    Commissioning Editor
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing publishes in Health Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. Established in 2001, our operational headquarters are in the historic Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, with representative offices in Berlin, Germany, and Barcelona, Spain. We maintain an office in the city of our foundation, Cambridge, UK. Cambridge Scholars Publishing Ltd is registered in England. Reg. No: 4333775; VAT No: 108280727

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