What are the goals of the AAA publishing program?

The publishing program aims to advance AAA core goals to: further the professional interests of anthropologists; disseminate anthropological knowledge and its uses to address human problems; promote the entire field of anthropology in all its diversity; and represent the discipline nationally and internationally, in the public and private sectors.

What are the guiding principles of the AAA publishing program?

The guiding principles of the AAA publishing program are to:

• develop and maintain a diverse portfolio, in recognition of the diversity of the discipline;
• serve the needs and interests of AAA membership and sections, and more broadly of those who produce, who access and who reference anthropological knowledge and content; and
• facilitate the adaptation of the publishing program to ongoing changes in publication conditions, promoting both sustainability of the association’s publishing program and broadest possible dissemination of knowledge.

What are the key components of the AAA publishing program?

The AAA is unique among scholarly associations for the range and breadth of its publishing program. The AAA publishes a monthly newspaper (Anthropology News), scholarly journals, books, monographs, a guide to anthropology departments and publications related to its annual conference. Its flagship journal is American Anthropologist; in addition, AAA supports over twenty actively publishing journals and newsletters produced by its constituent sections. The list of publications is available at http://www.aaanet.org/publications/pubs/index.cfm. These are available through AnthroSource.

What is AnthroSource?

AnthroSource is a service that offers AAA members and subscribing libraries full-text anthropological resources, including: a digital searchable database containing the past, present and future AAA publications; more than 500,000 full-text articles from AAA journals, newsletters, bulletins and monographs in a single place; and 24/7 access to scientific research information across the field of anthropology.  For more information, please see http://www.aaanet.org/publications/anthrosource/

What is the structure of the AAA journal and newsletter publishing program?

The journal and newsletter publishing program is complex, involving twenty AAA sections, permanent AAA staff, and the AAA publishing partner, Wiley-Blackwell. Publishing sections are responsible for producing the content and editorial policy and practice of their publications, and work in conjunction with the publishing staff and Wiley-Blackwell to produce and distribute the publications.  However, the AAA Executive Board, in conjunction with the AAA President and Executive Director, is charged with ensuring the overall publishing program goals are met, its fiscal health maintained, and its future viable.

What are the roles and functions of the ACC (Anthropological Communication Committee) and CFPEP (Committee on the Future of Print and Electronic Publishing) in relation to the publishing program?

The AAA Executive Board, in conjunction with the AAA President and Executive Director, is charged with ensuring the overall publishing program goals are met, its fiscal health maintained, and its future viable. The AAA achieves these goals largely through the work of two committees, the ACC (Anthropological Communication Committee) and CFPEP (Committee on the Future of Print and Electronic Publishing). Both act in consultation with the elected Executive Board, AAA sections, AAA membership and AAA staff. ACC is a subcommittee of the member-elected Executive Board responsible for reviewing matters concerning publications and intradisciplinary communications through AAA’s major vehicles, including publications and the AAA Annual Meeting (http://www.aaanet.org/cmtes/csc/index.cfm).  CFPEP is comprised of nine presidentially appointed members responsible for recommending policies to ACC and the Finance Committee with regard to the dissemination of anthropological knowledge, the future development of AAA’s electronic portal, and AAA current and future print and electronic publishing program and related programs and initiatives (http://www.aaanet.org/cmtes/CFPEP.cfm).  In 2012 and 2013, CFPEP is actively exploring options which will help inform decision-making regarding changes to print and electronic publishing.

What steps has the AAA taken to facilitate access to its publications?

