Keeping everything on track

Keep in regular contact with your Elgar Editor as the project progresses, especially if there are any changes to the agreed submission date. Your Editor is there to help if you have any queries along the way.

It is very important to keep in regular contact with the contributing authors, as if all of the contributors have a clear idea of what is expected of them and are kept up to date with the current status of the project it will help the whole project to run smoothly.

We recommend using a file hosting service such as Dropbox or Google Drive to collect chapters submitted by your contributors.

 

In your correspondence with contributors you should consider:

  • Sending the contributor agreement and a link to the Author Hub - ask contributors to sign and return the agreement to you.
  • Providing an overview of the whole project, the topics included and who has agreed to write the different chapters.
  • A time-table for the project including clear deadlines of when you expect submissions, allowing time for reviews and revisions.
  • An indication of the general approach you would like authors to take in writing their chapters, and a reminder of the audience they are writing for.
  • Informing the contributors of any changes to the agreed time-table, and being flexible when necessary.
  • Ensuring that the contributors have cleared any outstanding copyright permissions, and paid any relevant permission fees. You can find a template letter for requesting copyright permissions in our Copyright Guidelines.

 

Peer Reviewing the Content:

It is very important for the quality of the volume to ensure that all content is thoroughly peer reviewed before submission, so do allow for this in your timetable. It can be a good idea to ask contributing authors to review each other’s chapters, as this is also a helpful way of both integrating the volume and peer reviewing each chapter. Allow time for giving feedback and appropriate revisions of the chapters. As the Editor it is also important that you assess the content to check the quality.

If many of your contributors are attending a conference together then it may be worthwhile to arrange a meeting to discuss and evaluate the project.

 

Timeline

A potential time frame for a typical Handbook project might be as follows:

3 months – contacting and securing contributors

12 months – first chapter drafts

3 months – first round of reviews

3 months – chapter revisions

3 months – second round of reviews, collation of the manuscript, writing the introduction and eventual submission to the publisher.

 

 

Why Contribute a Chapter in an Elgar Handbook?

9 great reasons

  • As part of Elgar’s commitment to publishing in electronic formats, their strategy will be to sell a paperback priced ebook of the Handbook at Google eBooks, from the date of publication. Google eBooks are accessed through the Google eBookstore, and can be purchased by individuals, academics and students. In this way, Elgar reaches the individual and student market from the outset, without cannibalising the important hardcover sales to libraries, where they recoup the high costs of producing and marketing the Handbook.  An institutionally priced ebook version of the Handbook would also be sold through all the major ebook aggregators.
  • The book will be marketed in North and South America, the UK and Europe by Edward Elgar Publishing and through their international network of overseas agents in the rest of the world. 
  • In addition, Elgar hold displays at most of the major conferences both in Europe and the US.  They have experienced and energetic marketing departments in the United States and the UK who will market the Handbook vigorously by direct mail and through their web-site.  It will of course also be included in their law and financial catalogues which are mailed throughout the world.
  • Edward Elgar was one of the first publishers to have reached agreement with Thomson Reuters to include their scholarly titles in the Book Citation Index (part of the Web of Science), Elgar Handbooks will now also be included in the SCOPUS citation index. They would expect the Handbook to be included in these Indexes, ensuring that it has greater visibility and the work, and that of the contributors, is recognised in the citation indexes. The final decision on whether a book is included rests with the editorial boards at Thomson Reuters and Elsevier.
  • Upon publication, the Handbook will be included in Elgaronline - the exciting new digital platform for EEP’s books, reference works and journals. Elgaronline is now live with over 2,000 titles and over 30,000 searchable chapters, articles and entries, and is custom-designed to give users full access to the depth and breadth of EEP’s content in one place. Demonstrating the very latest in web-design and functionality, Elgaronline offers easy browsing and sophisticated search capability right across its broad range of content, and directly benefits their authors by making their work more discoverable than ever.
  • Elgar Handbooks enjoy a strong international reputation throughout North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australasia and their marketing department ensure a wide breadth of distribution to students, academics, researchers, professionals as well as general readers.
  • All Elgar Handbooks are processed by high quality native English-speaking copyeditors and proof readers located in the UK.  Edward Elgar Publishing have, as a company, made a policy decision not to outsource this vital editorial and proofreading process in the interest of maintaining high editorial standards and offering authors a personal and efficient service.
  • Elgar publishes Handbooks across all the subject areas including Law, Economics, Business, Environment, Public and Social Policy, as well as Technology and Innovation.
  • Elgar use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to promote new Handbooks. Social media is a useful tool for reaching new readers in both the academic and non-academic sphere. Search engines often use social media linking to identify interesting content and prioritise search results so sharing the link to a Handbook on their website and Elgaronline can increase long term discovery. They can help you to maximise the impact of your own social media activity and invite you to participate in theirs. Elgar also contact journals and recognised academic blogs as soon as the Handbook is published, sending review copies to those they receive a response from. Elgar have a database of journals for each topic that they add to on an ongoing basis. Journals will often provide a copy of the review for them to share with Editors and Contributors.