Referees Guidelines for the Stuart Rossiter Trust
NOTES FOR THE GUIDANCE OF REFEREES
The Trust as a Charity must take all reasonable steps to satisfy itself
that the quality and the integrity of the publications which it is supporting
are of the highest standard.
It is the policy of the Trustees of the Charity not to rely entirely
on their own judgment. This means that referees have to be appointed
to take independent and objective views of what the author is trying
to achieve, the technical content and the way that the work is going
to be presented to the reader in terms of clear presentation and understanding.
It is the intention of the Trustees that there should be a general referee
to comment on the aspects of the work just mentioned and a special referee
who will reflect and give guidance on the technical content of what
has been produced by the author involved.
It is the Trustees intention that while retaining control of the appointment
of the referees the general referee should be appointed totally at the
Trustees discretion but with the approval of the author whereas the
Trustees would intend, (by and large) to accept a recommendation from
the author as to which person might be the best person in his or her
field to be the special referee.
In the case of the latter there has to be a degree of acceptance of
criticism by the author and therefore a personal understanding (and
perhaps lack of rivalry) between the author and the special referee
is desirable.
General Referee
If you are asked to be a general referee then would you have regard
to what has been said earlier in this paper and report to the Trustees
on all those factors which you feel, having read the draft of the work,
it would be important for the Trustees to take into account before making
any final decision as to whether the work should be published and in
what form.
A general referee will have regard to all the considerations that he
would apply either to writing a book himself or herself or to what he
or she would wish to gain on reading or on consulting a book or other
work of the type contemplated. Put another way the Trustees would wish
to know what it is that the general referee suggests should be discussed
by the Trustees before allowing the book or other work to proceed to
the next stage.
Special Referee
The Trustees here need a critique of the book or other work proposed.
It may be that things are actually wrong or could be better expressed
by reference to other matters. It may be that alternative views ought
to be expressed in order to give a comparison with the propositions
in the text. It may be that listings could be improved and it may be
that illustrations would help an understanding of the text or in some
cases replace a particular text visually.
It is difficult to say more than this but a general rule of thumb would
be that the special referee ought to be able to make critical remarks
in a way which we will be accepted by the author in order to make sure
that the book or other work will be valued by those who will read it
or will consult it.
The special referee should take care to make sure that the author has
correctly represented the limitation imposed on the subject matter either
because of the lack of historical or other reference material or because
the author is actually operating in a specialised and defined area and
not intending to write a general work.
The special referee should pay attention to the introduction and opening
chapter in this regard. The special referee should also pay special
attention to the way in which the indexing of the book has been carried
through.
Generally
The Trustees take decisions as to the manner of production of the book
or other work intended but either form of referee should not hesitate
to make recommendations or suggestions to the Trustees about the way
in which he or she thinks the work might best be published to achieve
quality standards.
Both forms of referee are encouraged to let the Trustees have their
views on the particular market into which the book or other work contemplated
would be likely to sell.
NEWS
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Gavin Fryer on 'Blindman's Mail'
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THE POSTAL HISTORY OF SPANISH NEW ORLEANS by Yamil H Kouri Jnr Price excluding postage £38.50 THE
POSTAL HISTORY OF THE ARMY OF THE BLACK SEA 1918 -1923
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