Authors and Editors

Publication process

We believe in being as transparent as possible. In this guide you’ll find the main steps of our publication process, along with a schedule.

Download the publication process PDF.

Style guide

We follow the Harvard Style Guide, although our copyeditors are also able to work with roughly all other styles (eg. Chicago, MLA, APA, Vancouver, Harvard). The key here is to be as precise as possible in following the chosen criteria.
In this style guide you will find most, if not all, answers to your queries and doubts, but please do not hesitate to contact us to clarify.

The Harvard system was  developed in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, and since then it has become the most commonly used system in international academic journals. Harvard is flexible and simple, easy to use for the author as well as the reader.

There are a number of excellent examples of Harvard referencing systems on the Internet and we recommend to use this one:

https://library.aru.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

When launching a new series, we might consider to adopt a different style. Our editors are confident working in APA (6th edition), MLA (8th edition), MHRA (3rd edition) and Chicago (16th edition).

Images

If you want or need to insert images in your book, two points are crucial: first you need to have the rights to publish that images, second you have to be sure that the resolution is adequate. Low quality images print blurry and image with no rights, might cause issues and problems.
Please ask for permission to use images, tables, graphs or other material from a source that is not you. If you’re confident in doing it, just drop a line to your editor and we will help.
Please include a complete caption along with your image. It will be used as a caption in the print version, and as an ALT (Alternative text) in case of a  e-publication.
If you would like to have some advice on this, please contact us.

To check image resolution, visit this site
To know more about image resolution, read this page

Tables, charts and graphs

Create tables with Microsoft Word’s (or a similar software, as Pages, Documents) feature to create any tables, and embed them in the manuscript when you submit. Please label clearly each column and do not use any kind of formatting (colours, shades), as they will be styled in the typesetting stage. If you submit tables as images or as PDF file we will include it as is (proven resolution and rights are ok, as explained before), but it will more difficult, if not impossible to harmonize the look and feel.

Graphs (line, bar, pie etc.) should be submitted as high-resolution JPEG files separately. Please describe in detail the data in the graph, using the caption text.
Graphs will be in colour in the e-editions of your work. They can be in colour or in greyscale in the print edition, this depends mainly from costs and clarity.

Promoting your book

Marketing for academic and Open Access titles is not the same as for a trade book. Our goal is to work closely with our authors in order to achieve maximum visibility for our book.

We have collected some suggestions to better work together in promoting your book. Check them here!

Contributor publishing agreement

We need to have the agreement signed before starting the publication process. This ensures both sides. In case of an edited book we will need the agreement signed only by the editor, but we advise them to have a signed agreement with the contributors. In case something is not clear, please do contact us!.

We will send a draft agreement once your book has been accepted for publication.

Proof corrections instructions

In order to proofread the typeset PDF of your work, please use the comment feature available in most free PDF reader, such as Adobe Acrobat. Highlight the text you want to correct and place correction in the comment. If you would like to have some advice on this, please contact us.

Copyright permissions

It is the author’s responsibility to secure written permission from copyright holders for reproducing images, tables, figures or text extracts. If required, copyright permissions must be obtained before the book is submitted for production. When looking to use material from books/journals, contact the original publisher. For images from an art agency, museum, library or gallery, contact the organization. Photographers typically hold copyright over photographs.

Committee on Publishing Ethics guidelines

We believe that our job must be conducted with a strict sense of ethics.
We follow principles of transparency and best practice for scholarly publications, as outlined by COPE in this document