Information For Authors

University of Groningen Press provides a publishing platform for journals, books and other outlets by faculty and researchers working at or with the University of Groningen.

If you wish to publish a book with the Groningen University Press we would be delighted to hear from you to discuss the ideas that you have on an informal basis please Contact us and we will schedule an appointment. We recommend that you first review the About the Press page for the press' profile and policies.

Book proposal
After our first appointment we will ask you to submit a Book Proposal via our Book Proposal form.
The UGP board assesses the proposal whether it fits the profile of the press.

The proposal should be as detailed as possible to enable the most effective evaluation and feedback on the project.  Ideally this would include the following:

Provisional title of proposed book.

Brief synopsis of the book.
This should summarize the topic, your aims, scope, general approach, and intended audience.

Aims: Why is a new book needed? What do you think the readers will gain from it?
General approach: What is the purpose of the book and how will this book achieve its aim?
How would you summarize your approach to the subject?
Scope: What is included?  What is left out, and why? What prior knowledge will the book assume?
Intended audience: What type of book are you proposing:  monograph, textbook, edited collection, reference work, critical edition?

What level of reader is your book suitable for: bachelor students, master students, academics, scholars and researchers?
Even if you have yet to produce a proposal don't hesitate to contact us to discuss the ideas that you have on an informal basis.

Author Toolkit:

OAPEN OA Books Toolkit

This toolkit aims to help book authors to better understand open access book publishing and to increase trust in open access books. You will be able to find relevant articles on open access book publishing following the research lifecycle, by browsing frequently asked questions or by searching with keywords.

Topics covered include:

Open access and the open access landscape
Publishing options
Funding
Peer review
Book contract and licence
Quality assurance & peer review
Writing & submitting a manuscript
Dissemination and marketing

Guide to Creative Commons for Scholarly Publications and Educational Resources

With this guide we want to inform researchers about the Creative Commons (CC) licence system. What licence to choose when publishing a paper or book or sharing an article through a repository? And what licence to apply when sharing your teaching materials? It could be helpful to choose the . the right licence by addressing several frequently asked questions and common concerns expressed by researchers about the use of CC licences.

CC licences have been developed to provide a clear legal framework to underpin the open online sharing and reuse of creative works. For researchers this often means scholarly papers, books or chapters. When you publish ‘open access’ most publishers will ask you to choose a CC licence for your work. Increasingly, also funders have requirements as to which CC licence has to be applied, because they want to make sure that the research they fund is reused as widely as possible.

Book Processing Charge (BPC)

The Book Processing Charge (BPC) for publishing services for example a book of 45,000 words (roughly 130 pages) and a few images starts from approximately 2500 euro incl. VAT. This is depending on the services requested.

The University of Groningen Press covers the costs for ISBN and DOI requests & registration, the online platform and our staff deployment.

As an Open Access publisher we are not able to cover the costs with revenues from sales.
At the same time our publishing decisions do not rest on potential commercial success but on scientific relevance. Authors and editors therefore need to contribute financially to each publication project.

The BPC includes:

  • Editorial support (e.g. advice on copyright clearance, ethics 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
  • Peer review for scholarly publications

And through our collaboration with LINE-UP boek en media bv:

  • Typesetting
  • Copyediting
  • Design, cover design
  • XML editing/ programming
  • Publication in downloadable PDF, EPUB formats
  • Print-on-Demand (POD) service and listing through book retailer websites and distribution lists
  • Sending print copies of the published book to authors/editors.

The University of Groningen Press works closely together with LINE-UP boek en media bv to ensure an efficient and effective content production process and with publisher Kleine Uil, to ensure maximum exposure.

Extra services provided by LINE UP not included in the estimated example:

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

Peer review policy

All book manuscripts that are submitted to be published with UGP undergo thorough quality control. However, not all of them have to pass a formal peer review, such as non-academic publications, specific reports or proceedings or student publications. For these publications UGP runs its imprint “Campus Publications”.

More information about our Peer review policy can be found here.