ABSTRACT
University Microfilms, the company that microfilms and sells to scholars copies of doctoral theses, recently announced that, beginning last year, they began paying royalties to authors of dissertations. If sales of a dissertation amount to $100 or more in a calendar year, the company says it will pay a royalty of 10% to the author, based on total sales for the year. Most dissertations sell at best only a few. copies each, but with this incentive to turn out a marketable commodity, we soon may be seeing such come-on thesis titles as: 'Everything You Wanted to Know About Lactobacillus Acidophilus but Were Afraid to Ask'; 'Bill & Dottie & Sam & Sadie: Wordsworth and His Circle'; 'The Real Watergate: Designs for a High-pressure Check Valve'; 'Leaping Louis; or Capet's Last Caper (Eh, Main tenon?)'; etc.
