A Digital-First Open Access Publisher

The University of Westminster Press provides its authors with a high-quality open access publication route for journals and books. Where possible, we will also publish accompanying data. Our aim is to achieve the widest and most cost-effective possible dissemination of research via a transparent multi-format medium. Open access is central to what we do: it ensures that the potential audience is greatly expanded, helping to increase the impact of research and encourage the development of further research and collaboration. Via the Fulcrum and Janeway platforms, linking to a range of online retailers across the world, we also offer readers the option of purchasing our books in print at very accessible prices, usually in paperback.

Subject Coverage and Submissions

We publish in many subjects within social sciences and humanities, media arts and design, business, science and technology and architecture/the built environment. Our list will increasingly align with the four key research themes of the university: Arts, Communication and Culture; Diversity and Inclusion; Health Innovation and Wellbeing; and Sustainable Cities and the Urban Environment. Interdisciplinary submissions are particularly welcome.

Please first consult our submission guidelines for books and journals, then contact the Press Manager with your book or journal proposal. He will be in touch shortly afterwards concerning the review process.

Peer Review and Creative Commons

Peer review is undertaken for all UWP publications. They are considered by expert advisers, our academic editorial board and our staff. Our editors, our board and our publications follow the recommended guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

UWP content is published within the framework of Creative Commons Licenses, which guarantees that copyright remains with authors and editors. Full attribution is required under the terms of this license to accompany all reuse and dissemination. The standard license UWP uses for our journals is CC-BY, (though our book titles are published CC-BY-NC-ND) which ensures maximum distribution and minimum restrictions for reuse within reasonable limits, whilst guaranteeing that the author(s) and the source of the content are always acknowledged and book authors are consulted about translations and external rights reuse.

How We Publish: Books

Digital

All of our book publications are available free of charge to anyone, anywhere in the world. UWP books are produced for reading via the following formats:

• Online (via browser)
• ePUB
• Kindle
• PDF
• HTML (limited selection only from Project Muse)

In addition to our website, all UWP published and distributed book titles are now available via JSTOR and OAPEN.

Metadata

OAPEN makes available metadata for cataloguing of all our published UWP book titles via ONIX XML (3.0), as MARC records and in other formats, shortly after publication.

Print

All of our books are available to order in print – almost always in paperback format. Print copies of UWP books can be ordered directly by readers from most online retailers internationally and the Liverpool University Press.

Book ordering information for institutional, trade, and wholesale customers

John Wiley & Sons Ltd
European Distribution Centre
New Era Estate, Oldlands Way
Bognor Regis
West Sussex
PO22 9NQ, UK
To order by phone: +44 (0) 1243 843291
To order by email: liverpool.csd@wiley.com
Queries: h.barton5@liverpool.ac.uk

The Publishing Process

Books

UWP currently offers funding for a limited number of books. For full details on a specific proposal contact the Press Manager. If internal (University) funding is not available, we seek external funding from a variety of sources in order to ensure that we can make our books (and journals) available to a global audience, free of charge. For further information and advice contact the Press Manager.

From Proposal to Contract

Book proposals should be written in accordance with our submission guidelines. Completed typescripts may also be submitted for consideration, but would still need to be accompanied by a formal proposal document. If a submission looks as though it could be a good fit for our list (and can be funded) then UWP will send the proposal (and script if available at this stage) to relevant academic advisers for peer review. Peer reviews and author responses to these form the basis for a recommendation to accept (under a conditional contract), reject or request a revision of the proposed project. Final acceptance of a project for publication will always be conditional upon the decision of our Editorial Board, based on full peer review of a completed script.

Journals

If you are looking to start a journal, or have an existing journal that you are considering moving to open access then please get in touch by contacting the Press Manager. The publishing process for each journal may vary according to the needs of the editor and relevant discipline, but we are happy to discuss a range of options with prospective editors. Please see our Journal Submission Guidelines for more details.

All of our journals will appear in an open access environment for reading online, via PDFs or the ePub format on a range of devices via the Janeway Publishing Platform. UWP provides a stable online location for the journal and takes on production, design work and indexing in many locations for easy discovery and citation.

Every journal also has the backing of UWP staff and that of Michigan Publishing’s dedicated platform and team so that there is always a source of support and advice for any journal’s editors.