The mission of the Office of Scholarly Publishing Services (OSPS) is to serve the University of North Carolina System by providing access to a range of sustainable, mission-driven publishing models and solutions. Leveraging the expertise of UNC Press and its nonprofit subsidiary, Longleaf Services, we collaborate with libraries, research centers, institutes, and departments to lower the cost of producing and disseminating quality educational and scholarly publications. We also selectively work with other nonprofit institutions seeking to publish scholarly or general-interest work that will benefit the people of North Carolina.
If you would like to discuss a project, please complete a Publication Evaluation Form (Word docx download) and submit it to John McLeod, Director of the Office of Scholarly Publishing Services, at [email protected]. If you have other questions, contact John directly by email or by phone at 919-962-8419.
OSPS Frequently Asked Questions
What types of projects do you work on?
The Office of Scholarly Publishing Services (OSPS) helps partners in the University of North Carolina System to publish books, journals, and other scholarly work in print and digital formats. In terms of content, we work in STEM and HSS disciplines.
Will my project become a UNC Press publication?
No. The OSPS is a publishing services provider. Projects do not go through the UNC Press standard peer-review or editorial board approval. Depending on your project and your publishing goals, it may make sense for UNC Press to sell your book once it has been published, but the Press would be acting as distributor and not publisher. (If you would like for your book to be considered for publication by UNC Press, please see the submission guidelines on the UNC Press website.)
Who will be the publisher of my book?
We work with units in the UNC System such as departments, libraries, or research institutes. As publisher, the UNC System units select the works to be published and guide early processes such as peer review and editorial oversight. If you are an individual who works in the UNC System, you should consider if there is a logical institutional partner at your institution that wants to publish your work because it supports their mission in some way
What types of publishing services can you provide?
We currently offer services in three broad categories: 1) editorial, design, and production; 2) sales, marketing, and distribution; and 3) copyright and intellectual property. We can help with all these services or just handle one service as needed. We also advise on best practices, business planning, and publishing strategy.
Who owns copyright?
You or your university will most likely control copyright. You should consult your university’s copyright guidelines and your institutional partner to determine this. You can also choose to pursue licensing such as Creative Commons that is geared to open access works. We can advise you on intellectual property issues and options when we know more about your project.
How much do your services cost?
The OSPS is tasked with keeping costs as low as possible, but we are not funded to offer our services free of charge. Some content creators feel strongly about open access, while others are more concerned with keeping costs to their audience low while generating income for sustainability. We have models that can work for a range of missions and budgets.
Do you have a rate sheet or cost menu?
We do not have a standard rate sheet given the many variables among publishing projects to accurately generate one, but we can provide you with a cost estimate.
How do I get started?
The first step is for us to collect information about your project and your goals. Please submit a Publication Evaluation Form (Word docx download). We will follow up to discuss publishing strategies.
Publishing Initiatives in the UNC System: Examples of Impact
Many UNC System schools and colleges have publishing programs that disseminate their research to professionals, scholars, and students. The UNC School of Government is renowned for its books, reports, and other resources for people in state and local government. The NC State Extension’s books, manuals, reports, and guides are a trusted source of information for audiences ranging from agriculturalists to horticulturalists to home gardeners.
Libraries are key partners, and we have established ongoing publishing relationships with many of the libraries in the UNC System.
We support open access and low-cost textbooks that have a big impact on lowering student costs. The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics’ Contemporary Precalculus through Applications offers high schools, community colleges, and universities a high-quality option for a widely taught course. NC State University published Michael Steer’s six-volume Microwave and RF Design textbooks that are used in electrical engineering courses at NCSU and internationally.
We work with institutes and departments that publish scholarly series. NC State University’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures houses Editorial A Contracorriente, a publisher of one journal and two monograph series. UNC Chapel Hill’s Department of Romance studies publishes two journals and the North Carolina Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures series.
We have partnered on Andrew W. Mellon and NEH grant-funded projects to reissue large bodies of out-of-print books. Appalachian State University reissued many of the works published by the Appalachian Consortium Press. The Department for Germanic & Slavic Languages and Literatures at UNC Chapel Hill republished 124 books in the Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures series.
Numerous journals provide students with the opportunity to gain publishing experience or to publish their own work such as the Greensboro Review, International Poetry Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and Broad Street Scientific.
Publications Supported by the Thomas W. Ross Fund Publishing Grant
Open grant applications are now closed.
From 2017-2024, the University of North Carolina Press offered small grants through their Thomas W. Ross Fund to help publish scholarly content generated in the University of North Carolina System. One-time matching grants were made available to help with the costs of publishing being supported by UNC Press’s Office of Scholarly Publishing Services (OSPS). $120,000 in grant funding supported 43 projects across 13 UNC System institutions.
Applications were reviewed by a team comprised of David English, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs of the UNC System; Mark Simpson-Vos, Senior Executive Editor at UNC Press; John McLeod, Chief Operating Office and Director of the OSPS; John Sherer, Spangler Family Director of UNC Press; and Lucy Holman, University Librarian at UNC Wilmington.
