Submitting Proposals

We only consider submissions by current University of Adelaide staff. The aim of The University of Adelaide Press is to fully utilise digital technology to publish and promote The University of Adelaide's scholarship.

All disciplines are equally welcome, across the University of Adelaide.

All books where possible are published in a simultaneous softcover edition and a free PDF edition. The PDF edition is immediately accessible world-wide, and the number of downloads can be up to 60 times the print sales.

The Press is recognised as a commercial press by HERDC and ERA.

Please feel free to download our Author Guide.

Types of Books

We are looking specifically for two kinds of scholarly books:

• monographs (full-length works by one or more authors) and
• edited collections. With edited collections, one of the editors and at least five contributors need to be current Adelaide staff, but aside from that, contributors from other universities are welcome. There is a maximum limit of 20 chapters to keep the book manageable.  

Titles are published in two simultaneous editions.

The electronic edition is free (currently in PDF to standardise citations) and enables a substantial increase in readership. We have found already in our short experience that in contrast to the average sale of just 350 copies world-wide of a traditionally published academic work, titles can achieve many 1000s of downloads. The potential for authors to be cited more often, and internationally, is obvious.

The University of Adelaide Press has had downloads from readers as far away as Albania and Russia, who would not have otherwise had access to the full-text books.

The paper-back edition is produced at Griffin Press, Australia's leading printer.

Our books are available directly from the website in both editions, and the print editions are also sold from any booksellers who request them.

The Barr Smith Press

The Barr Smith Press is an imprint of the University of Adelaide Press reserved for high-quality works that generally fall under two general catergories

1. scholarly works that are not available in a free PDF edition; and
2. non-scholarly works about the University or its alumni (e.g. non-refereed histories and biographies).

Non-scholarly works require sponsorship to cover the costs of publication.

Submission Process:

1. Please download a Word version of the submission form, complete it as best you can, and submit it either by email or internal mail. You do not need to have a complete manuscript, but we need at least the introduction and a sample chapter to be able to make a decision on publication.

2. The submission is discussed with the appropriate Advisory Committee members. View the Advisory Committee members list.

If considered of interest the Press will request the author/s to submit five potential external referees. We may choose referees from this list or find them ourselves. Peer reviewers are anonymous unless they wish otherwise.

3. The material will then be sent out for peer review and the decision to publish is based on the recommendations in these reports.

4. If accepted for publication, a publishing contract is drawn up and a schedule agreed upon for receipt of the complete manuscript.

Once a title is accepted for publication by the Press, it will then begin the process of editing and design. Please note, your final draft will probably require at least some editing. 

Text Formatting

Your text will be typeset but to streamline that process, make sure you use Word "Styles" for each different type of font setting you use. Don't just vary the standard 'Normal' style using the bold, italics, font sizes options and so on. We have a standard template that you can work from, or ask us to create one specially for your use if this one is not suitable. Use the 'Normal' style for your main body text, and the other styles for headings, quotes and other variations.

Very important: one document for each separate chapter, also the foreword, preface, bibliography, etc. Give a number to each to keep them in the right order (01-Preface; 02-Contents; 03 List of illustrations, etc.).

The main thing to remember is that you are not formatting your document directly for the printer, but for the typesetter, and your aim is to make sure they understand clearly the different headings, titles, sub-headings, captions and so on.

Illustrations

Authors are entirely responsible for obtaining copyright permissions including paying any fees to publish any illustrative material such as diagrams and photographs.

We cannot publish your book until we have copies of written permission for each illustration owned by a third party.

Photographs can be sent to us in print form for scanning, and electronic copies can be uploaded to our dropbox folder. Electronic copies need to be 300 dots per inch, in either jpg, tiff, or eps format.

Diagrams and tables created in Office must be in final form and we convert them to images and they cannot be edited. What you create is what we use exactly. Complex graphics need to be in jpg, tiff or eps format.

Citation Styles

Feel free to use your discipline's preferred style conventions for references, footnotes, bibliographies and so on. The main rule is to be consistent throughout the whole document, even with different contributors.

Indexes

Our books do not need indexes as our primary edition is the fully searchable ebook (PDF). The relatively few number of people reading the printed edition can easily use the ebook edition to search for any term they wish, rather than a restricted list.

Publication Schedule:

1. Once the manuscript is complete, the author works with a professional copy-editor.

2. The final edited version is typeset by a professional designer.

3. Proof-reading and corrections to the final designed version.

4. Final checks and online publication. The printing process for titles for hardcopy publication.

5. Authors promote the book with the support of the Press.

PDF edition's are available for free download and paperback editions are available for direct purchase on the website.