Q: Should I accept an invitation to publish my academic work as a book?
I received an invitation email from a comapny called NOOR Publishing to publish my thesis free of charge in the form of printed book. The "acquisition editor" states that they are not a conventional publishing house, which is why they are soliciting articles and research from authors directly. They offer simplified and fast publishing process; worldwide sales of your work; no commitments; you and only you remain the copyright holder of your work, etc. The online brochure I received shows that the founder and CEO of this publishing house is Dr Wolfgang P. Muller, the same person who is the founder of Lambert Publishing Company and VDM, which I read about on your site. Many authors are recommedning NOT to deal with them. Can you advise me whether to reply to them or not communicate at all.
There are many such companies these days which are into this new business of publishing academic books. What they mean by a "book" however, is just a pdf of your work, which you yourself can create and circulate online if you wish to. Most of these companies are not reputable. I don't think you stand to benefit in any way through this publication. Even though they claim it will not involve a copyright transfer, if you think of publishing parts of your thesis in the form of a journal article later on, you will not be able to do so if your work is already published. Moreover, since this is not a reputable company, it is best not be associated with them in any way. I would advise you to treat these emails as spam and ignore them.
Recommended reading:
- Should I accept an invitation to publish my journal article as a book?
- Converting a thesis into a journal article
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage