Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2015) 11:113–114 DOI 10.1007/s12024-014-9613-0
COMMENTARY
Forensic publishing Burkhard Madea
Accepted: 4 September 2014 / Published online: 16 October 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
The invention of book printing was, of course, a revolution. Books became essential for the distribution of knowledge of all fields. The development of forensic medicine—as for many other scientific disciplines—has for centuries been influenced by books. Even in the twentieth century the most influential textbooks went through many editions [1]. The systematics of classification of the discipline as well as research findings were published in books. One of the most important textbooks of forensic medicine in the German language, the famous textbook of Eduard von Hofmann (1837–1897), went through eleven editions between 1878 and 1927. Like others, this book is of a strictly scientific character and furthermore provides a wealth of bibliographical data regarding all of its single topics [2, 3]. Another famous book in forensic medicine was the textbook of Forensic Medicine edited by Albert Ponsold (1st edition 1950, 3rd edition 1967). This textbook was famous for its extremely instructive illustrations, and these illustrations were copied worldwide, even today, however, without mentioning the source. In my opinion, textbooks available as hard copies are still necessary and essential even in a brave new world of electronic publishing. By writing or editing a textbook the author becomes familiar with all problems on special topics. Writing or editing a textbook help to identify problems and stimulate research. The first book to which I had the opportunity to contribute was on death time estimation [4] and a number of following research projects were first outlined in this book. B. Madea (&) Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bonn, Stiftsplatz 12, 53111 Bonn, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
As stressed by Byard [1] the way of textbook publishing has changed dramatically over the past two decades and at the present, it is still unclear what the ongoing and final impact of electronic publishing on the hard copy market will be. He has also outlined a dramatic change concerning the following issues every potential book author should consider in the future: • • • •
loss of materials size and length of texts possibility of electronic submission copyediting may not be done.
When writing or editing a textbook further problems may appear, such as: Is there only one editor or a team of editors? This may already be a source of problems. Is it a single author textbook or a multi-author textbook? Are the co-authors ‘‘reliable’’? Success of the editorial process depends largely on the reliability of the authors concerning the date of delivery of manuscripts and the sizes and the lengths of the texts. Based on various books, I have experienced that some contributors may be completely unreliable and jeopardize the success of a project. However, even if the whole manuscript is submitted on time to the publisher, some delays may be caused by the fact that copyediting cannot start. With one of my book projects I experienced a delay of nearly 1 year from the submission of manuscripts to the beginning of the copyediting process, which was only due to the fact that the publisher did not take care of the manuscript in the appropriate manner. Each author, who has edited several editions of a textbook, will experience, that not only the book type will change over time, but cooperation with the publisher as well. One strange experience was that the editor of a book was displaced as editor of a later edition, despite being willing to continue in the role, resulting in it being published with other editors
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despite the bulk of the book, originally written by the editor who was replaced, remaining mostly the same with only slight changes to tables, figures, and text. This is, of course, extremely dishonest, both for the editor and the publisher. Publication behavior has apparently changed dramatically during the last two decades [5]. Nowadays, impact factors and citation frequencies are used as evaluation tools for the quality of papers. Probably the greatest revolution since the discovery of book printing is occurring now with the advent of electronic publishing. However, today there are still numerous reasons for writing books—which can of course (where else?) be found in books [6, 7]. References 1. Byard RW. Forensic text books: how to publish and perish, all at the same time. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2014. doi:10.1007/ s12024-014-9599-7.
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Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2015) 11:113–114 2. Keil W, Berzlanowic A, Madea B. Textbooks on legal medicine in the German speaking countries. Forensic Sci Int. 2004;144: 289–302. 3. Madea B. Forensic medicine in Germany. In: Madea B, Saukko P, editors. Forensic medicine in Europe. Lu¨beck: Schmidt-Ro¨mhild; 2008. p. 143–64. 4. Henssge C, Madea B. Methoden zur Bestimmung der Todeszeit an Leichen. Lu¨beck: Schmidt-Ro¨mhild; 1988. 5. Statucki S, Doberentz E, Madea B. Publikationsverhalten deutschsprachiger Rechtsmediziner. Rechtsmedizin. 2013;23:5–16. 6. Kendall-Tuckett KA. How to write for a general audience. A guide for academics who want to share their knowledge with the world and have fun doing it. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2007. 7. Reinhard K. Vom Wissen zum Buch. Fach- und Sachbu¨cher schreiben. Bern: Verlag Hans Huber; 2008.
