Guest Editorial—How Can University Presses Publish Canadian Medical History?

In the course of writing an essay reviewing three books on Canadian medical history for this journal (see CBMH, 6 [1989]: 179–83), I noticed something odd. In each book the authors described historical aspects of their own medical school. Each alma mater endorsed its home town book. And each of the three alma maters had a university press. Yet none of the books had been published by its home press. Here is a striking illustration of the current weakness of university presses and one reason why few worthwhile books on Canadian medical history are published. How can the situation be changed to allow at least some university presses to fulfill an obligation to publish scholarly work—even of novice writers—without having to make a profit on each book? How can writers of Canadian medical history be helped to get their works into print? For in this early stage of scholarship in our embryonic subject, authors—and Canadian medical history itself—need all the help imaginable to enrich and publicize the field. After proposing that more books need to be produced, I shall suggest ways writers could be encouraged to get them published and to have the final product improved.