While still in the process of examining optimal scenarios for ensuring the broadest possible access to publications and the sustainability of a diverse range of publications, the AAA has already taken the following steps:

• Sliding scale membership:  Access to AAA’s digital, online literature is available to individuals on a fair and reasonable sliding scale annual fee structure that ranges from $30 to $306 (http://www.aaanet.org/membership/membershipcategories.cfm).
• Free Access: Access to AAA’s digital, online literature is available free of charge to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges, and qualifying institutions from less developed countries (http://www.aaanet.org/issues/AAA-Gives-Back.cfm).  In addition, AAA participates in four philanthropic programs to provide free access to our content in under-resourced countries. These programs are administered by agencies with presence on the ground in these areas, such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the International Council for Science.
• “Ungating” back issues of journals: Access to back issues of AAA’s journal American Anthropologist (AA) is available free of charge 35 years and longer after publication. That means that in 2012, all back issues of AA are available free of charge from 1888 to 1977; in 2013, the year 1978 will be “ungated.” Sections are encouraged to follow the same plan. To date, 25 sections have agreed. CFPEP is charged with assessing the success and costs of this arrangement.
• Anthropology News online (www.anthropology-news.org) is open access for two months before content is gated and archived within AnthroSource. Beginning in 2013, Anthropology News online will be open access for four months before the content is gated.
  
• Grey Literature Hub. With funds raised by the AAA Research Development Committee (RDC), AAA endorsed and aided in the establishment of an “Anthropology” category on the online open access Social Science Research Network which is known as the Anthropology and Archaeology Research Network (AARN; http://ssrn.com/update/aarn/index.html) for the purpose of disseminating grey literature, anthropological content that is otherwise not available. You can read more about it on our Find and Share Gray Literature page.
  
• Author Rights and Permissions: In the author agreement for AAA journals, the author reserves the right (among other rights) to post the postprint manuscript draft or uncorrected page proofs of article on free, discipline-specific public servers. Because of these clauses, AAA's author agreement is rated green by SHERPA/RoMEO, a project designed to help facilitate green open access (http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/).
• Subsidizing access to non-AAA journals for anthropologists not affiliated with university libraries at the low annual rate of $24.99 through the Online Research Library.
  

What is the AAA plan for the future of the publishing program? How does open-access (OA) fit into it?

CFPEP is evaluating alternative publishing models that support broad dissemination of knowledge (including but not limited to open access) while taking into consideration discipline- and subdiscipline-specific concerns, the needs of a diverse anthropological constituency as well as AAA’s  commitment to supporting smaller publications, to ensuring a sustainable publishing program and to the financial viability of the association and its sections. CFPEP’s process includes discussions with sections, members, staff and relevant consultants to develop five– and ten–year plans for the future of AAA’s electronic and print publications. It will make recommendations to the ACC through 2012 and 2013.

For background information, see CFPEP annual reports (http://www.aaanet.org/about/Annual_Reports/committee_reports.cfm; see also http://www.aaanet.org/membership/CFPEP-sectionliaisonreport-Apr2008_appendix.pdf; http://www.aaanet.org/membership/ForFurtherConsiderationCFPEPReport122008.pdf; and Waterston in Anthropology News October 2009: 21).

What is the AAA position on U.S. federal legislation that may have an impact on the publishing program?

The AAA is particularly concerned by any proposed legislation that aims to limit dissemination of research, and that may disproportionately protect private over public interests. At the same time, its role is to be vigilant about the specific needs and interests of our publications program, anthropology as a whole, and individual anthropologist-authors.  Acknowledging the Association's commitment to "a publications program that disseminates the most current anthropological research, expertise, and interpretation to its members, the discipline, and the broader society," but also the need for a sustainable publication strategy, and building on the Association's support for a variety of publishing models, the AAA opposes any Congressional legislation which, if it were enacted, would impose a blanket prohibition against open access publishing policies by all federal agencies.

What is AAA's policy on photographs?

AAA does not require written consent of identifiable individuals in photographs published in AAA journals. This policy is based on the assumption that the use of photographs is for publication in scholarly journals and not, for instance, being used for advertising, greeting cards, or other expressly commercial enterprises. However, caution should be used if the photograph involves private conduct of a highly personal or offensive nature or the disclosure of which would prove to be embarrassing to the subject, i.e., photographs of injured patients in a hospital and photographs of children in private settings. A written consent may be appropriate in those situations.

To whom should I address questions regarding the AAA publications program ?

You can contact AAA Director of Publishing Oona Schmid (oschmid@aaanet.org), who will direct you to the right person if she cannot answer your question herself.