Monograph

{{short description|Specialist work of writing on a single subject or an aspect of a subject}}

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A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published as a book, but it may be an artwork, audiovisual work, or exhibition made up of visual artworks. In library cataloguing, the word has a specific and broader meaning, while in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration uses the term to mean a set of published standards.

Written works

=Academic works=

The English term monograph is derived from modern Latin {{Lang|la|monographia}}, which has its root in Greek.{{Citation | title = The explanation of 'monograph' and 'monogram' in Oxford Advanced Leaners' Dictionary (8th Ed.) }} In the English word, mono- means {{Gloss|single}} and -graph means {{Gloss|something written}}.{{cite web |title=The explanation of "monograph" in Online Etymology Dictionary |url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=monograph |access-date=5 February 2021}}

Unlike a textbook, which surveys the state of knowledge in a field, the main purpose of a monograph is to present primary research and original scholarship. This research is presented at length, distinguishing a monograph from an article. For these reasons, publication of a monograph is commonly regarded as vital for career progression in many academic disciplines. Intended for other researchers and bought primarily by libraries, monographs are generally published as individual volumes in a short print run.{{cite journal|doi=10.1108/00012530910932294|title=The role and future of the monograph in arts and humanities research|journal=ASLIB Proceedings|volume=61|pages=67–82|year=2009|last1=Williams|first1=Peter|last2=Stevenson|first2=Iain|last3=Nicholas|first3=David|last4=Watkinson|first4=Anthony|last5=Rowlands|first5=Ian}} In Britain and the U.S., what differentiates a scholarly monograph from an academic trade title varies by publisher, though generally it is the assumption that the readership has not only specialised or sophisticated knowledge but also professional interest in the subject of the work.{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=John B.|title=Books in the Digital Age: The Transformation of Academic and Higher Education Publishing in Britain and the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/booksindigitalag00thom|url-access=limited|publisher=Polity Press|via=Internet Archive|location=Cambridge|year=2005|isbn=978-0745634784|pages=84–85}}

A written monograph is usually a specialist book on one topic, although the term is sometimes used loosely, with its meaning being broadened to include any works which are not reference works and which may be written by one or more authors, or an edited collection.{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Robert|last2=Pentz|first2=Ed|last3=Borthwick|first3=Ian|date=2012|title=Academic and Professional Publishing|publisher=Elsevier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IpRlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA115|isbn=978-1-78063-309-1|quote='[M]onograph' has become a generic term for a book that is not of a reference type, is of primary material and which may be multi-authored, single-authored, or an edited collection.}}

This broadened use of the term, however, does not affect the essential difference in academic publishing and assessment between an authored academic book (i.e., a traditional academic monograph) and an edited volume (i.e., a non-authored book). In the case of an academic monograph, it is a "a focused work of scholarship pitched at a relatively high level of intellectual sophistication",{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=John B. |title=Books in the Digital Age |publisher=Polity |year=2005 |isbn=0 7456 3477 X |location=Cambridge (UK) |pages=38, 84–85}} whose author (or authors) has carried out the research and written the text of the book.{{Cite web |date=17 August 2022 |title=Basics of writing and publishing a Monograph |url=https://www.cwauthors.com/article/basics-of-writing-and-publishing-a-monograph?utm_source=chatgpt.com}}{{Cite web |date=15 November 2023 |title=UK Research and Innovation open access policy: Annex 1: additional information on policy definitions and scope |url=https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-open-access-policy/uk-research-and-innovation-open-access-policy/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#section-annex-1:-additional-information-on-policy-definitions-and-scope |website=UK Research and Innovation}} By contrast, the editor of an edited volume owns the copyright to the concept, structure and organization of the book, as well as any text he or she has authored, while the authors of the individual chapters retain the copyright to the text and content of the chapters they authored.{{Cite web |last=Brennan |first=Emma |date=17 February 2016 |title=Framing and Proposing an Edited Volume for Publication |url=https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2016/02/17/framing-and-proposing-an-edited-volume-for-publication/ |website=Manchester University Press}}{{Cite web |last=Van Dien |first=Dianne |date=2 April 2024 |title=Writing the Edited Volume |url=https://uofupress.com/writing-the-edited-volume/ |website=The University of Utah Press}}{{Cite book |last=Webster |first=Peter |title=The Edited Collection: Pasts, Present and Futures |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9781108683647 |location=Cambridge}}{{Cite web |date=27 April 2025 |title=Edited Volumes |url=https://www.cambridge.org/authorhub/application/files/7917/3945/1027/5143_Edited_Volumes.pdf |website=Cambridge University Press}}{{Cite web |date=15 November 2023 |title=UK Research and Innovation open access policy: Annex 1: additional information on policy definitions and scope |url=https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-open-access-policy/uk-research-and-innovation-open-access-policy/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#section-annex-1:-additional-information-on-policy-definitions-and-scope |website=UKRI.org}}

=Library definition=

In library cataloguing, monograph has a broader meaning: a non-serial publication complete in one volume (book) or a definite number of books.{{cite book |url=https://www.csemanual.org/book/ed9/pt4/ch28/asec01.html |title=The CSE Manual |date=2024 |isbn=9780226683942 |editor-last=Swendsrud |editor-first=Kristen |edition=9th |chapter=Books and Other Monographs: Definitions |publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=June 26, 2024 |url-access=limited}} Thus it differs from a serial or periodical publication such as a magazine, academic journal, or newspaper.{{cite book|last=Harrod|first=Leonard Montague|editor-last=Prytherch|editor-first=Raymond John|title=Harrod's librarians' glossary and reference book: a directory of over 10,200 terms, organizations, projects and acronyms in the areas of information management, library science, publishing and archive management|edition=10th|publisher=Ashgate|year=2005|location=Aldershot, Hampshire, England; Burlington, VT|page=462|via=Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science|quote=For the purpose of library cataloging, any nonserial publication, complete in one volume or intended to be completed in a finite number of parts issued at regular or irregular intervals, containing a single work or collection of works. Monographs are sometimes published in monographic series and subseries. Compare with book.|url=https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_m.aspx#monograph|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903221212/https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_m.aspx|archive-date=2020-09-03}} In this context only, books such as novels are considered monographs.__FORCETOC__

