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OUP and the University

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. Oxford University Press is one of the oldest publishing houses in the world, as well as one of the largest. Its imprint carries authority, its standards of book production are high, and its range of interests is wide. Though a department of the University, the Press is not subsidized by the University.

It is not a company, pays no dividend, and has no shareholders. It is devoted to the spread of knowledge, and all its surplus is devoted to the publication of works which further scholarship and education or to sustaining research on which these books are based.

The Academic Division of the Press in the United Kingdom was long known as the Clarendon Press. This imprint still appears on many of its publications, signifying that a book has been produced under the direct authority of the Delegates, the committee of senior members of the University who direct the Press's affairs. The Academic Division is responsible for the great reference works for which OUP is famous: The Oxford English Dictionary, The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and many others. It publishes several series of scholarly texts, a great many monographs in the arts, sciences, and medicine, and a growing list of higher education textbooks and academic paperbacks, as well as books aimed primarily at the general reader.

Beyond the UK, Oxford is represented by a network of branches and associated offices. OUP authors have access to an unrivaled worldwide sales force. OUP Canada was established in 1904 and today is grouped into four revenue groups (Higher Education, School, Trade and Reference, and English as a Second Language).