The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) joined forces with the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) to launch the University-Based Publishing Futures (UBPF) community in September 2024. UBPF is a coalition of professionals who work at university presses, library publishers, and other academy-affiliated programs that support the infrastructure of scholarly publishing. This “community of communities” shares the values of advancing scholarship, equity and inclusion, broad and equitable access to knowledge, accessibility, intellectual freedom, and publishing ethics and integrity. It has formed working groups dedicated to advocacy and knowledge-sharing. At this writing, 27 organizations have signed on in support the project, including the Association of Research Libraries and the American Council of Learned Societies.
Also new this year, the Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact is a collaboration among AUPresses, the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), and the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM), aimed at celebrating innovations that have transformed scholarly publishing. Charles Watkinson (Michigan) represents the Association on the award’s planning committee. The award was created in memory of Bruce Rosenblum, a trailblazer in scholarly publishing standards, and its first recipient is the DOI for Scholarly Publishing.
Several AUPresses Board members spoke about issues of mutual concern to university presses and academic libraries during the 2024 Charleston Library Conference (video available). These AUPresses Stopwatch sessions included the following topics:
- “University-Based Publishing Futures,” John Sherer (North Carolina)
- “The Future of Humanities Journals,” Wendy Queen (Project MUSE, Johns Hopkins)
- “Big Ten Open Books,” Kate McCready (Big 10 Academic Alliance) and Dennis Lloyd (Wisconsin)
- “University Presses and UN Sustainable Development Goals,” Anthony Cond (Liverpool)
- “University Presses and Humanities Advocacy,” Jane Bunker (Cornell)
The Association joined the Creative Rights in AI Coalition in early 2025. The group, based in the UK, supports protecting copyright and building a dynamic licensing market for the use of creative content in building generative AI.
AUPresses Board of Directors voted during its spring 2025 meeting to reaffirm the Association’s commitment to principles and mission of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC), of which AUPresses is a founding member. As a community and with others in C4DISC, we aim to build a socially just community that welcomes, values, and celebrates all who contribute to scholarly communications.
The Association connects and collaborates with numerous organizations and associations whose work affects the scholarly communications, publishing, and higher education community. Here are a few:
- Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers
- American Council of Learned Societies
- Book Industry Study Group (BISG)
- Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
- Free Expression Network (FEN) and the Banned Book Week Coalition
- International Publishers Association
- National Coalition for History until its dissolution with the retirement of executive director Lee White in December 2024
- National Humanities Alliance (NHA)
- National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
- Think. Check. Submit. Committee
Executive Director Peter Berkery continues to engage the wider community through roles on:
- Association of American Publishers PROSE Awards jury
- the ALPSP University Press Special Interest group (co-chair)
- the BISG Association Advisory Council
- the C4DISC Steering Committee
- the Participating Organization Council for Humanities Commons
- the NHA Board of Directors
- the Seminary Co-op Bookstores Executive Committees