UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State faculty member Errol A. Henderson’s publication “Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats and World Politics: Religious Sources of Conflict and Cooperation in the Modern Era” has been published in an Open Access format by the University of Michigan Press, with funding from Penn State University Libraries through the TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem) initiative. Co-authored by Ze’ev Maoz, professor of political science at the University of California, Davis, the publication was sponsored by TOME funds from both universities.
According to the publisher’s website, the book “offers a comprehensive evaluation of the role of religion in international relations,” investigating the relationships between religion and various other topics, including cooperation, conflict and quality of life. It is available both in print and as an e-book.
Henderson, an associate professor of political science, teaches international relations at the University Park campus. This is his second publication, and the fifth at Penn State overall, to be supported by the TOME initiative. Henderson’s first TOME publication, “The Revolution Will Not Be Theorized: Cultural Revolution in the Black Power Era,” was published in August 2019 by SUNY Press.
Henderson expressed appreciation for the TOME initiative, noting that making books available online for free “alleviates costs and helps make higher education more accessible.”
“The opportunity to work with the TOME program to make my new book openly available to all readers has been complemented by working with the excellent staff at University of Michigan Press and the Penn State University Libraries Research Informatics and Publishing department,” he said. “I am particularly grateful to the graduate and undergraduate students in Penn State’s Departments of Political Science and Sociology who provided invaluable research assistance — especially Tatiana Lukoianova, Jaime Harris and Tamara Tur — as well as my colleague Roger Finke of the Association of Religion Data Archives project, and my fellow members of the Correlates of War project. I am honored to have our work as a fully OA publication and to further extend the excellent academic reputation of international relations study at Penn State.”
A collaboration among the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of University Presses (AUP), the TOME initiative was designed to advance the wide dissemination of scholarship by humanities and humanistic social sciences faculty members through Open Access editions of peer-reviewed and professionally edited monographs.
Penn State was among the first of a growing number of universities that have pledged support for TOME. The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost committed $45,000 to be divided among up to three subvention grants each fiscal year for five years (2018–23).
“We’re proud to provide support for Open Access versions of Penn State faculty-authored monographs through the TOME initiative,” said Ally Laird, open publishing program coordinator for the University Libraries and a contact for TOME at Penn State. “This initiative helps to increase the dissemination and accessibility of monographs by supporting the publication of Open Access versions. To date, we have provided support for five monographs by Penn State faculty, and we look forward to supporting many more between now and 2023.”
All five Penn State-authored, TOME-funded publications are available to read and download in the TOME collection in ScholarSphere, Penn State’s institutional repository. The Open Access edition of “Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats and World Politics” is also freely available on selected e-book platforms, including MUSE Open.
Anyone interested in having their monograph publication supported by Penn State’s TOME initiative should read the support criteria on the University Libraries’ TOME webpage. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and should be submitted by the publisher.
For more information, visit the University Libraries’ website or contact Ally Laird or Cynthia Hudson Vitale.