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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Are Reprints a Sin of Self-Promotion?
Throughout the summer, I have been considering the value of sending reprints to others whose scholarly interests align with my own. To be honest, I don't send out many reprints at all--perhaps 20 or 25. These sometimes generate nice e-mails, but rarely anything more. I do, however, popularize my work in other ways, such as by soliciting feedback on drafts from other senior and junior scholars, and by e-mailing those who write in my area to provide them with an article abstract and links to the full version. And of course there is SSRN. After talking to several other junior faculty from other schools, I don't believe that my reprint practices--or perhaps lack thereof?--are that unusual. It just seems that that is the logical trend in a post-paper world. As I enter my third year, however, I have wondered about the benefits of reprints in terms of self-promotion...
Is it best to be diligent in sending out reprints? If so, how many? Is the similar practice of sending out e-mails with abstracts and links a satisfactory replacement for reprints? After all, it is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Or are such e-mails instead supplemental, or even unnecessary? Assuming one presents at conferences and is otherwise careful to publicize current scholarship, are there additional advantages to sending out reprints in terms of the tenure process? And what about interdisciplinary articles--these seem to complicate the question of what constitutes "best reprint practices." Should reprints of interdisciplinary articles be sent out only to other legal scholars, or also to faculty in other relevant departments? Are reprints more valuable when the piece is published in another discipline's journal that most legal scholars won't read (I have enough trouble just keeping up to date on relevant scholarship posted in general law reviews!)?
Any thoughts?
Posted by Jody Madeira on August 25, 2009 at 05:39 PM | Permalink
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Comments
I'm not a scholar, but recently received a reprint of an article that cited my law journal note from 15 years ago. It made my day.
Posted by: arthur | Aug 26, 2009 10:30:00 AM
Kevin is spot-on. I would add one more category: Major casebook authors in the area. Also, yes, if the paper is inter-disciplinary, send it to people in those non-legal fields.
Posted by: Howard Wasserman | Aug 26, 2009 7:28:47 AM
I think it depends on how tailored the mailing is. I greatly value receiving reprints that are directly related to the kind of work that I do (comparative criminal law and international criminal law); I imagine I find most such articles on my own, but things always slip through the cracks. It's the essays on unrelated topics that irritate me and make me mourn for the trees that gave their lives so I can pitch something into the trash.
In terms of my own reprint practice, I send reprints to three categories of people: (1) my close friends and colleagues; (2) scholars whom I cite a number of times in the article; (3) scholars I don't necessarily cite but who have greatly influenced my thought on a subject. I think category two is particularly worthwhile -- I'm not completely above googling myself, but I don't obsessively track down every citation to my work. So I always appreciate receiving a reprint with a note that says, "hey, check out footnote 235." I imagine I'm not alone in that.
Posted by: Kevin Jon Heller | Aug 25, 2009 11:35:59 PM
I really appreciate it when someone thinks of me enough to send me a reprint. Perhaps if I were Mark Lemley or Larry Lessig and everyone and their uncle was sending me reprints all the time I'd grow tired of and annoyed by it, but at present I always note the gesture (though don't always have enough time to read the articles). I think it's less about self-promotion than keeping in touch with colleagues. Sure, you'd like them to read your article, but more than anything else it's just a way of saying hello (and possibly introducing yourself to those you don't know or know well).
Posted by: Dave | Aug 25, 2009 10:04:54 PM
I agree with Howard. If you are trying to reach out to non-academic audiences (judges & lawyers) the point is even stronger.
Posted by: dave hoffman | Aug 25, 2009 9:34:09 PM
At SEALS earlier this month, there was a panel on publicizing your work; one of the panelists, Ron Krotozynski (Paul's colleague at Alabama) made a convincing case that reprints remain the coin of the realm, even in an SSRN world. The old methods still work. His argument was that putting the reprint in hand had more of an effect than an email with a URL, which requires a few additional steps just to see the paper. He also thought people appreciated being thought of enough to warrant a reprint in hand.
Posted by: Howard Wasserman | Aug 25, 2009 8:18:23 PM
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