Michigan Publishing

Advancing scholarship at U-M and beyond

Michigan Publishing publishes scholarly and educational materials in a range of formats for wide distribution and permanent preservation. We support the broadest possible access to scholarship by promoting:

• faculty public engagement and expert connections;
• diversity, equity, and inclusion through the selection and distribution of content; and
• academic innovation by publishing work that leverages digital technology.

Our Mission

Michigan Publishing combines the strengths of a highly-regarded university press with the innovative, service-oriented approach of a university library renowned as a leader in digital initiatives and technologies

For many decades, publishing at the University of Michigan grew out of diverse and dispersed communities. As early as 1930, the Press was founded as a division of the University Library, and nearly 70 years later in 2000, the Library created the Scholarly Publishing Office (SPO) to serve the needs of authors and readers. Other activities related to publishing followed, including Deep Blue in 2006. In 2009, oversight of the University of Michigan Press moved back to the Library. Not long after, all publishing activities were unified under a single brand name, MPublishing. Michigan Publishing is now the hub of publishing activities undertaken by the University of Michigan Library.

Today, Michigan Publishing brings together three entities to serve the changing needs of scholars: University of Michigan Press, Michigan Publishing Services, and Deep Blue Repository and Research Data Services. Together, they engage with a spectrum of publishing needs across the life-cycle of scholarly communication and provide guidance and assistance to the University community.

We value what we do and the communities behind it.

University of Michigan Press publishes award-winning books that advance humanities and social science fields, as well as English language teaching and regional resources.

Michigan Publishing Services assists the U-M community of faculty, staff, and students in achieving their publishing ambitions.

Deep Blue Repository and Research Data Services provides a platform for stable, citable, measurable presentation of research outputs and consultation services for scholars.

Current focus areas.

As part of the University of Michigan Library, we share its Mission and Values. We co-create and share common Strategic Directions and Objectives. As a publisher, representing the University to the world, we are pursuing three particular focus areas set out by the President of the University of Michigan:

• faculty public engagement, expert connections, and trust in evidence;
• diversity, equity, and inclusion in the selection and distribution of content;
• academic innovation by publishing work that leverages digital technology.

Interested in working on a project with our team?

We're here to support the publishing aspirations of faculty, researchers, students, and staff across the U-M campus and beyond. We invite you to work with us or reach out with your questions or information about your project.

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University of Michigan Press OA books

Michigan Publishing advances the mission of the University of Michigan by promoting broad access to trusted scholarship. University of Michigan Press is our flagship imprint. Michigan Publishing advances the mission of the University of Michigan by promoting broad access to trusted scholarship. University of Michigan Press is our flagship imprint.

Open Access

At the University of Michigan Press, open access (OA) is one of many ways that we strive to deliver the best scholarship to the broadest possible audience. We work with every author to consider whether and how OA might raise a book’s profile, help it to reach the right audience, fulfill the author’s goals, or comply with the requirements of a funder or institution.

While open access isn’t appropriate for every book, it yields benefits to authors, sponsoring institutions, and readers. OA extends the reach of scholarly works, promotes public engagement, and facilitates digital innovation. This page is meant to help stakeholders understand open access at the University of Michigan Press.

While OA has become an established approach within journal publishing, OA for academic books is an evolving field and the paths to sustainability are still being established. As part of the publishing division of the University of Michigan Library, University of Michigan Press has been publishing and studying OA books for over a decade and our research, often conducted in partnership with other institutions, seeks to engage with practical challenges such as contract terms, discoverability, and sustainability so that OA works for the benefit of all users: authors, researchers, students, and readers around the world.

For Authors:

What does it mean for my University of Michigan Press book to be open access?

A University of Michigan Press open access book will be, at minimum, published openly on our platform in HTML for reading on the web, usually under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license. In most cases, a complete PDF and/or EPUB of the book may also be made available for downloading, reading offline, or printing. When the form of the content allows, we will sell print copies of the book as well. We’re happy to accommodate specific funder mandates.

Is open access appropriate for my book?

Your editor will always be glad to discuss whether open access makes sense for your book. You can expect such a conversation to introduce questions like these:

• Do you have a mandate from your funder, home institution, government, etc., to make the book OA and, if so, what are the specific requirements? (Example: Your research was funded by a federal grant that requires the results to be published under a CC BY license.)
   
