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The book publishing process consists of the following steps to ensure a credible, transparent and efficient handling of book proposals and accepted manuscripts. Click here for information about journal publishing.
The book publishing process with Stockholm University Press visualised.
If you wish to submit a book proposal, please complete the Stockholm University Press Book Proposal submission form online. You will need to register a user name and choose a password in order to submit your proposal. If you would like to edit the proposal offline, you need to download the form (Word file) and save it on a safe drive until you are ready to submit.
Once submitted through the online form, the Stockholm University Press publishing office will direct the proposal to the relevant Editorial Board to assess whether the proposal fits within the scope of the Board to ensure a fair review process.
Please note that we are not looking at full manuscript files in the first instance. The proposal should include a description of the theoretical and methodological background of the book project, as well as information about the participating researchers and the intended audience of the book. It is also possible to upload sample chapters or other relevant documentation as separate files. The selected Editorial Board should, however, be able to make a first evaluation based on the scientific merit of the submitted proposal.
All books published by Stockholm University Press are peer reviewed before publication. Submitted proposals are reviewed by a selected Editorial Board of experts within a relevant subject area, while book manuscripts are sent for external peer review. Read more about our peer review policies here.
Decisions about book proposals are made based on the review of the submitted documentation by an Editorial Board and the Publishing Committee. If the proposal is accepted for publication, the author may be required to make revisions before submitting the final manuscript file.
Full manuscripts will be sent for external peer review. The Editorial Board will select referees to comment on the quality and structure of the book. Read more about the criteria for selecting referees here. The Stockholm University Press Publishing Committee will consider comments from both the external review as well as the Editorial Board when making a final decision to accept the book for publication.
The Publishing Committee at Stockholm University Press consist of elected academic representatives from all four faculties at Stockholm University. This committee makes all final decisions about book proposals and book publishing. Read more about the work in the committee here.
The Publishing Committee meets approximately 2–3 times per semester. Documentation for book projects are prepared two weeks in advance of such meetings, meaning that Editorial Boards and Authors will receive notifications about deadlines related to this. The following meeting dates are scheduled in 2023: March 16th, May 24th, September 20th and November 15th.
To ensure that the books published by Stockholm University Press follow best practice for research and publishing, we require all authors to clearly state in their manuscripts that the data has been collected according to the ethical research code in each respective country. Researchers collecting data and conducting research in other countries should follow guidelines relevant to their context.
For Swedish authors, we recommend to use the Codex rules and guidelines for research, hosted by Uppsala University. Guidelines about general research ethics is available in Swedish and in English. Authors describing research with human subjects should follow the relevant guidelines available in Swedish and in English.
Authors and Editors of books to be published by Stockholm University Press are also expected to follow guidelines for good publishing ethics, which is also available via the Codex rules and guidelines for research in Swedish and in English.
Once the proposal is accepted for publication the author can submit the full-length manuscript via the manuscript management system. Instructions on how to submit are included in the acceptance letter from the Publisher.
However, before submitting any manuscript files, we strongly recommend that authors read and adhere to the below instructions for creating manuscript files for consideration.
The following key documents include instructions on how to edit manuscript files:
Once the full manuscript file is submitted, the book will be sent to the Editorial Board to commence the external peer review process. The standard timeline for reviewers to submit comments is approximately 8–10 weeks. Most manuscripts will be then be sent back to the author for revisions based on these reviewer comments and those from the Editorial Board, before a final version of the manuscript is approved for publishing. This process is likely to take a minimum of 8-10 weeks.
After the author submits the final edited manuscript files to the publisher it will take approximately 12 weeks to publish the book in electronic format on the publisher's website. During this time, the book will undergo formatting checks and layout and design procedures. The author will receive one set of electronic proofs to check before publication online. The book will be made available with a permanent link (DOI) with an open access license (CC License) online.
Our books are distributed internationally via a 'Print on Demand' service. We keep the retail price of the print books as low as possible for the buyer. All books have direct links on each book page for direct order of print version from the providers Amazon, Adlibris, Bokus or Book Depository.
The books are available in high quality colour print, on a standard paper quality with variable cover board and size options. The available options are paperback or hardback, matte or gloss cover finish, as well as a choice of one of the three page sizes 140 × 216 mm, 216 x 216 mm and 156 × 234 mm. The author will be asked to make a choice about the print format options when submitting a book proposal.
For retailers or other organisations who wants to order books see advice about distribution from our provider Lightning Source internationally as well as in the US and Canada, and in UK & Europe.
As each book project is unique we base our quotes for the cost of publishing, called Book Processing Charge (BPC), on the services required for the individual book as submitted by the author in their book proposal.
Examples of pricing levels:
The cost quoted includes all production (electronic as well as print), distribution to retailers and marketing as well as legal deposit copies according to Swedish law and reference copies for the Press. See also the description of publishing services below. Language editing and book index creation are optional services (see below) and can be added to the quote upon request. Prices are negotiated by Stockholm University Press and the aim is to keep the costs as low as possible.
More advice on how to find potential funders for open access book publications can be found in the Open Access Books Toolkit, hosted by the OAPEN Library (a database for open access books where all Stockholm University Press books are indexed)
The following services are included in the Book Processing Charge (BPC) and is offered to all authors as included in the standard fee.
