Editorial: Taking Books Seriously: A New Initiative

Higher education is a hot topic for publishers, thanks to its growing readership. We estimate that at least a hundred new titles are published in the United States annually, exploring all aspects of higher education. Such increasing resources signal the growing maturity of higher education research and also mark the rising interest in the topic among not only higher education professionals but also policy makers and the general public.

Higher education is a major industry. In the United States alone, it involves 16 million students, more than half a million faculty, and a similar number of administrators, researchers, and policy makers, both on campus and in legislative halls. Higher education affects the lives of people. It is an avenue for social mobility and the source of skills needed for the knowledge economy.

The Review of Higher Education, in cooperation with the ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, is starting a new book review section. Elaine El-Khawas, professor of education policy at George Washington University, past president of ASHE, and director of the ERIC Clearinghouse for Higher Education, will serve as book review editor. Our aim is nothing less than providing the most comprehensive and complete guide to the book-length literature on higher education available anywhere through short (1000-word maximum) reviews of all significant new books on higher education published in the United States. We also plan to expand our coverage to books published in English in other countries.

This review initiative emphasizes, but is not limited to, books that are research based and relevant to our main audience of researchers, scholars, and policy makers. The format of short, to-the-point reviews will permit the reader to gain a basic understanding of each book's content and purpose, while allowing the reviewer to provide a brief analytical perspective.

This format also permits us to publish timely reviews, keeping pace with this exciting field in a dynamic manner. To bring reviews to our readers as quickly as possible, we will post them simultaneously on the Web sites of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education and the Association for the Study of Higher Education as soon as they are available, then print them semi-annually in the Review, which will be expanded to accommodate this section. These reviews replace the longer essay-reviews that have been part of the Review's format for several years.

This initiative is unique in higher education and, we are convinced, will be a significant service to the field. It will chronicle and analyze the key literature in the field, providing both description and analysis in a timely way.

The new book review initiative is housed at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education and is cosponsored by the Review, ASHE, and ERIC. We welcome expressions of interest in reviewing books, and suggestions of titles for review. Books and suggestions should be sent to Elaine El-Khawas at ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 630, Washington, DC 20036; e-mail: elkhawas@eric-he.edu.