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Publishing with the Higher Education Division

The Oxford Author Experience

OUP is a unique publishing company in that its primary mandate is to support education and disseminate scholarship. Owned by the University of Oxford, the press has no shareholders. This enables us to balance commercial and scholarly aims, offering our readers excellent, innovative publishing and our authors the support of a stable long-term relationship.

OUP’s reputation for quality and authority is second to none in the English-speaking scholarly world. Peer review is fundamental to our publishing policy and is one of the main reasons behind the respect accorded to the Oxford name. Although OUP Canada focuses primarily on textbooks (as opposed to monographs), we maintain the same standards in all our publications.

We are committed to building long-term relationships with our authors. In publishing generally, and textbook publishing in particular, there is no guarantee that the publisher whose contract you sign will be the one that publishes your book, and no guarantee that the commitment shown to your book will not change significantly following an acquisition. In recent years textbook publishers have been bought and sold regularly. OUP offers unmatched stability; if you sign with us, you will publish with us.

We also offer the benefits associated with a large international company. OUP has offices and branches in over 50 countries around the world, including the UK (our head offices are in Oxford), the US (OUP New York is the biggest university press in North America), Australia, China, and India, to name only a few. In addition to our large Canadian warehouse facility in Toronto, we have two major international distribution centres, at Cary in North Carolina and Corby in Northamptonshire, England; together, the two main facilities are capable of holding some 60 million volumes. Use of the latest technology means that books can be rapidly dispatched no matter how the order is placed-- by telephone, fax, regular mail, e-mail, or over the Internet.

OUP uses its international structure to market its books to a broad readership. Each OUP office or branch carries out a variety of activities to promote both their own books and titles produced by other OUP branches that they feel will be of particular interest in their market.

In Canada we have sales and editorial representatives who deal directly with instructors across the country in virtually every discipline. We produce catalogues and flyers for frontlist titles. We advertise widely, in conference packs, journals, and other specialist publications. We send review copies to journals and other reviewing organs recommended by our authors. We also promote our books at the many conferences we attend, in Canada and around the world.

We are constantly working to improve our use of the Internet not only to promote and sell our books but to provide detailed information for our customers. We are currently developing e-mail user groups for specific disciplines.

Market presence

The prestige, size, and diversity of OUP’s academic lists ensure that bookstores — including members of the big chains — continue to welcome OUP sales representatives. This is particularly important at a time of increasing centralization, when book buyers are increasingly reluctant to see sales representatives from the smaller publishers. OUP’s reputation for the quality of its authors and books is respected not only by booksellers but by librarians and review editors, as well as other scholars.

Knowledgeable acquisitions staff

We give our authors speedy decisions on proposals and manuscripts. Our acquisitions editors have years of experience in their respective disciplines and are able to provide constructive feedback and criticism in addition to managing the peer review process.

Quality of production

At a time when attention to detail is increasingly threatened by commercial pressures, we still seek to maintain the highest standards. We use professional copy-editors and proof-readers, and our in-house designers are specialists in the textbook field. At the same time we are taking advantage of new technologies to bring publication times down, and to keep in close touch with authors throughout the production process.

Working well with our authors

We value our relationships with our authors, and are constantly looking to improve the way we work together.

Manuscript development

We consult closely with our authors at every stage of the writing, editing, and production processes, offering detailed advice when necessary.

Continuing commitment

Our interest in your book does not stop once it is published. We provide regular post-publication feedback, and we are keen to work with authors on new editions. We are committed to keeping Oxford books in print wherever possible.

Author discounts

We are pleased to offer OUP authors substantial discounts off the list price of all OUP titles.

We want our authors to enjoy the experience of publishing with us — so much so that they will want to stay with OUP in the future. We aim to be as well known for the quality of our working relationships with our authors as we are for the quality of the books we publish.


 

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