The premise of publishing

On Tuesday, Stanford University Press (SUP) visited CESTA to share some information about the exciting world of academic press publishing. Many Research Assistants knew very little about publishing in general, let alone SUP, but we soon learned about the importance of publishing and the impact that Stanford University Press has on major research projects. 

 

It was fascinating to learn that the idea for the Stanford University Press was born in 1891 when Leland and Jane Stanford appointed David Starr Jordan as the president of their new university. Jordan stated four requirements for the school - the last of which was “that provision be made for the publication of the results of any important research on the part of professors, or advanced students.” The printing itself, realized through recent Stanford archival discoveries, was brought about by a student who brought his printing press to Stanford. In the last 126 years since its inception, Stanford University Press has published over 6,000 books, with more than half still in print and is one of the few publishing companies that still retains its original name. 

 

Stanford University Press publishes across a wide spectrum of both subject and format including scholarly publications, trade imprints, and born-digital publications. In true Stanford fashion, SUP is making groundbreaking innovations as one of the only publishing companies taking on the challenge of peer review and archiving for entirely digitally based research and projects. This initiative “helps authors develop their concept (in both content and form) and reach their market effectively to confer the same level of academic credibility on digital projects as print books receive”. Stanford University Press has pioneered a process to take digital scholarship through the same stages of care and rigor that print books receive. SUP has partnered with the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab to develop and refine a consistent and robust set of guidelines for publishing digital projects.

 

You can find current digital publications under Stanford University Press and learn more about SUP’s innovative work here and on their blog.