COMMENTARY
Forensic publishing Burkhard Madea
Accepted: 4 September 2014 / Published online: 16 October 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
The invention of book printing was, of course, a revolution. Books became essential for the distribution of knowledge of all fields. The development of forensic medicine—as for many other scientific disciplines—has for centuries been influenced by books. Even in the twentieth century the most influential textbooks went through many editions [1]. The systematics of classification of the discipline as well as research findings were published in books. One of the most important textbooks of forensic medicine in the German language, the famous textbook of Eduard von Hofmann (1837–1897), went through eleven editions between 1878 and 1927. Like others, this book is of a strictly scientific character and furthermore provides a wealth of bibliographical data regarding all of its single topics [2, 3]. Another famous book in forensic medicine was the textbook of Forensic Medicine edited by Albert Ponsold (1st edition 1950, 3rd edition 1967). This textbook was famous for its extremely instructive illustrations, and these illustrations were copied worldwide, even today, however, without mentioning the source. In my opinion, textbooks available as hard copies are still necessary and essential even in a brave new world of electronic publishing. By writing or editing a textbook the author becomes familiar with all problems on special topics. Writing or editing a textbook help to identify problems and stimulate research. The first book to which I had the opportunity to contribute was on death time estimation [4] and a number of following research projects were first outlined in this book. B. Madea (&) Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bonn, Stiftsplatz 12, 53111 Bonn, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
As stressed by Byard [1] the way of textbook publishing has changed dramatically over the past two decades and at the present, it is still unclear what the ongoing and final impact of electronic publishing on the hard copy market will be. He has also outlined a dramatic change concerning the following issues every potential book author should consider in the future: • • • •
loss of materials size and length of texts possibility of electronic submission copyediting may not be done.
When writing or editing a textbook further problems may appear, such as: Is there only one editor or a team of editors? This may already be a source of problems. Is it a single author textbook or a multi-author textbook? Are the co-authors ‘‘reliable’’? Success of the editorial process depends largely on the reliability of the authors concerning the date of delivery of manuscripts and the sizes and the lengths of the texts. Based on various books, I have experienced that some contributors may be completely unreliable and jeopardize the success of a project. However, even if the whole manuscript is submitted on time to the publisher, some delays may be caused by the fact that copyediting cannot start. With one of my book projects I experienced a delay of nearly 1 year from the submission of manuscripts to the beginning of the copyediting process, which was only due to the fact that the publisher did not take care of the manuscript in the appropriate manner. Each author, who has edited several editions of a textbook, will experience, that not only the book type will change over time, but cooperation with the publisher as well. One strange experience was that the editor of a book was displaced as editor of a later edition, despite being willing to continue in the role, resulting in it being published with other editors
123
114
despite the bulk of the book, originally written by the editor who was replaced, remaining mostly the same with only slight changes to tables, figures, and text. This is, of course, extremely dishonest, both for the editor and the publisher. Publication behavior has apparently changed dramatically during the last two decades [5]. Nowadays, impact factors and citation frequencies are used as evaluation tools for the quality of papers. Probably the greatest revolution since the discovery of book printing is occurring now with the advent of electronic publishing. However, today there are still numerous reasons for writing books—which can of course (where else?) be found in books [6, 7]. References 1. Byard RW. Forensic text books: how to publish and perish, all at the same time. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2014. doi:10.1007/ s12024-014-9599-7.
123
Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2015) 11:113–114 2. Keil W, Berzlanowic A, Madea B. Textbooks on legal medicine in the German speaking countries. Forensic Sci Int. 2004;144: 289–302. 3. Madea B. Forensic medicine in Germany. In: Madea B, Saukko P, editors. Forensic medicine in Europe. Lu¨beck: Schmidt-Ro¨mhild; 2008. p. 143–64. 4. Henssge C, Madea B. Methoden zur Bestimmung der Todeszeit an Leichen. Lu¨beck: Schmidt-Ro¨mhild; 1988. 5. Statucki S, Doberentz E, Madea B. Publikationsverhalten deutschsprachiger Rechtsmediziner. Rechtsmedizin. 2013;23:5–16. 6. Kendall-Tuckett KA. How to write for a general audience. A guide for academics who want to share their knowledge with the world and have fun doing it. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2007. 7. Reinhard K. Vom Wissen zum Buch. Fach- und Sachbu¨cher schreiben. Bern: Verlag Hans Huber; 2008.
