The Stanford University Press Digital Publishing Initiative Receives $1.15 Million to Implement Phase 2 of the Program

The three-year grant will help accelerate growth and ensure ongoing success of the digital publishing program.

A proposal to continue the development of a digital publishing initiative at Stanford University has been awarded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Modeling how humanistic and social science research is presented and disseminated online, the Stanford University Press initiative is rethinking scholarly communication for the digital age.

The Stanford University Press program of Interactive Scholarly Works (ISWs) is recognized in the academic publishing world as a frontrunner in digital publishing, setting standards of composition, peer review, production, marketing, archiving, and preservation. Phase 1 of this program, also funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, published four interactive scholarly works, with this first batch of publications released via supDigital.org. During this initial phase, Stanford University Press considered dozens of submissions, conducted peer review on a carefully selected group, and proceeded to develop and produce these projects to the highest standards.

With Phase 2 funding, Stanford University Press will continue to build its program of ISWs, accelerating its reach and solidifying its brand. These efforts will result in a total of twenty publications released over the next three years, constituting a broad and diverse corpus that provides publishers, authors and institutions with concrete examples of how this new form of scholarly communication can be adopted as part of the academic considerations and evaluations of 21st-century research. The Phase 2 grant also includes a sub-award for a partnership with Rhizome, whose Webrecorder tool is already being implemented by the Press in its archiving efforts. Preservation and persistence continue to be crucial for ensuring ISWs endure within the scholarly record.

The Stanford University Press program of Interactive Scholarly Works (ISWs) is recognized in the academic publishing world as a frontrunner in digital publishing, setting standards of composition, peer review, production, marketing, archiving, and preservation.

The impact of the new digital channel for publication is already being experienced. “I am particularly pleased that for at least two of our authors, the publication of their ISWs has already had a direct effect on their tenure and promotion cases,” says Acquisitions Editor Friederike Sundaram. “Offering researchers the opportunity to innovate without having to step back from their career needs in a rigorous and well-established ecosystem of evaluation and accreditation has been a core goal of this program.” With several projects already slated for publication over the next three years and the team set to continue its guidance of scholars and fellow publishers and preservationists, Stanford University Press is positioned to have a lasting impact on the future of scholarly communication.

About Stanford University Press Founded in 1892, Stanford University Press publishes 130 books a year across a wide range of scholarly fields, including the humanities, social sciences, law, and business. In 1999 the Press formally became an auxiliary unit of the Stanford Libraries.

For more information, contact Gabrielle Karampelas at gkaram@stanford.edu or Stephanie Adams at sadams3@stanford.edu.