Letter | Brandeis University Press is fully committed to open debate

Image by Brandeis University

By Sue Berger Ramin, Sylvia Fuks FriedDecember 23, 2020

Read the letter from the professors objecting to Brandeis University Press’s handling of Marc Dollinger’s book here.

Dear Professors Berman, Goldstein, Greenberg, Kelman, Magid, Michels, Moore, Prell and Wenger,

Thank you for your thoughtful letter written in the spirit of guaranteeing academic freedom, which we agree must be an inviolable principle for an academic press. From our perspective, we were still working with Professor Dollinger within the usual process of editing and revision, and at no point was it stated that Brandeis would not publish the preface unless specific terms were omitted or changed.

In fact, the press would still be interested in working with Professor Dollinger to republish the book with a new preface through BUP and we continue to promote his book.

Beyond this, we are happy to report that for the first time in its history BUP as an independent university press has a new academic editorial board, which had its inaugural meeting just two weeks ago. The board has now convened to review the present situation and BUP’s procedures more generally. We will be looking closely at the role of series editors, the peer review process, and the author-editor revision process.

As many of the signatories on the letter would attest, Brandeis University Press has a deep and abiding commitment to publishing with the highest scholarly standards and with integrity.

Signed,

Sue Berger Ramin and Sylvia Fuks Fried, Brandeis University

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