• Does the content of your book suggest open access distribution for ethical reasons? Is there a case to be made that the book must or should be freely available to populations that otherwise might not be able to obtain it? (Example: The subjects of your fieldwork in urban schools should be able to access your work for free.)
   
• Does the primary intended audience for your book include those who are unlikely to be able to access the book through academic libraries? (Example: Your study of mental health in teenagers will be most useful for practicing social workers and guidance counselors, who are unlikely to have access to the book through a research library.)
   
• Do you seek to include digital affordances in your published work that would function best if the work was made OA? (Example: You seek to solicit public comments on your work or expose supporting data for reuse by other researchers.)
   
• In general, what are your expectations and goals for this book? What are you hoping to achieve with an open access version?
   

It is best to discuss whether or not the book will have an open access version with your editor as early as possible, as planning ahead for open access distribution makes the production process smoother for all involved. In some cases, a monograph may be selected after publication for inclusion in a program like Knowledge Unlatched, that will allow for open access distribution of the book. (For more information about what it means if your book is selected for inclusion in Knowledge Unlatched, see the KU FAQ for Authors.) But most OA books published by the University of Michigan Press are opened up at the point of publication, with participation of the author and acquiring editor.

Open Access can be achieved in a variety of ways, using different business models, distribution methods, and licensing schemes. The University of Michigan Press can accommodate a number of strategic approaches to open access, described in more detail below.

What are the OA options for UM Press authors?

• Platinum open access (or, publisher open access at no cost to the author) is available by way of our participation in third-party programs and initiatives that provide financial support to presses to offset the cost of producing open access monographs. Knowledge Unlatched, Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME), and the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot are examples of a major Platinum OA programs.
   
• Gold open access (or publisher open access) occurs when the press and the author decide together to make the book open access immediately upon publication, and can involve a subsidy, subvention, or funding from a grant agency, home institution, or other source.
   
• Green open access (or author self-archiving) is an option for all authors publishing with the University of Michigan Press. In this approach, an author typically deposits a version of their work in an institutional or disciplinary repository.
   

Is there a book publishing charge (BPC) or other required subsidy to make my book open access?

The University of Michigan Press does not have a single, standard BPC. Unlike journal articles, books are very diverse in terms of format and level of editorial complexity. We aim to come up with a transparent and affordable cost for every book we publish OA.

It is worth noting that presses invest considerable resources in the production and publication of any monograph. In 2016, we participated in the production of a report from ITHAKA S&R on “first copy” costs for academic monographs and also conducted a check study in collaboration with Indiana University Press. We calculated the average cost of producing an academic monograph (including all associated staff activities) for our university press at around $27,000. Traditionally, the press would hope to recover that investment through sales alone. When a book is published using open access distribution models, the press must consider how those costs will be covered, usually through a combination of print sales revenue, subvention from the author’s institution or a third-party funder, and/or other sources of support such as our internal funds.

Since we consider the publication of an OA monograph a shared risk, the “price” we will charge for publishing any OA book will almost always be substantially lower than the actual “first copy cost.” We believe that the distinction between what a publisher charges for OA and what a book costs to produce is important to understand in an emerging environment.

Which open licenses does the University of Michigan Press use?

Our standard author contract for open access books allows the author to select which CC license to use. Because this is the license most usually requested by our authors, our default practise is to assign the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license. However, other licenses may be considered, if appropriate. We encourage you to have a conversation about an appropriate license with your editor as early as possible.

How does open access affect the peer review of my book?

Open access has absolutely no bearing on the peer review and editorial selection process. Regardless of how your book will be distributed, your manuscript will be reviewed by external readers, and feedback provided to you. Your manuscript and the review process itself must ultimately be approved by the University of Michigan Press Faculty Executive Committee.

If you are interested in experimental modes of peer review, such as open, web-based peer review, or post-publication peer review, discuss your wishes and goals with your editor as early as possible. In some cases we are willing to consider these options in addition to our own rigorous peer review process.

How does open access affect the production of my book?

Existence of an open access version will not significantly influence production decisions: all monographs will be professionally copyedited, typeset, and have a unique cover design. Unlike many other publishers, we don’t separate out OA books in how we present them on our website, in our catalogs, at conference displays, etc. A University of Michigan Press book is a University of Michigan Press book, with the same guarantee of quality that readers have come to expect since our foundation in 1930, whatever the business model used.

