By Kelly Canright
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Faculty members who wish to publish can receive monetary help through the Provost's Author Support Fund.
Martha Gilliland, the vice provost for academic affairs, said that faculty members who have written manuscripts for non-personal-profit purposes are eligible to receive funding from the Provost's Author Support Fund.
Publishing houses often require writers to cover some of the costs when a manuscript is being produced as a book.
"Although the sums of money are not great, this fund does assist faculty in the publication of their scholarly work," Provost Paul Sypherd said. "If the funds did not exist, they would have to pay out of their own pocketbooks which would be an unusual situation."
"The money is allocated out of the Provost's discretionary funds," Gilliland said. "Four years ago, we had $10,000, but when the entire university went through budget cuts, the funding decreased to $5,000."
The publishing houses have different rates for different types of books. An arts book with illustrations could require thousands of dollars, but that is unusual, Gilliland said. "We tend to grant funds in the few hundred dollar range."
UA faculty members whose manuscripts have undergone a national review process are eligible, Gilliland said.
Manuscripts are sent out to experts for feedback during the review process.
"Each author will make their case. A book that is going to have a big market and won't have high costs will be viewed favorably," Gilliland said.
The manuscripts will be reviewed by a committee comprised of faculty from different colleges, Gilliland said. This is to recognize that there are different norms in different colleges.
English professor Gerald Monsman, who participated on the committee last year, said, "The applications will be judged on a number of things. Certainly, it would be the value of research to the intellectual community and other people who would be concerned with the topics of research."
Applications that have not been reviewed nationally or do not benefit the institution will be given lower priority, Gilliland said.
Those applications that have not yet been accepted for publication will be excluded entirely from consideration, she said.
"Every application is judged on its own terms," Monsman said. "The depth. The insight. The vision of the scholarship and how valuable that is to the intellectual community is what we base our judgment upon."
"There was a fairly high correlation between the number of people who applied for funding and those who were awarded. However, we didn't always fund for the full amount requested," Monsman said.
The ad hoc review committee is being formed and will review proposals and recommend awards later in the year, Gilliland said.
"I think this is an important means of assisting our faculty in publishing their scholarship," Sypherd said.