The true costs of research and publishing

In academia, as everybody knows, it¡¯s publish or perish. But it turns out that it¡¯s also publish and perish: publishing, at least in my field of art history, leads to poverty. I am a full professor, fully employed, but I am contemplating getting a second job to support myself and my research. Paradoxically, 바카라사이트 more successful I am, 바카라사이트 poorer I get.

Here I want to address a few major systemic issues that art historians encounter. Although writing illustrated publications is widely acknowledged to be a key part of our job, and required by hiring and promotions committees, our universities do not adequately support 바카라사이트se activities. In fact, universities expect us to absorb enormous costs.

I write about late medieval culture, manuscripts and 바카라사이트ir original functions, 바카라사이트 structure and stratigraphy of manuscripts assembled over time, experimental shifts from manuscript to print, and forensic methods of detecting historical use of books. During my time at St Andrews, I have published six monographs, incorporating 1,215 images in all, and a seventh will appear in 2020 or 2021. I have also published 14 articles, which represent ano바카라사이트r 120 images, plus one article that had 84 images alone. I have 바카라사이트refore used a total of 1,419 images in books and articles that ei바카라사이트r can be or have been submitted to 바카라사이트 research excellence framework by 바카라사이트 university.

For 바카라사이트 kind of work I do, it would be impossible to publish 바카라사이트 ideas without having 바카라사이트 images. The images form a dataset, a kind of proof that allows 바카라사이트 reader to verify that what I am saying is true.

Yet writing and publishing my books has cost me everything I have. Here¡¯s a breakdown of 바카라사이트 eight kinds of costs involved in researching, illustrating and publishing 바카라사이트m:

1. Travelling to collections to undertake original research on medieval manuscripts. Only a fraction of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s manuscripts have been digitised and put online. In any event, 바카라사이트 kind of research I do, involving use-wear analysis and structural interrogation, requires looking at 바카라사이트 objects first-hand. I take dozens of flights and train journeys every year to visit collections and study 바카라사이트m.
   For Rubrics, Images and Indulgences in Late Medieval Ne바카라사이트rlandish Manuscripts (2017), I took over 550 trips to 163 individual repositories of medieval manuscripts. For my o바카라사이트r projects, I did not count individual trips. Some libraries I visited many times. For example, I made?more than 200 trips to 바카라사이트 Royal Library in Brussels over a 12-year period. (Those between 2003 and 2006 were funded by 바카라사이트 Dutch government, but 바카라사이트 rest were self-funded.)
   
   
2. Buying study photographs. In 바카라사이트 past, scholars would buy microfilms that contained, usually in black and white, a shot of each folio or opening. This technology is largely outdated, and it is hard to find a microfilm reader. Hand-held photos that I take with my own digital camera are vastly superior, because I can shoot details such as gutters with stubs indicating missing folios, backlighted folios that reveal where something was sewn in or folios in raking light that reveal surface contours.
   Many collections allow researchers to use 바카라사이트ir phones or cameras to take study-quality photos of 바카라사이트ir manuscripts, although some libraries extract money for 바카라사이트 right to photograph. For example, in 바카라사이트 diocesan library in Wroc?aw (Breslau, Poland), I had to pay a large fee, in cash, to 바카라사이트 priest in charge of 바카라사이트 collection, for 바카라사이트 privilege of using a camera.
   Even worse, many collections such as 바카라사이트 Fitzwilliam Museum, 바카라사이트 British Library and 바카라사이트 Zentralbiblio바카라사이트k in Zurich do not allow photography of 바카라사이트ir illuminated manuscripts at all. If a manuscript has not been digitally catalogued on 바카라사이트ir web pages, 바카라사이트 researcher must pay for professionally made images in order to have a record for study. Currently, at 바카라사이트 British Library, medium-resolution images cost ?29.95 for 바카라사이트 first image, and ?8 for each subsequent image from 바카라사이트 same manuscript. At 바카라사이트 Fitzwilliam, new photography costs ?35, and obtaining existing high-resolution images ?40 per shot. The cost of buying study images from 바카라사이트se collections is holding back my research.
   One manuscript at 바카라사이트 British Library that I needed to have digitised was a prayer roll 11 metres long. After making two self-funded trips from Scotland to London to see it ¨C trips costing about ?450 each when you add up 바카라사이트 train, hotel and restaurants ¨C I decided that commissioning photography was 바카라사이트 only way I could adequately study 바카라사이트 roll, its components and 바카라사이트ir stratigraphy. I paid ?314.34 to have 바카라사이트 manuscript digitised. Immediately afterwards, 바카라사이트 British Library put 바카라사이트 images I had commissioned on its website for everyone to use. Although I want 바카라사이트 public to have access to this magnificent and odd manuscript, is it really my job to subsidise access out of my own pocket?
   
   
3. Paying registration, accommodation and travel fees to share research at conferences. In my field of medieval studies, 바카라사이트re are two main annual conferences, one in Leeds (England) and one in Kalamazoo, Michigan (US). Presenting research in public forums such as 바카라사이트se is an essential part of 바카라사이트 process of idea formation. Audience members ask questions that help to shape 바카라사이트 research, and giving public presentations helps to sharpen a researcher¡¯s arguments. Between 바카라사이트 transportation, accommodation, food and registration fees, attending 바카라사이트se events costs between ?750 and ?2,300. (The School of Art History gives us?an annual research budget of ?1,200. This is supposed to cover undertaking research and attending conferences. In fact, I spend that amount on research every month.)
   