How does open access affect the risk of piracy of my book?

Open access does not permit abuse or misuse of a book, nor is an open access book at any greater risk of misuse online than any other digitally-available book. In fact, making the book easy to find, search, and view in full on a trustworthy web platform may undermine piracy, because it is easier to trace any excerpt from the work back to the original publication. And making a copy of the book freely available to read reduces the financial incentive of piracy.

How will open access affect sales of my book?

In most cases, an open access monograph will also be available for sale in print and ebook formats. The University of Michigan Press has been publishing (and selling) open access monographs for more than a decade, and our experience is that offering freely available versions of monographs has variable effects on sales, depending on the discipline and subject. In most cases, making the book more readily accessible on the web increases awareness and visibility, which can have a positive effect on sales.

What about my royalties?

You will still receive royalties on sales of print and for-sale ebook copies in accordance with the terms of your contract.

How will I know if people are reading and using my OA book?

We track usage of online open access books in several ways, including Google Analytics, and reports from third-party platforms that host our OA books, such as OAPEN and JSTOR. We make this information available to authors when possible. We are actively developing more systematic, proactive ways to consistently deliver usage metrics to authors, and welcome your input about what information is most useful and important to you.

Authors of both open and closed access titles can use the Altmetric badge on the book’s product detail page to explore how, where, and when the book has been mentioned on social media, in the news, in a policy document, on a syllabus, or elsewhere on the web. For example, from the UM Press product detail page for the 2016 open access title Just Vibrations: the Purpose of Sounding Good, anyone can click on the Altmetric badge under the cover image to see the details of engagement with the book.

My research is funded by a grant that requires my book to be made freely available. What now?

Talk to your editor about your requirements as early in the publication process as possible so that everyone can understand, agree on, and commit to a plan for working together to meet the funder’s requirements.

What am I allowed to do with my OA book that I might not be able to do with a print book?

For all University of Michigan Press monographs (regardless of whether they are open access or not), authors may use, reproduce, distribute, perform, and display the work in connection with their own teaching, conference presentations, and lectures without permission or notice to the press. Open access monographs published under a Creative Commons license may have still more flexible terms, as determined by the license they carry.

For Funders:

Is the University of Michigan able to comply with our mandate that research we fund be published on an open access basis?

Yes! We are eager to work with authors to ensure compliance with any requirements from funders. Our contract can articulate our commitments to a funding institution, as well as to an author.

What does it cost to fund the publication of an open access monograph with the University of Michigan Press?

The term “first copy cost” refers to what it costs a press to bring a manuscript all the way through the process from the initial proposal to the point of printing the first copy. It includes all overhead related to development, contracting, review, communications, copyediting, design, layout, proofreading, etc. It does not include the costs of printing, shipping, or warehousing copies of the book.

The first copy cost for any given monograph can vary widely depending on the discipline, length, and complexity of the work, as well as the practices of individual presses. A 2016 study of monograph publishing costs put the first-copy costs for university press monographs anywhere from $15,000 to $129,000. At the University of Michigan, this cost typically falls somewhere in the range of $27,000, a number reinforced by parallel study that we conducted in collaboration with Indiana University.

Since we consider the publication of an OA monograph a shared risk, the “price” we will charge for publishing any OA book will almost always be substantially lower than the actual “first copy cost.” Our standard monograph contract can address funding agency costs and commitments.

How can we ensure that the research we fund is having a measurable influence?

We are committed to providing as much information as we can about how open access monographs are being used. This usage information may take the form of:

• Web usage stats (i.e., number of page views or downloads) via Google Analytics on our own platform
• Usage reports from other platforms hosting our OA titles, such as OAPEN and JSTOR
• COUNTER reports
• Altmetrics (mentions of the work on social media or in the news)
   

Such reports are generally available upon request.

We are actively developing a standard method of delivering a synthesized representation of usage to authors and to funding institutions. We are glad to talk with you about your requirements and expectations, and to ensure that the agreed upon details are documented in the contract.

May I deposit a copy of the open access book into my institution’s repository?

Yes. Please encourage the repository manager to include a link to the press’s website catalog page, the DOI, and the ISBN of the book in the metadata record to ensure that mentions of your work get picked up in altmetric measurement. Since the book is hosted in a stable, open access form on the press’s platform some repositories choose to create a metadata-only record that links to the version of record held by the press. This ensures that the latest version of the book is always the one used by readers and that the press is able to gather a more comprehensive picture of usage to report to the funder and author.