All accepted manuscripts will go through the iThenticate software plagiarism check. A report will be provided on the level of similarity to existing publications or content. Support and advice will be provided on how to proceed if problems are flagged and possible plagiarism or copyright issues arise.
This is included for edited volumes. This feature allows for individual chapters to have their own landing page, providing the chapter title, author details, chapter abstract and chapter-level metrics. DOIs are registered for each chapter to track citations. Having this feature means that chapters can be more easily cited within the book, authors will gain individual recognition for their contribution and statistical data can be extracted to gauge which chapters had more popularity.
The production team will receive the manuscript source files provided to them in an editable format (preferably Microsoft Word or similar) and complete the layout of the book, according to the template and specific instructions provided from the author or editor and publisher. The production team produces a PDF of print quality and this version will be used for print and online publication. It is, therefore, important that all editorial changes are made by the author or editor to the manuscript files before sending the final accepted files for production.
The PDF proofs will be sent to the author once the layout is complete. Layout errors can then be fed back to the typesetters, who will implement the edits and send the final file back to the author for sign-off. No editorial changes can be made to the text at this point beyond minor requests (e.g. spelling errors). Each title goes through one round of proofing. If another round of proofing is requested then an additional charge of £100 +VAT will be added to the BPC. Minor changes requested during the proofing process should not exceed an average of 1 edit per page. If this is exceeded then there is an additional cost of £0.50 +VAT per edit. Errors introduced by the production process do not count towards this average. There are no rounds of proofing for epub/mobi versions. There is an option available for books written in English, where the author or editor can purchase services from a professional proofreader complete the above tasks. This has to be ordered before the final production stages.
Once the final print PDF has been signed-off as complete, the production team will export the content and create both Epub and Mobi formats of the book. These will be used for the online publication and is included in the standard price. The Epub file will be the source of the in-browser option to read the book, which is also open for digital annotation with the built-in tool from Hypothes.is.
This service allows for books to be printed as and when they are ordered. Titles are uploaded into the Lightning Source international printing service. Each order for the book is printed at the time of the order via book retailers such as Amazon, Bokus, Adlibris and Book Depository.
The BPC quote can include up to 25 print copies to be allocated to the author. 15 copies are ordered as a default to be sent to Stockholm University Press to be used for legal deposit, and to reward peer-reviewers. More copies can be ordered during the final production stages, but the cost for the prints will not be confirmed until the book has been submitted to the printer, at the end of the publication process.
The printed version of the book can be produced with either a hardback or a paperback finish. It is recommended that books under 200 pages (about 75,000 words) are published in paperback for appearance and to reduce costs.
The design of the book cover is included in the cost quote for the book project and is a part of the book that we usually finalise during the final production process when the manuscript has been approved by reviewers, the Editorial Board and the Publishing Committee. Stockholm University Press covers are designed based on suggestions and input from the authors or editors. Some standard elements will be applied to the final cover layout. The covers will, first and foremost, be designed to work for online use and marketing purposes, as the electronic copies of the book will have a wider audience than the print edition.
Stockholm University Press will make sure to send the published content to all indexes and book databases that are currently being worked with. Note that the list of indexes available may depend a) on the formats that the book is being published in and b) the publisher, as some indexes require a pre-arranged publisher agreement. Books published by Stockholm University Press is indexed in: The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), The OAPEN Library, Unglue.it, OCLC Worldcat, Google Scholar, JSTOR, EBSCO Knowledge, Libris and Swepub (if written by Swedish authors).
MARC records for cataloguing will be created as a default during the publication process. Having the MARC record will help libraries ingest the book data and thus make the title more findable/increase usage.
All of the services described above are included in the standard BPC quote for all Stockholm University Press books. However, authors or editors may also order extra services to help them put out the best book possible. Below is a list of services that can be added to the book contract for an additional fee.
This process is completed prior to typesetting and is available in two levels, which can include grammar, sentence sense and formatting text according to style guide. It will need scheduling with a lead time of at least 3–4 weeks in addition to the normal production time. Authors or editors will be asked to provide book specific details for the copyeditor. A copyedit guide and the completed book will be sent to the copyeditor who in return will provide a completion date. The copyeditor will be sent the final manuscript once the Press has editorially accepted it. The copyeditor will then make edits and insert comments into the file when questions for the author arise. The author will then be able to accept the edits made and answer the questions/edit the manuscript according to the questions asked. The copyeditor won’t be requested to copyedit the book a second time.
To have an embedded index created, the book must be in its final form (i.e. no further editing of any kind) and any notes should be passed on to the indexer (e.g. list of things the author doesn’t want to be included). An embedded index is used to carry out this service. This allows for the index to be coded into the word file so that the pagination can update according to the code. Once completed the index will be checked by the author to ensure that there are no introduced errors.
Additional features such as audio, video and download links are welcome additions to any book project published with Stockholm University Press. The type of media will affect the quote and production timelines and sometimes the cost. The authors or editors are, therefore, asked to input such needs early in the book publishing process to initiate a discussion on how these features will be incorporated into the book in each of its formats.