The Press publishes a small list, reviews it independently, and makes every title open on the day of publication. This page sets out what publication with us involves.
Readership
Open-access books are downloaded around seven times more often than closed books in their first year, attract roughly 50 per cent more citations over four years, and are mentioned online about ten times as often. Springer Nature’s open titles averaged just under 30,000 chapter downloads in year one.
Springer Nature, The OA effect (2017), comparing 216 open-access books with 17,124 non-open-access books for downloads, and 184 with 14,357 for citations and mentions.
An open edition is available to any reader, anywhere, on the day of publication.
Peer Review and the Advisory Board
Every book passes a minimum of two independent expert reviews at proposal stage, a formal author response, further rounds of review where the revisions justify them, and a second review of the finished manuscript before acceptance. The reviewed proposal then goes to our Advisory Board, whose members assess it across disciplines and recommend publication or decline it.
Independent review and the Advisory Board are separate stages.
Editorial Attention
We publish a small number of books a year. The same editor reads the whole manuscript, works with the author on its structure, and remains the author’s contact from proposal to publication.
Copyright
Copyright in the work stays with the author. You grant the Press an exclusive licence to publish for the term of copyright, and the book is published under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You may quote and reuse your own material in teaching and in later scholarly work, with acknowledgement of the book.
Funder Compliance
Publication with the Press meets the open-access conditions that apply to books. In the United States and Canada the public-access policies of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Tri-Agency councils reach journal articles and do not extend to monographs or edited volumes. Where a funder does set conditions on long-form work, as UKRI, Wellcome, Horizon Europe and the ERC do, the version of record is published openly on the day of publication with no embargo, the deposits the award requires are made, and where the terms require a licence other than the default the book is published under that licence. Compliance with the terms of an award is the responsibility of the grant holder. The Press confirms the position for a specific award in writing before an author signs.
Licensing and Compliance Detail
Discoverability
Every title is registered with Crossref and carries DOIs at both book and chapter level, with ORCID iDs, funder and grant identifiers and institutional affiliations attached. Books are deposited in the Directory of Open Access Books and OAPEN, supplied to library discovery services with full MARC records, indexed by Google Scholar and Google Books, and submitted to the relevant citation indexes. Chapter-level metadata makes each chapter independently discoverable.
Production
Every book is substantively copy-edited, professionally typeset, proofread, and indexed by a professional indexer. It is published in PDF, EPUB and HTML, built to accessibility standards, and a print edition, in hardcover or paperback, is available to order.
Production, Formats and Schedules
Preservation
Your book is archived with CLOCKSS and Portico, deposited with the Directory of Open Access Books and OAPEN, and lodged for legal deposit. DOIs are permanent.
Open Access Charges
Accepted books carry a single open-access charge, stated in the contract offer. It covers everything through to publication and permanent hosting: copy-editing, typesetting, indexing, all formats, metadata, deposit and preservation. There is no charge for submission or for peer review. The figure, the waiver and discount policy, and the usual sources of funding are set out under funding.
Funding is typically departmental, grant-driven, or institutional; several major funders operate dedicated funds for open-access books. Editorial decisions are taken with no knowledge of an author’s funding.
What We Ask of Authors
- We decline most of what is proposed to us, and we decline it after review rather than before. Prospective authors should read what we publish before proposing.
- A thesis submitted for a doctorate is not yet a book. Revision means rewriting for readers rather than examiners: the literature review cut back to what the argument requires, the methodology chapter and the referencing reduced, and an introduction that states the argument rather than defending the research design.
- We expect you to engage seriously with reviewers, including where they are wrong, and to meet the schedule you agree with us.