Types of monographs

= Biology =

In biological taxonomy, a monograph is a comprehensive treatment of a taxon in written form. Monographs typically review all known species within a group, add any newly discovered species, and collect and synthesize available information on the ecological associations, geographic distributions, and morphological variations within the group.

The first-ever monograph of a plant taxon was Robert Morison's 1672 {{Lang|la|Plantarum Umbelliferarum Distributio Nova}}, a treatment of the Apiaceae.{{Cite book|last=Vines|first=Sydney Howard|author-link=Sydney Howard Vines|editor-last=Oliver|editor-first=Francis Wall|editor-link=Francis Wall Oliver|title=Makers of British Botany|page=22|chapter=Robert Morison (1620–1683) and John Ray (1627–1705)|publisher=Cambridge University Press|via=Wikisource|year=1913|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Makers_of_British_botany|chapter-url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Makers_of_British_botany/Robert_Morison_1620%E2%80%941683_and_John_Ray_1627%E2%80%941705}}

= Art =

Book publishers use the term "artist monograph" or "art monograph" to indicate books dealing with a single artist, as opposed to broader surveys of art subjects.{{cite web |title=Artist Monographs Archives |website=Thames & Hudson Australia & New Zealand |url=https://thamesandhudson.com.au/product-category/art/artist-monographs/ |access-date=5 November 2024}}{{cite web |title=Artist monographs |website=MCA Store Museum of Contemporary Art |date=29 May 2024 |url=https://store.mca.com.au/collections/artists-monographs?srsltid=AfmBOoqhDcLsWYPRdsXQk71OLWd8TcYzFf2GzO9jVAJZdoXfMiM298fs |access-date=5 November 2024}}{{cite web |last=Nigro |first=Perry |title=Research Guides: *Art History: Art Monographs |website=Research Guides at Northwestern University |date=6 July 2017 |url=https://libguides.northwestern.edu/c.php?g=694857&p=4925752 |access-date=5 November 2024}}

=Film and multimedia=

The term monograph is also used for audiovisual or film documentary-type representations of a subject,{{cite web |title=Monograph: the new film format for firms |website=ISPLORA |url=https://www.isplora.com/us/News/Projects/monograph-the-new-film-format-for-firms |access-date=5 November 2024}} often creatively expressed.{{cite web |title=Cinema – Monographs |website=Les presses du réel |url=https://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/editeur_collection.php?id=157&menu=0 |access-date=5 November 2024}} The term "monographic film" has also been used for short fiction or animated films.{{cite web |title=Animation |website=Monographic Films |date=20 May 2015 |url=https://monographicfilms.wordpress.com/animation/ |language=es |access-date=5 November 2024}}

Video or film essays on a single topic are also referred to as monographs.{{cite web |title=Monographs 2023 |website=Asian Film Archive |date=26 October 2023 |url=https://asianfilmarchive.org/event-calendar/monographs-2023/ |access-date=5 November 2024}}{{cite web |title=Monograph: Paul Rogers| website=PBS Short Film Festival |date=15 July 2024 |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/monograph-paul-rogers-oazhbf/ |access-date=5 November 2024}}{{cite web |title=Monograph: Lo Harris |website=WETA |date=2 October 2020 |url=https://weta.org/watch/shows/pbs-short-film-festival/monograph-lo-harris |access-date=5 November 2024}}

IndyVinyl, by Scottish film academic Ian Garwood, is a monographic research project focused on "vinyl records in American independent cinema between 1987 and 2018". It includes an 8,000-word peer-reviewed academic book chapter; video compilations; "critical montages"; and a series of social media posts, all curated on a website.{{cite web |title=From 'video essay' to 'video monograph'?: Indy Vinyl as academic book |website=NECSUS |date=15 June 2020 |url=https://necsus-ejms.org/from-video-essay-to-video-monograph-indy-vinyl-as-academic-book/ |access-date=5 November 2024}} Garwood has written that his project is "an attempt to produce a research output equivalent to an academic monograph, but incorporating video-based forms of criticism that have been popularised through online film culture".{{cite web |title=Indy Vinyl – Records in American Independent Cinema: 1987 to 2018 |website=Indy Vinyl – Records in American Independent Cinema |url=https://indyvinyl.gla.ac.uk/ |access-date=5 November 2024}}

FDA usage

In the context of Food and Drug Administration regulation, monographs represent published standards by which the use of one or more substances is automatically authorized. For example, the following is an excerpt from the Federal Register: "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a final rule in the form of a final monograph establishing conditions under which over-the-counter (OTC) sunscreen drug products are generally recognized as safe and effective and not misbranded as part of FDA's ongoing review of OTC drug products."{{citation|url=https://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/052199b.txt|work=Federal Register|date=May 21, 1999|volume=64|number=98|series=Rules and Regulations|pages=27666–27693|title=DOCID:fr21my99-6|format=TXT|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201005705/http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/98fr/052199b.txt|archive-date=2017-02-01}} Such usage has given rise to the use of the word monograph as a verb, as in "this substance has been monographed by the FDA".