The Edwin Mellen Press, sometimes stylised as Mellen Press, is an academic publisher. It was founded in 1972 by theology professor Herbert W. Richardson. It has been involved in a number of notable legal and academic controversies, sometimes being labeled as a vanity press. Most, but not all, of its published works are in English.
History
Following its founding in 1972, the publishing house was initially meant to publish specialized scholarship produced in Richardson's department at the University of St Michael's College, Early publications included bibliographies, translations, and dissertations completed by faculty and doctoral students at the University of Toronto. The house was named after Richardson's grandfather, Edwin Mellen, whom he describes as a lover of books. As was Edwin Mellen University, a private university located on Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands operated by Richardson since 1992.
Under Richardson, the publishing house grew and began publishing works by various scholars outside of the University of Toronto, widening its topics to the broader humanities and social sciences. By 1979 it had moved to new locations in Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Canada. Its office in Lampeter, Wales opened in 1987. By 1990 it was publishing up to 150 titles a year. Following Richardson's professional parting with St Michael's College following a gross misconduct investigation and a dismissal in October of 1994 he began focussing more attention towards his publishing business raising the number works published a year to 350.
Scholarly publishing
The Mellen Press describes its ethos when selecting works to publish as valuing "scholar-for-scholar research more than anything", stating "the sole criterion for publication is that the manuscript must make a contribution to scholarship". Its publications are peer-reviewed. Research libraries constitute its primary customer base.
Its Adèle Mellen Prize is awarded to an author for a book which, in the considered judgment of the press’ peer-reviewers, is deemed to make a "distinguished contribution to scholarship".
Reception
The Edwin Mellen Press has been described by some critics as a vanity press. Contrary to this assertion the publisher stresses it is a "non-subsidy academic publisher" and does not accept payments from authors for purposes of publishing their work. According to Miles it "accepts no author subsidies, but also pays no royalties" and expects authors to provide "error free, camera-ready copy" by themselves. It has been often taken legal action against critics repeating the claim of it being a vanity press. Some critics claim that this has further damaged its reputation.
The publisher's litigiousness began in 1993, when its former employee Robert West contacted the American academic magazine Lingua Franca. He urged the magazine to publish an exposé and described the publishing house's founder, Richardson, as a "rogue professor" operating a "vanity press". Lingua Franca published an article by Warren St John as the cover story of its September/October 1993 issue. The article described the publishing house as a "quasi-vanity press cunningly disguised as an academic publishing house" and, in particular, ridiculed a book it had published by Joseph R. Washington, Jr. In response, the publisher sued West and Lingua Franca for libel. The 1994 case against West was settled by West's letter of regret to Richardson for "the difficulties he had with Lingua Franca magazine and the University of Toronto". In it he stated "I do not believe Herbert Richardson to be a 'rogue professor' nor do I believe that the Edwin Mellen Press was organized to be a vanity operation". However, in 1996, the publisher lost its lawsuit against Lingua Franca on grounds that the article in dispute was "supported by an honest assessment of the facts at hand when the article was published".
In 1998, the press sued Oxford University Press concerning a review in one of its publications (the Journal of Theological Studies) which claimed the Edwin Mellen Press to be a vanity press. In a subsequent issue of the journal, Oxford University Press retracted the offending statements, apologized, and published a new review.