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available books and other items that came through Books+ can currently be accessed at bit.ly/32MdO79.
The business model followed by Books+ is currently under review because the ASA is exploring means of transitioning away from the practice of preprinting and warehousing its inventory of books. Instead, ASA is tran- sitioning toward a print-on-demand model to reduce costs, expedite fulfillment of orders, and ensure perpetual in-print status of all ASA book titles. Apart from these production matters, as fewer expired copyrights of classic books in acoustics have become available in recent years, the ASA has focused more on encouraging the publica- tion of new books in acoustics.
ASA Books
Today, ASA Books functions primarily as the ASA Press Editorial Board, and in this capacity, it manages the ASA Press imprint. ASA Books is partnered with the commer- cialpublisherSpringer.Bytheendof2019,theASAPress imprint appeared on 30 books published by Springer. A listing of these books may be found on Springer’s ASA Press webpage (see bit.ly/2wou42b). Approximately half of these books appeared in the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research (SHAR) series. The next largest tech- nical area carrying the ASA Press imprint prior to 2020 was physical acoustics, with half a dozen books, and at least one book carrying the ASA Press imprint was published in each of the following areas: animal bio- acoustics, architectural acoustics, engineering acoustics, musical acoustics, signal processing in acoustics, and underwater acoustics. Several of these books appeared in the Springer Modern Acoustics and Signal Process- ing (MASP) series. The ASA is working to expand its endorsement of new books to all areas of acoustics by reaching out to ASA technical committees and making them aware of this program.
Publishing with ASA Press
How does one propose a new acoustics or acoustics- related book with the aim of having it carry the ASA Press imprint? The process is straightforward, and it starts with downloading the book proposal form on Springer’s ASA Press webpage. The completed form is submitted to Springer’s representative on the ASA Books Committee. If Springer determines that the book is something they would like to publish, then a two-level approval process is initiated by ASA Books, the first involving review of
the book proposal, and if that is approved, then a second involving review of the completed manuscript.
Once Springer forwards a proposal to ASA Books for review, the decision on whether or not to approve the proposal is made at the following ASA meeting, provided there is adequate lead time to find a qualified reviewer with knowledge of the specific topic and who has time to complete the review prior to the meeting. Sufficient lead time in this regard is normally a few weeks before the upcoming ASA meeting. If there is insufficient time to have the proposal reviewed before the meeting, the decision on the proposal will likely be postponed to the next biannual meeting of the ASA.
Review of the proposal by ASA Books serves only to determine whether the committee might be interested in endorsing the book with the ASA Press imprint. Approval of the proposal signifies that the committee will subsequently review the completed manuscript. Only following review of the completed manuscript does the committee determine whether the book will be approved to carry the ASA Press imprint in addition to the Springer imprint.
Taken into consideration during review of the proposal are mainly the credentials of the author(s) (or editor[s] in the case of collected contributions), relevance of the subject matter to acoustics, and significance of the pro- posed technical content. If ASA Books approves the proposal, then the author(s) works with Springer to agree on a schedule for submission of the final manuscript. In addition, approval of the proposal may be accompanied by general recommendations to the author(s), ranging from the manner in which the proposed material will be presented to possible inclusion of new material. If
ASA Books does not approve the proposal, then the involvement of ASA Books in the project is concluded, and Springer is then free to pursue publication inde- pendently of the ASA. That said, the vast majority of proposals requesting the ASA Press imprint to date have been approved.
Provided the proposal has been approved, then after the completed (or nearly completed) manuscript is received by Springer, it is forwarded to ASA Books. In coordina- tion with Springer, ASA Books then identifies and solicits the services of suitable reviewers. In-depth review of the
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