Publishing with UGP

Journal publishing

University of Groningen Press provides the infrastructure to set up new journals and/or to transform existing journals to a fully electronic and open access platform. We offer support in setting up the journal and its management structure.

The possibility of starting a journal with UGP is open to any staff member affiliated with the University of Groningen. You will need to show how your proposed journal can contribute to the academic subject area in question, and to demonstrate that there are sufficient sources of new articles and a sufficient readership to sustain your journal. 

All University of Groningen Press journals are fully diamond open access. This means we will not charge authors or readers for downloading or sharing published items.

Journal proposal

After our first contact we will ask you to submit a journal proposal via our Journal proposal form.

We’ll get back to you as soon as possible to discuss your proposal. Once approved we’ll set up a plan and timeline with you. We’ll help you to set up the journal platform and to design your editorial workflow.

Books and series publishing

University of Groningen Press offers a book publication service for staff working at or with the University of Groningen. Books are published open access, usually as a PDF and if requested as an EPUB. However, it is also possible to make books available in print and via printing on demand.

More information about open access publishing for authors/editors can be found in OAPEN’s Open Access Books Toolkit.

Book proposal

After our first contact we will ask you to submit a Book Proposal via our Book Proposal form. The proposal should be as detailed as possible to enable the most effective evaluation.

The UGP Editorial Board assesses whether the proposal fits the profile of the Press.

See our Book Proposal form.

Peer Review Process

All book manuscripts submitted for publication with UGP undergo thorough quality control. Certain publications, such as non-academic publications, specific reports or proceedings, or student publications do not have to pass a formal peer review process.

More information on Peer Review

Storage

All University of Groningen Press books are archived by the e-Depot of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek to ensure that they will always be available.

Inaugural lectures publishing

University of Groningen Press offers Professors of the University the opportunity to publish their inaugural lectures open access. Printed copies can also be made available. We strive to make the printed product available on the day of your inaugural lecture. The printed version of your lecture will be added to the university library collection. The digital version will be published by UGP as a PDF in the Inaugural lectures series.

Textbooks publishing

Pressbooks is the University of Groningen’s supported platform for authoring and publishing open access textbooks. It is used by educators and institutions worldwide to produce, adapt, and share accessible high-quality textbooks. With this authoring tool, one can create interactive content, embed multimedia, add public annotation functionality, and choose from a wide range of open content for inspiration and adaptation. 

University of Groningen Press has a license for using Pressbooks and supports UG teachers with their open textbook publishing projects.

Curious to learn more about open textbooks, publish one with UGP, or explore other learner-centered resources that are openly and freely accessible to all? Take a look at the variety of open educational resources (OER) or get in touch with the University Library OER experts for a consultation.

Book Processing Charges

University of Groningen Press publishes books based on their academic relevance rather than their potential commercial success, and because we are an open access publisher we are not able to cover the cost of publishing books with revenues from sales.

This means that authors and editors are asked to contribute financially to each publication project, and this is done through a Book Processing Charge (BPC).

The BPC varies depending on the particular publication. As a guideline, the BPC for a book of 45,000 words (roughly 130 pages) with a few images starts from approximately €2,500, including VAT.

Authors and editors can often offset the BPC through additional funding opportunities like additional project funding.

The BPC covers the cost of:

• Editorial support (e.g. advice on copyright clearance, ethical matters, open access etc.)

• Inclusion in search, indexing and aggregation platforms, library catalogues (Worldcat), library suppliers, discovery services, etc.

• Limited promotion and marketing in collaboration with the author

• Full book usage statistics

• Typesetting

• Design, cover design

• XML editing/programming

• Publication in downloadable PDF, EPUB formats

• Making the book available for Print-on-Demand, and listing it through book retailer websites and distribution lists

• Sending print copies of the published book to authors/editors

• Copy-editing

• Translating
• Extensive illustrations (full-colour) and cover design

University of Groningen Press also covers some of the costs, for instance the cost of the online platform, of staff deployment, and of ISBN and DOI requests and registration.

University of Groningen Press works closely with LINE UP boek en media bv. LINE UP can offer authors and editors additional services that cannot be performed by UGP itself.