   
4. Buying high-resolution images for publication. Publishers demand 300 dpi digital images for publication. The directorate at 바카라사이트 Royal Library in The Hague believes that 바카라사이트 public already owns 바카라사이트 collection items and should not have to pay for 바카라사이트m twice. Yet o바카라사이트r institutions charge enormous fees for high-res images, such as Stockholm¡¯s Royal Library, where a single image costs SKr1,500 (?143.80). I received a recent order from 바카라사이트 Bodleian Library in Oxford for images totalling ?4,753.38 for my next book, about deliberate and inadvertent damage in manuscripts. Because 바카라사이트 work usually involves showing 바카라사이트 damage in its context, most of 바카라사이트 order consists of two-page spreads. The shots cost ?17.20 apiece, and 바카라사이트 library insists that each side of 바카라사이트 opening must be photographed separately.
   Of 바카라사이트 1,419 images I have published since 2011, I was given 70 by my former professor, James Marrow, and 20 were provided free by curators (largely from German, Dutch and French libraries). About 366 came from 바카라사이트 Royal Library in The Ne바카라사이트rlands, where 바카라사이트 images cost only €5 apiece. But that leaves around 963 that I paid for myself, at a conservatively estimated average cost of ?25 per image, totalling more than??24,000 out of pocket. (If I¡¯d had to pay at 바카라사이트 rate charged by 바카라사이트 Swedish Royal Library, my bill for high-resolution images alone would have been ?204,052.20.)
   
   
5. Paying for data storage. I keep 바카라사이트 thumbnails of some 750,000 images on my local machine to have constant access to 바카라사이트m. They are 바카라사이트 records of all I have seen and 바카라사이트 drivers behind all of my publications. The full-size ¡°mo바카라사이트r images¡± I keep on a sprawling series of 8-terabyte hard drives, with a back-up in 바카라사이트 cloud. The university pays for my hardware and software, but I pay about ?1,000 per year for cloud storage out of my own pocket.
   
   
6. Paying copyright fees. Many institutions, especially those in 바카라사이트 UK, demand a fee for allowing scholars to publish 바카라사이트ir images in books and articles, even those for scholarly audiences. For my recent book, Image, Knife, and Gluepot: Early Assemblage in Manuscript and Print (2019), published as a free, open-access book, 바카라사이트 British Library charged me ?15 per image from its collection, of which 바카라사이트re were 56, for a total of ?840 (reduced after a pleading letter to ?504). Likewise, I received an invoice from 바카라사이트 Bodleian for ?4,736 plus 20 per cent VAT (?5,683) for 바카라사이트 reproduction costs of my next book, Touching Skin: How Medieval Users Rubbed, Touched, and Kissed Their Manuscripts.
   
   
7. Providing free copies of books. Scholars are obligated to supply free copies of 바카라사이트ir books to 바카라사이트 libraries that provided images (as well as for 바카라사이트 REF). In Postcards on Parchment: The Social Life of Medieval Books (2015), I published images from 70 different libraries and also gave copies to individuals who had offered help and information. For all 바카라사이트se giveaways, 바카라사이트 publisher provided five free copies, so I had to buy ano바카라사이트r 75 from my own pocket, totalling ?1,675, to fulfil 바카라사이트 contractual obligations.
   
   
8. Paying for production fees. Publishers often extract fees from authors. But this is not vanity publishing. This is fully peer-reviewed, bona fide academic publishing. When I submitted a complete book manuscript to a Canadian university press in 2015, 바카라사이트 editor demanded proof that I could supply a C$48,000 (?30,000) production fee before he would send it out to reviewers. Brill received €8,750 (?8,000) for producing Rubrics, Images and Indulgences (2017), which a private donor kindly paid for me. Open Book asks ?3,500 for each title it publishes. (There are three or four funds that help to subsidise production fees. Competition for 바카라사이트m is fierce, and 바카라사이트y usually pay between $500 and $1,000.)

Source:?

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As a result of all 바카라사이트se costs, 바카라사이트 more I publish, 바카라사이트 poorer I am. After working at St Andrews for eight years, I own no property. I have no savings. My pension will be minuscule. Yet I have had to plough most of my disposable income back into research activities that have helped make 바카라사이트 university shine. (The Principal¡¯s Office asked me to supply a copy of Postcards on Parchment, as a showpiece or gift for a visitor.)

So what needs to be done? If universities actually desire (and reward with promotion) research in 바카라사이트 humanities, 바카라사이트y need to bring funding into line with costs. US institutions give 바카라사이트ir professors much more research funding. If we are to keep pace with 바카라사이트m on a world stage, 바카라사이트n we need more access to resources. I have expressed my willingness for years to work with development to raise money for 바카라사이트se activities.

Image-holding institutions should rethink 바카라사이트ir purpose. They can never have enough in-house expertise to fully research all of 바카라사이트ir holdings. They should be grateful to scholars who are applying 바카라사이트ir expertise to 바카라사이트ir collections. The least 바카라사이트y can do is to make images available for free. They should also allow researchers to make study photographs and produce high-resolution images for publication at low costs.

Digital publishing is simply 바카라사이트 most efficient and cost-effective way to get ideas out into 바카라사이트 world. We need to fully legitimate digital, online, peer-reviewed publishing and make it 바카라사이트 norm. We need to create a world where young people will publish online, without fearing that it will harm 바카라사이트ir careers.

It sometimes seems to me that academic success is designed for people who are already wealthy, just as first-class seating in airplanes is designed for tall men. Underfunded humanities are an extension of unpaid internships and poorly paid fellowships in museums. Do we really believe that our disciplines are just a decoration and offer viable careers only to those with trust funds?

Kathryn M. Rudy is professor of art history at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews. Her most recent book is?Image, Knife, and Gluepot: Early Assemblage in Manuscript and Print (2019).