University of Vermont

University of Vermont Libraries

Academic Library · United States

• https://www.uvm.edu/press
• press@uvm.edu

University of Vermont Press

https://www.uvm.edu/press

Tom Krause, Editorial Director–Books
Phone: 608-658-7253
Email: Thomas.krause@uvm.edu

Program Overview

Mission/Objectives:
The University of Vermont (UVM) Press publishes digital research and scholarship with no barriers to access. Fully funded by the university, the UVM Press uses a diamond open-access model to ensure free readership, free authorship, and immediate online, global access to all its published titles. Through the UVM Press, the University of Vermont and the UVM Libraries are active participants in the global movement to make knowledge accessible, equitable, fast, and free, for all people. We are exploring innovative models of scholarly communication that align with the university’s land-grant mission, values, and distinctive research strengths: the health of our environment and our societies.We recognize the connection between higher education and a healthy democracy and commit to making our published research accessible to all. The UVM Press, a division of the UVM Libraries, publishes born-digital, peer-reviewed, open-access scholarship in three categories: journals, books, and special projects. We collaborate with leading scholars and scholarly societies to develop innovative publishing projects. Affiliation with UVM is not a prerequisite for publishing with the UVM Press. We partner with scholarly societies and their representatives to establish new open-access journals or to transition existing journals to an open-access platform. We also partner with scholars at all career stages to develop books and book series in their areas of expertise. Our publishing model is built on shared responsibilities and a commitment not to profit, in any way, from published material. Staffed by a managing editor of journals and a books editor, the UVM Press provides consultation, strategy, editorial, and production services on a case-by-case basis.

• Publishing activities began: 2021
• Stage of publishing efforts: 2 - Early
  Pilot journal project initiated in 2021; Press officially established/announced by the university in 2023; books division established in 2024 The journals division began full operations in June 2023 with its first publication, the Journal of Ecological Engineering Design. The Press was fully staffed as of January 2024.
  
• Open access focus: Central to mission
• Portion of Open Access publications: All
• Publishing Languages: English

Program Organization

• Organization of publishing services: Centralized library publishing unit/department
• Advisory/editorial board: Yes
• Total staffing in Full Time Equivalents (FTE): 2
• Individual people: 2
• Funding sources: Library operating budget

Publishing Activities

• Journals
• Monographs

Highlights

Partners

• Other publishing entities administered by your library: Yes
  
• Other publishing entities within your library’s parent institution: Yes
  
• Program’s openness to working with external partners: Consider external partners but only if in our disciplinary specialty
• Types of publications should other publishers refer to your program: Scholarly societies and their representatives who wish to establish new open-access journals or to transition existing journals to an open-access platform; scholars at all career stages who wish to develop books and book series in their areas of expertise
• Part of a consortium which provides support for publishing? (e.g. platform, funding): No

Technologies & Services

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Policies

Other Policies:
Policies are in development

Links to Policies:
https://www.uvm.edu/press/publications

Adopted Policies:
Policies are in development. Our journals have adapted Open Access templates and language provided by Centre for Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, University of London, and PubPub. Our journal publishing author agreement is based on Stuart Shieber’s model open-access journal publication agreement, version 1.2, available at http://bit.ly/1m9UsNt.

Additional Information

Last Year:
The new, diamond open-access UVM Press was established and announced by the University of Vermont in June 2023. We published our first journal article in June 2023 under the direction of our inaugural editorial for the journals division, Aimee Diehl. We are supporting members of and publish journal content on PubPub, and we manage our editorial workflow on a hosted instance of Open Journal Systems maintained by Public Knowledge Project. In January 2024, we hired the editorial director for our books division, Thomas Krause, who is tasked with developing the book publishing program. As of January 2024, we are contracted with Michigan Publishing to provide digital and print-on-demand publishing services and to develop and maintain our web portal. We expect this site to go live with backlist titles in fall 2024. (UVM Press was originally a traditional print publisher that was part of the now-defunct University Press of New England, which dissolved in 2018.)

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Future Plans:
The journals division is accepting proposals for potential partnerships with 2 to 3 more journals, with a maximum capacity of 4 journals as currently staffed and funded. We plan to add UVM student interns to the program as workload increases.

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Other Information:
The UVM Press was established as and will remain a fully diamond open-access model to ensure free readership, free authorship, and immediate online, global access to all its published titles. The UVM Press does not charge authors APCs or require libraries to subscribe to its published content. We recognize the connection between higher education and a healthy democracy and commit to making our published research accessible to all.