For Readers:

Can I use this book/chapter in my course? Can I put a copy of this book/chapter on my course management website? Can I post a copy of this book/chapter on my personal website? Can I email an electronic version of this book to my colleagues?

The best way to share open access books with your colleagues, students, and network is to share a link to the book. University of Michigan Press books are assigned a permanent URL called a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) that ensures anyone who follows the link will always be able to get back to the authoritative version of the book. This also enables us to communicate to authors and funding agencies how frequently the book is being used.

Can I re-use this image/video/figure/other media published in this book?

As with non-OA books, if there is third party material inside an OA title, it is likely that the author herself had to get permission to use that material from whoever holds the rights. This means that a reader seeking to re-use the same material would also have to seek permission from the rights holder. We do include credit line information for third-party material that is used in our OA titles, so a reader can tell easily if the material would require permission to be reused. When a Creative Commons license is shown it applies only to the work as a whole, not to the third party materials included in it.

Can I include a chapter from this book in an edited volume that I am putting together?

This will depend on what kind of CC license the OA title is published with. Our recommended Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license does require any use to be properly attributed to the author, and does not permit commercial or derivative use unless explicit permission is given for such uses. (To request permission to use University of Michigan Press content in a way not explicitly permitted by the license, contact um.press.perms@umich.edu.) Authors may choose other CC licenses if they wish.

About

Mission Statement

The University of Michigan Press is a vital component of UM Library's Michigan Publishing, which is the primary academic publishing division of the University. In partnership with our authors and series editors, we publish in a wide range of humanities and social science disciplines. We champion the Library's research and scholarly communication missions through our global digital and print publishing and distribution programs.

Together with our authors, we also play a critical role in the teaching and learning mission of the University by applying new pedagogies to the development of instructional materials that promote college success for students. To address the educational and information needs of our regional readers, the Press also produces publications on Michigan and the Great Lakes region.

The Press, with our rich history of publishing expertise, continues to lead in the development of digital scholarship and to support the dissemination of knowledge as widely and freely as possible.

Equity, Justice, and Inclusion

The University of Michigan Press strongly supports the struggle for racial justice. We publish and distribute books in the humanities and social sciences that seek to make sense of society and culture. We must and will question through whose lens those concepts are constructed. In addition, we recognize the important role that we play in helping to determine which voices are able to participate in the social and academic discourse, making it all the more important that we evaluate our practices critically and progressively. We seek to increase the participation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in our publishing as authors, domain experts, and selectors. We commit to developing an anti-racist workplace climate, improving our shared awareness of the language and systems that serve to perpetuate racism so we can change them. We will also continue to develop strategies that improve equitable access to our publications, recognizing that current systems exclude many readers who need the important works that we publish but cannot access them.

Governance

The quality of the publishing program of the Press is assured through a rigorous peer review process overseen by its faculty Executive Committee. The purpose of the Executive Committee is to approve (or decline to approve) projects for publication, proposed series, and proposed distributed clients under the University of Michigan Press imprint, advise the Press director on strategic directions, and serve as a productive interface between the Press, the University of Michigan, and the academic community more broadly. It is composed of nine voting members of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) faculty. The Executive Committee guidelines describe its operations more fully.

Commitment to Digital Scholarship

Recognizing that digital tools are transforming the way in which scholars work, the University of Michigan Press is engaged in a number of initiatives designed to support the rich publication and preservation of new scholarship and electronic access to past publications.

digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press dedicated to publishing innovative work in new media studies and digital humanities. Since 2006 it has been an experimental space for the publication of open access titles sustained by the sale of ancillary print editions.

With the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Press is engaged in the development of a platform designed to present monographic source materials and born digital publications using the Samvera (formerly Hydra)/Fedora infrastructure framework. In this project, University of Michigan Press is collaborating with four fellow university presses, closely linked with their parent university libraries. In January 2019 the University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection (UMP EBC) was launched on the Fulcrum platform to make the Press's scholarly ebooks directly accessible to libraries. More information is available at our For Librarians page.

HathiTrust is a digital repository and research management tool for the United States' great research libraries, focused on providing scholars in the digital age with the largest collection of electronic research material this side of Google Book Search. The University of Michigan Press Collection at HathiTrust includes hundreds of backlist titles and continues to grow through the work of the backlist rights and permissions project.

