What is the "books received" section in journals? Is it the books that will be reviewed later on, or the ones that were not reviewed? Who can send their books to the "books received" section, and what's the point of it?
1 Answer
It is what it says on the tin: a list of books that the journal has received copies of. The review editor(s) can then pick interesting titles from this list, and send them out for review for a future issue. Space is usually limited, so typically some of the books won't be reviewed in the journal. The journal might also decline publishing some completed reviews. For those cases, the list serves as recognition "of the courtesy of the sender".
As far as I know, usually anyone can send their books to the journal - be it a publisher, an author, or a reader who just happens to have a spare copy. Readers can also notify the journal about a certain book that they would like to see reviewed, or volunteer to review one, whether it has shown up on the list or not. Presumably, if readers of the journal are interested in the book, the journal would be more interested in publishing a review.
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4For some journals, it looks like this section is to encourage readers to volunteer to review one of the listed books. If they do, the journal office will presumably send them the book. See for instance academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/99/3/753/5026380 Jun 10, 2019 at 19:31
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@NateEldredge Good point! I've added it to the answer. Yes, since journals typically rely on volunteer reviewers, that list would be a good way to recruit them. The notices I can remember seeing before have actually been more generic - "if you're interested in reviewing for the journal, please contact..." - but expressing interest in a certain book or topic should still be helpful.– AnyonJun 10, 2019 at 19:48