AU Press has cultivated a strong list of publications in the areas of distance education, labour studies, Métis and Indigenous studies, gender studies, and the environment. However, we welcome any superior works of scholarship, regardless of subject area. We have a particular interest in often neglected forms of social and cultural history, including oral history and memoir, and in works that experiment with narrative form and/or challenge received wisdom. For a list of our series, visit our series page.
Should you be interested in submitting a manuscript to AU Press, please submit a book proposal to the director at director.aupress@athabascau.ca and review our Author Publication Guide.
Open Access
In keeping with Athabasca University’s mission of overcoming barriers to education, AU Press is committed to the open dissemination of scholarship to readers around the world.
As such, most AU Press publications are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. Our authors retain the copyright to their work.
All AU Press books are published in print and digital formats and are distributed internationally.
Accessible Books
Our long-standing commitment to the principles of open access and the removal of barriers to ideas and knowledge has earned us recognition from the Benetech group, a non-profit organization that creates innovative software for the social good. As a Benetech approved publisher, we have successfully demonstrated that our ebooks meet or exceed accessibility standards that support the needs of all readers, including those with perceptual (print) disabilities.
Editorial Excellence
AU Press is committed to editorial excellence. Our publications undergo rigorous peer review and thorough editing. AU Press editors work closely with authors on their manuscripts before and after peer review to ensure that ideas are presented not only with clarity, but with refinement, that documentation is accurate, and that authorial voice is retained.
Award-Winning Design
AU Press believes in the importance of design, for both digital and print formats. We are committed to high production quality and accessible design, and to creating unique packages for each of our projects. Our books are regularly selected for the Association of University Presses’ annual Book, Jacket, and Journal Show, which features the best in book design from the past year. AU Press books are often shortlisted or win the design awards at the Alberta Book Publishing Awards. See the full list of our awards on our Awards and Recognition page.
![[book cover] Without Apology](https://www.aupress.ca/app/uploads/120257_Without-Apology-cover.jpg)
![[book cover] Living on the Land](https://www.aupress.ca/app/uploads/120256_Living-on-the-Land-cover.jpg)
![[book cover] Alberta Oil and the Decline of Democracy in Canada](https://www.aupress.ca/app/uploads/120251_Alberta-Oil-and-the-Decline-of-Democracy-in-Canada-cover.jpg)
![[book cover] Film and the City](https://www.aupress.ca/app/uploads/120232_Film-and-the-City-cover.jpg)
Creative and Comprehensive Marketing
Each book published by AU Press receives its own marketing campaign. The immediate online access provided by our open access mandate makes social media a particularly effective marketing tool. Therefore, we put as much emphasis on digital marketing as traditional forms of publicity. You can find evidence of our sustained presence on social media and examples of the variety of content we have developed to promote our titles.
We regularly attend conferences to make connections and exhibit our books. Most notably, we exhibit annually at the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities and our books are on display at academic conferences such as Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, American Historical Association, American Political Science Association, American Sociological Association, Under Western Skies, Ethnohistory, Distance Teaching and Learning, World Conference for Online Learning, Parkland Institute, and many others. When we cannot attend a conference or event in person, we work in partnership with our distributors to ensure that our books are visible at relevant events.
We release two catalogues per year announcing our new books for the season. And all our trade titles are represented by Ampersand Inc. Where appropriate, we organize book launches, send out review and exam copies to academics and media outlets, advertise in local, national, and international media, and submit books for awards and competitions.
Why Open Access?
Learn more about the benefits of publishing in open access with AU Press.