(Download pdf)
Publication details
At the start of your review, please provide the following details (which you should be able to check from the publisher's (or Amazon's) website if they are not obvious from the publication itself):
- Title (including subtitle, if any)
- Author(s)
- City, publisher, year, number of pages
- ISBN, price, binding (including both paperback and hardback if applicable)
- URL link (if applicable)
Extent
Book reviews should normally be between 500 and 1000 words long; in exceptional cases (e.g. a book of particular importance, or a review covering more than one title) they may be longer than 1000 words.
Coverage
Please focus on the content of the book, rather than your own views on the book's subject!
Your review should address the following questions:
- Context. Why was the book written (e.g. an ALPSP research report)?Authorship. Who is the author and what are his or her background and qualifications for writing this book?
- Readership. Who is the book written for? Does it work for that audience?
- Overview. What is the book about? (Summarise the main themes only - no need to list chapter headings, etc.)
- Comparison. Are there any other books on the topic, and if so how does it compare with them?
- Appraisal (the meat of the review). Please answer the following questions, giving support for your comments:
- Does the publication do its job well?
- Is it interesting?
- Is it readable and useful?
- Is it a worthwhile contribution to the literature on the subject?
- What are the publication's strengths and weaknesses? How might its shortcomings (if any) have been addressed?
- If the review covers more than one publication, please emphasise the strengths and weaknesses of each.
- Practicalities. As appropriate, please add specific comments on design, production, editing, index, value for money, etc.
- Conclusion(1) . What is your overall assessment of the book - what are its best and worst features? Would you buy it, recommend it, use it, treasure it?
Footnotes and references
Please keep these to a minimum. If you need to include them, please follow the normal Learned Publishing house style.
Your details
At the end of your review, please provide:
- Your name
- Your job title and organization
- Your email address
(These will be published at the end of the review)
Licence to Publish
Please sign and return the ALPSP Licence to Publish form
Delivery
The completed review (as a Word file) should be uploaded (as a 'book review') onto the Learned Publishing online submission system.
http://lp.msubmit.net/
The first time you use this system, you need to register as a new author.
Please also upload the scanned, signed, Licence to Publish form as an 'additional file' or 'letter'.
Production, proofing and publication
Your review will be edited by Pippa Smart (with advice from any other experts that she thinks appropriate), and copy-edited by Alan Singleton (Editor). You will be alerted when a PDF proof is ready to download from the system for you to check, and the review will be published in the next available issue. If you do not already receive your own copy of Learned Publishing, please inform us and we will send you a copy of the issue in which your review appears. Please note that book reviews are freely available from the online journal from the date of publication.
Thank you very much for completing your book review for Learned Publishing; you are, of course, welcome to keep the book as a token of our gratitude!
Pippa Smart
Reviews Editor (email)
(1) Question courtesy of ACM Computing Reviews
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