Submitting your manuscript

Preparing and submitting your manuscript and illustrations

Links to all UCL Press author guidance documents follow this short text. Submitted projects that don’t follow our guidance will be returned for resubmission, so please familiarise yourself with our requirements as soon as you can after contract signature.

Writing

Your commissioning team will be available throughout the writing process to answer any questions. While you’re writing, remember to bear in mind the agreed terms of the contract, such as the word count, the number of images and the submission date. Any change to these terms must be negotiated with your commissioning editor prior to submission. Also, remember to ensure that any third-party material is cleared for publication and that the permissions granted to you meet our requirements.

Submission

The requirements for successful submission of your manuscript, illustrations and supporting materials are set out in the first pages of the Guidelines for Authors. You’ll also find a checklist in the Submission Form to ensure that you don’t forget anything. Your commissioning team will be glad to answer any questions as you prepare the work.

You’ll submit your final manuscript after you’ve made the agreed revisions suggested in peer review and/or by your commissioning editor. Your commissioning editor will assess the final manuscript and inform you when it’s been formally accepted for publication.

Production

Once your final manuscript has been accepted, your book project passes to a production editor. The production editor (or a project manager working on their behalf) oversees the project from this stage to final proofs and then prepares the files for online and print publication. They’ll be your main contact during the production phase.

Our aim is to produce titles to the highest production and editorial standards. You’ll be offered professional copy-editing, proofreading, typesetting and cover design. Where stated in the contract, authors are required to provide their own index. We work to agreed production schedules from submission of the project to publication.

On publication, you’ll receive complimentary author/editor copies of your book, as outlined in your contract, as well as a link to the open access version. Our marketing team will give you guidance on how you can help to promote your book to the widest audience possible.

We try to limit post-publication corrections as much as possible. As our books are widely disseminated across multiple platforms and in multiple formats, it’s complicated and costly to resupply the files, and we can’t retract the versions already in circulation. We assess correction requests on a case-by-case basis and judge the implications of making/not making the correction. Please contact your production editor if you have any queries about post-publication corrections.

Submission guidance and documents not available on this page

Your editorial team will send you the following documents on signature of a contract. They’re essential for a successful submission of your draft or final project. Please ask your editorial team if you don’t have them.

Cover image guidance – The final choice of cover rests with us but we aim to use your ideas to agree a cover that’s mutually preferable. This guide outlines the most effective approach to selecting a cover image for UCL Press.

Permissions Guidance and Request Form – Includes the terms needed from copyright holders for third-party materials. Permissions and source information should be as detailed as possible at time of submission. The guidance also sets out the rules around consent or ‘model release’ for images that include identifiable people and our approach to images featuring identifiable children. Please read these carefully as we’ll reject images for which consent isn’t given.

Submission Form – This contains all the information we’ll use to build the book’s record. It also has a checklist to help you ensure that you’ve completed all the elements for a successful submission.

Resources

Full guidelines for authors
Please take some time to familiarise yourself with all aspects of this guidance. You’ll find notes on house style, referencing, illustrative matter and what to expect during production. Essential information about how to submit your project drafts appear at the top of the guidance, and all elements must be followed carefully.

Please note that we expect to receive a manuscript that’s no more than 10% longer or shorter than the length agreed in your contract. Any significant change in length must be agreed with your commissioning editor prior to submission. The same applies to the number of figures.

Artwork submission guidelines
This is a more detailed version of the artwork notes in our main Guidelines for Authors. Please read these carefully if you’re including illustrations in your book.

Please ensure that all illustrations are provided when you submit your manuscript so that we can begin our in-house checks immediately. Any figures that don’t meet our requirements will be rejected before the book goes into production. We may also reject line art if it fails to meet requirements for accessibility or is overly complex. Please contact a member of the editorial team as early as you can before submission if you foresee any issues with your artwork or permissions.

Please note that we expect to receive the number of figures agreed in the contract. Any change in that number must be agreed with your commissioning editor before submission.

You’ll be asked to provide a completed Artwork and Permissions spreadsheet with your submission. If you don’t have this file, or if you’re unsure of what you need to do, please contact a member of the editorial team. You’ll need to provide evidence of permission where third-party images have been included.

For edited volumes, general editors are responsible for ensuring that their contributors provide illustrations and permissions that meet our guidelines.

Author-date referencing guidelines
UCL Press accepts references that use most known and recognised formats, so long as they’re internally consistent. However, we prefer to work either with author-date systems or notes and bibliography systems. Here’s a guide to our preferred styles for author-date referencing.

Notes and bibliography referencing guidelines
UCL Press accepts references that use most known and recognised formats, so long as they’re internally consistent. However, we prefer to work either with author-date systems or notes and bibliography systems. Here’s a guide to our preferred styles for notes and bibliography referencing.

Indexing guidelines
The guidelines set out how you can build an index for your book if your contract specifies that you’re to provide it.

Alt text author guidelines
If you’re including illustrations in your book, you’ll need to provide alternative text (alt text) that can be accessed by a screen reader. This should be included as part of your submission. This is usually a short description of a sentence or two, but for more complex images a long description may also be required alongside the short one. Please enter all alt text in the Artwork and Permissions spreadsheet. If you don’t have this file, or are unsure of what you need to provide, please contact a member of the editorial team.

For edited volumes, general editors are responsible for ensuring contributors provide usable alt text. General editors may want to provide the text for the whole volume to ensure consistency.

Manuscript elements
Prelims section – should include any of the following in this order: Dedication, Contents list, List of figures, List of tables, List of contributors, List of abbreviations, Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgements.

Sample monograph prelims Sample monograph prelims
Please follow the style and appearance in this sample when preparing the prelims for a monograph.

Sample edited collections prelims Sample edited collections prelims
Please follow the style and appearance in this sample when preparing the prelims for an edited volume.