The Continuing Cautionary Tale of Creative Writing ETDs

Abstract

Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) often spark debate regarding restrictions on access and students’ opportunities for later publication. Most other studies have found publishers are in fact willing to work with submissions based on open access ETDs, but these studies have been conducted broadly on scholarly journals across a variety of disciplines rather than focusing specifically on creative writing. Librarians from East Carolina University identified a group of creative writing publishers and surveyed them to determine their attitudes towards manuscript submissions from ETDs, embargoes, and restrictions on access. Survey respondents by and large view open access ETDs as prior publications, although many were still willing to work with authors on an individual basis. The authors discuss the continued importance of offering creative writers options for restricted access and/or embargoes while publishers and creative writers work out the place of ETDs in the publishing chain.