Accessibility Statement

Last updated: August 2021

The University of Michigan Press is committed to making its publications and electronic media accessible to the broadest possible audience. This commitment is firmly in line with our mission statement and University of Michigan accessibility guidelines. Our vision is to make the University of Michigan Press an accessible publishing organization: producing accessible publications, implementing accessible systems, and effecting change among our peers and partners by maintaining a high standard of accessibility. Our current initiatives to support accessibility include:

Services for users with print disabilities

While we are committed to creating accessible publications, we recognize that some of our publications are in formats that are not currently accessible to all of our readers. Readers needing an alternate format of a U-M Press publication can acquire or request one via our Electronic File Requests page.

Accessible EPUBs

Books with digital versions in EPUB format that have accessibility features are indicated as such on our website product pages with the text "Accessibility features" in the product’s description. See this product for an example of a title with accessibility features.

Accessibility features for EPUBs have been focused primarily on meeting accessibility standards and creating textual descriptions of images for books in our Corporealities: Discourses of Disability Series and related titles since 2016. Beginning with our Fall 2019 titles, all books published have basic textual descriptions of images (alt text) either supplied by authors or written by publishing vendors. In January 2021 our EPUB workflow was certified accessible through the Benetech Global Certified Accessible program. This means nearly all of our EPUBs published after January 2021 meet EPUB accessibility and WCAG AA guidlelines and include an accessibility certification.

Endorsement of Accessible Publishing Initiatives

The University of Michigan Press endorses the Society for Disability Studies Accessible Publishing guidelines and is actively working to meet them.

In August 2021, the U-M Press signed and endorsed the Accessible Book Consortium's Charter for Accessible Publishing, adhering to eight criteria to help ensure accessible ebooks for all.

Ebook support

Available ebook reading systems vary widely in their support for accessibility features. Visit EPUB Test for accessibility support information for specific platforms, or contact us if you have a question about the best reading system for your needs.

Feedback on accessibility

If you require assistance or wish to report an issue related to accessibility of any content we produce (our website, ebooks, or other), please send an email to umpress.accessibility@umich.edu. If applicable, please include the URL or book title and the specific problems you have encountered.

Ongoing testing and remediation

We work to ensure our website conforms to the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA. Known issues and current agenda items include:

• Minor usability issues on our home, search, and book product pages.
• Older PDF files on the site may reflect previous processes and may not be accessible. When possible we’ll make accessible versions of older PDFs upon request.

Accessibility Task Force

The Task Force meets regularly to set the accessibility vision for Michigan Publishing, advise on practices to create born-accessible publications, implement accessible technologies and systems, and effect change among our partners and peer presses by maintaining a high standard of accessibility. It currently is working on:

• Accessibility guidelines and specifications for authors producing video and audio content to be associated with their books.
• Training for acquisition and production staff on the creation of accessible books, video, and audio
• Receiving third-party accessibility certification for U-M Press production workflow through Benetech.
• Working with vendors to implement and support accessibility features in EPUBs
• Learning how we can support and display accessibility metadata on book product pages to help readers identify accessibility features built into our e-book titles.
• Improving the accessibility of our PDF format ebooks.

Privacy Policy

The University of Michigan Library privacy policy can be found here: User Privacy Policy of the University Library.

Purchases

If you submit an order using the Shopping Cart, it will be processed via Chicago Distribution Center's shopping cart system. See the Chicago Distribution Center Privacy Policy Statement for further information on their practices.

Promotions

If you send us email, we may contact you via email with information regarding your order or other inquiry. Your email address will not be used for promotional purposes or shared with other organizations unless you have expressly opted in to receiving promotional emails.

Please note that our site contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for their privacy policies and practices.

Careers

Current Opportunities

To see open positions, visit http://umjobs.org/.

About Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, and the surrounding countryside, is considered by many an ideal residential community, brimming with restaurants and many cultural attractions, while still on a comfortable scale in both size and cost.

How to Apply

To submit your resume for any position with the University of Michigan, please visit: http://umjobs.org/.

Support the University of Michigan Press

The University of Michigan Press is part of the University of Michigan Library. To make a one-time donation or set up a recurring gift to the University of Michigan Press Strategic Fund, visit Michigan Online Giving.