Guidelines

WUP welcomes book-length monograph proposals or manuscripts of a scholarly nature, though not excluding work based on scholarship that may have wider popular appeal.

As a second string, it will consider proposals for focused edited books within the same rubric.

Preference will be given to MSS that reflect university research strengths. University research strengths include the identified research institutes and centres in the University Strategic plan as well as actual or potential strengths identified within UOW Research Strengths.

Guidelines for authors

1. General areas of interest
UOW Press has published works on labour history, natural history, literature and the arts. Many of these have a regional focus and most fall into the broad category of Australian Studies. The Press will continue to support these areas but is also looking to expand its list.

The focus is on scholarly books and works with a strong base in academic disciplines that can also address a general readership. It will also consider focused peer-reviewed edited collections of papers, especially if there is supporting funding available.

Proposals in the following areas of University research strength are very welcome:

Cross-disciplinary projects in the Humanities, Social Sciences and
Creative Arts
Social transformations in the Asia-Pacific region
Maritime policy
Food technologies
Intelligent polymers – research and social applications
Superconductivity and Electronic materials
Engineering manufacturing
Steel research
Biomolecular science
Conservation biology
Earth & environmental sciences
Telecommunications and Information technology

The press does not publish fiction, poetry, drama or other creative work unless it is within a scholarly framework.

2. Submitting a proposal

We need from you:

your resumé (short rather than encyclopedic) with details of other relevant publications
a two to three-page outline
two or three sample chapters (these will not be returned)
estimated length
table of contents
kind and number of illustrations
your assessment of who this will be aimed at
an indication of books competing for attention in your area, with an assessment of their weaknesses and strengths and your particular contribution to them
suggestions for appropriate reviewers of the proposal
an indication of any other publishers you have submitted your proposal to
your contact details

Submissions will go through these steps:

initial assessment by the Editorial Board
if in principle approval, sending to readers for further assessment
if second approval, suggested revisions and review for costing/viability by the Management Board
final approval and contract. (From there, approx. six months to publication.)

Once the contract is completed, the manuscript will be further developed for submitting in both electronic (Microsoft Word compatible) and hard copy. At this point, editorial work with the publisher will commence.

Manuscripts should be double-spaced A4 on one side of the page only. Do not staple or use plastic sleeves. Your e-copy should have each chapter as one document clearly labelled in sequence. Keep back-ups and remember to distinguish between the various iterations of your work through the editing process.

3. Theses

You should include with the proposal copies of reports indicating potential for publication.

Be aware that nearly all theses need editing to meet the needs of a wider readership.

Expect to cut or explain specialist language, to remove all the finicky positioning of ‘your patch’ in detailed literature reviews and to modify your painstaking defence of methodology and mountain of footnotes.

4. Style

The Press accepts work that consistently uses the referencing style appropriate to its discipline. Once a manuscript is contracted any changes will be negotiated.

University of Wollongong
Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia
Telephone +61 2 4221 3555