Three Yorkshire universities join forces to launch new digital publishing platform

Three Yorkshire universities have joined forces to set up a new open access digital platform to publish research across academic disciplines.

Established by the universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York, the White Rose University Press (WRUP) is now open for submissions.

It will publish peer-reviewed academic papers, books, textbooks, and conference literature from across the academic community in the UK and internationally.

Online access to all the published material is free to all readers.

A partnership of the three universities’ libraries developed WRUP to reach a global audience offering output free to readers digitally and also support academics working in specialist areas or publishing in non-traditional formats including data journals and interactive ebooks, which have been overlooked by commercial publishers.

Sir Alan Langlands, vice-chancellor of Leeds University, said: “As the first jointly run university press in the UK, this will be a genuinely innovative free access platform, showcasing the output of some of the world’s most talented researchers to a global audience.”

Prof Sir Keith Burnett, vice-chancellor at Sheffield University, added: “Making this resource available to academics and other partners in the UK and around the world will remove barriers to sharing knowledge and the work which can grow from this, which is good news for education and for wider society.”

White Rose University Press has partnered with established open access publisher Ubiquity Press to offer a fully-fledged publishing service. This includes a comprehensive production infrastructure providing copy-editing, typesetting, design and layout, marketing, print-on-demand, and other related services.

– See more at: http://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/2016/01/yorkshire-universities-unveil-new-digital-publishing-platform/#sthash.5tfxgJD1.dpuf