Grants Awarded
Appalachian State University, to support the publication of Night Swimming, a poetry chapbook published by the Cold Mountain Review
Appalachian State University, to support the transition of the Appalachian Journal to the UNC Press journal program
East Carolina University, to support special promotional efforts for the North Carolina Literary Review
East Carolina University Sports & Community Development Lab, to help publish Community Building Via Sport: A Better Together Society by Stacy Warner
East Carolina University Institute for Rural Education, to support a new open access journal Theory & Practice in Rural Education
East Carolina University Joyner Library, to fund the publication of Project Management for Archivists: Befriending Your Backlog, a handbook for professional librarians and archivists
East Carolina University Joyner Library, to fund the publication of Freedom of Expression Across the Borders: Communication, Culture, and Language edited by Sachivio Shearman and Mary Tucker-McLaughlin
North Carolina A&T State University’s Bluford Library, to reissue and digitize four out of print works about the history of the university
North Carolina Central University, to support a new journal of undergraduate research
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, to help fund revised edition of the textbook Contemporary Precalculus through Applications
NCSU and the Society for Early English and Norse Electronic Texts, to publish a critical edition of Piers Plowman: The B-Version Archetype (Bx)
NCSU Department of English and the MFA Program in Creative Writing, to publish a collaborative novella written by a team of MFA candidates and Cadwell Turnbull
NCSU Department of Foreign Languages, to help expand the reach and impact of its Editorial A Contracorriente imprint which publishes Latin American studies monographs
UNC Asheville, to support the publication of the Global Humanities Reader, Volumes 1-3
UNC Chapel Hill Department of Dramatic Art, to fund PlayMakers Repertory Company: A History edited by Bobbi Owen and Adam Versényi
UNC Chapel Hill Department of Romance Studies, to reissue out-of-print titles in the North Carolina Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures series
UNC Chapel Hill Institute for the Study of the Americas, to support open access digital and affordable access print publications in the Studies in Latin America series
UNC Chapel Hill Writing for the Screen and Stage Program, to publish Twenty-Five Short Plays: Selected Works from the University of North Carolina Long Story Shorts Festival, 2011–2015
UNC Chapel Hill Writing for the Screen and Stage Program, to support the textbook, Sixteen Weeks to Fade Out: A Practical Guide to Screenwriting by Michael Acosta
UNC Charlotte Center for the Study of the New South, to publish Why Does No One In My Books Look Like Me?: Tobe and Ongoing Questions about Race, Representation, and Identity edited by Ashli Quesinberry Stokes
UNC Charlotte Department of History, to support promotional efforts and onboarding costs for The Latin Americanist
UNC Charlotte Gerontology Program, to publish The Delany Sisters Reach High by Amy Hill Hearth
UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library, to publish Faculty Experiences in Active Learning: A Collection of Strategies for Implementing Active Learning Across Disciplines
UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library, to fund the publication of Jewel in the Crown: Bonnie Cone and the Founding of UNC Charlotte by William Thomas Jeffers and Jessica Injejikian
UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library, to publish Odyssey for Democracy: Embracing a Vision of Hope and Change in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Clark Curtis
UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library, to publish Miss Bonnie’s Nurses: The First Fifty Years of Nursing at UNC Charlotte by Ann Mabe Newman and Dona Haney
UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library, to support the publication of the open textbook Shaping S-Curves: Choreography in Odissi by Kaus Sarkar
UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library, to support Race and Social Justice: Building an Inclusive Experience through Awareness, Advocacy, and Action, a publication by a team of faculty from UNCC
UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library, to help publish Subcritical: Third Culture Field Notes by Missy Eppes and Marek Ranis
UNC Greensboro Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, for the relaunch of the International Poetry Review
UNC Greensboro Libraries, to support the publication of the X-Culture Handbook of Collaboration and Problem Solving in Global Virtual Teams textbook developed in the Bryan School of Business and Economics
UNC Greensboro MFA in Creative Writing Program, to cover costs associated with transitioning the Greensboro Review into a partnership with UNC Press
UNC Wilmington Department of Film Studies, to support the journal Analog Cookbook
UNC Wilmington Randall Library, to support the publication of the open textbook Differential Geometry in Physics by Gabriel Lugo
UNC Wilmington Randall Library, to support the publication of Mind the Gap: Navigating Transitions in Life with Mindfulness by Beverley Foulks McGuire, an open access textbook for First Year Seminars
Western Carolina University Hunter Library, to reissue Mountain Days: A Journal of Camping Experiences in the Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, 1914-1938 by Paul M. Fink
Western Carolina University Hunter Library, to reissue Twenty Years Hunting and Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains by Samuel J. Hunnicutt
Western Carolina University Hunter Library, to reissue Just Over the Hill: Black Appalachians in Jackson County, Western North Carolina by Victoria A. Casey McDonald
Western Carolina University Hunter Library, to reissue Cataloochee: Lost Settlement of the Smokies
Winston-Salem State University School of Health Sciences, to transition and sustain its Journal of Best Practices in Health Professions Diversity: Research, Education, and Policy