Editorial and Production Services
UC Press Publishing Services provides editorial and production services to University of California units to support academic, research, cultural, and professional publishing programs at any stage of development—whether established, emerging, or in the planning phase. If your unit’s mission includes disseminating academic scholarship or supporting faculty authorship, consider UC Press’s fee-based editorial, design, and production services.
Who These Services Are For
Fee-based services are available to all University of California academic and research institutes, centers, departments, schools, colleges, cultural programs, and administrative offices (university affiliates) with their own editorial vetting process and publishing program. Services are not available to individual authors. If you are a faculty or staff member seeking professional publication management, editorial, design, typesetting, or printing support, please reach out to your affiliated department to determine if they have an agreement with us in place. If not, schedule a consultation with the Publishing Services program manager.
Range of Publications Supported
We offer modular editorial and production services for scholarly publications, including books, conference proceedings, casebooks, annual editions, policy and research reports, course books, and other academic literature.
Publication Management
Collaborating with a professional publisher can transform an academic unit’s scholarly output into a professional, impactful publishing program. Whether your organization’s core activities focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, research, education, innovation, training, or public engagement, there are often significant opportunities to create book-length publications aimed at an academic, policymaker, professional, student, or general audience.
Editorial and Production Services provides structured publication management and stand-alone services to support these efforts. Whether a work is distributed free of charge or offered for sale, Editorial and Production Services supports authors, editors, and publication managers throughout the publishing process—managing workflows, offering tailored levels of copyediting, and developing covers and interiors that enhance and support the content.
Services Available
Editorial
Design, production, and accessibility
Manufacturing
Project Management
Cover and interior design
Print manufacturing
Copyediting
Standardization of tables, charts, graphs, and maps
Web PDF creation
Alt text creation
Typesetting
EPUB creation
Proofreading
Accessible EPUBs
Indexing
*All services are available based on a fee and can be used independently. Publishing Services also offers Fulfillment and Distribution Services.
Costs for Services
All services are fee based, and each type of service can be used on a stand-alone basis or in combination with other services. Estimated budgets and production schedules are created for each project based on the length of the project, the complexity of the project (number of images, design elements), and the type of services required. The fee for services is due upon completion of the project.
Getting Started
The Publishing Services approach is structured yet flexible and recognizes that each project is unique.
Services are tailored to the unit’s specific needs.
Each unit (recharge department) must have its own Memo of Understanding (MOU) in place with the press that outlines the services required, the scope of the work, and the approval process. MOUs are signed by the director of the unit and their business manager. Services cannot start until the MOU is signed.
Books must be vetted by the sponsoring university affiliate unit prior to submission. Publishing Services does not offer peer review. Manuscripts are not accepted until they are complete and permission for any external content has been secured. This minimizes changes and costs after the editorial and design process starts.
While individual faculty and staff are not eligible to submit projects, Publishing Services can craft an agreement with any UC department or unit. If your unit does not currently have an agreement in place, please ask your program director or dean to contact the Publishing Services program manager to initiate the process.
Project Complexity Classifications
Project complexity
Description
Typical characteristics
Simple
Clearly defined scope with minimal complexity. Clean, complete files requiring limited coordination.
- Fewer than 100,000 words (400 manuscript pages)
- Fewer than 25 images
- Minimal formatting or design needs
Medium
Manuscripts with maps, tables, or charts.
- 100,000–140,000 words
- More than 4 tables, charts, or graphs
- 25–50 images
- Translations
Complex
High level of complexity, customization, or technical requirements.
- More than 150,000 words
- 50–100 images
- Multipart publications
- Accessibility remediation or creation
- Tight timelines
Custom
Specialty and gift books; pedagogically informed color design to support navigation, emphasis, and comprehension (textbooks, policy reports)
- More than 100 images
- Client-specific custom interior
- Creation of a style guide for publication program
- Color design
- Branded design requirements
Schedules [Dennis: The section on project complexity could be hidden unless clicked]
Similar to costs, project schedules are individually created for each publication based on the complexity and length of the manuscript. The timelines below provide the average time for individual services based on a simple project (a 400-page manuscript containing fewer than 25 images). Some services may be completed simultaneously.
Service
Average turnaround time
*Time allotted for unit approval of work is not included in the estimates below
Copyediting
5 weeks
Alt text creation and accessibility remediation
4 weeks
Custom interior design samples
3 weeks
Cover design
3 weeks
Redrawing images
6 weeks
Typesetting
3 weeks
Indexing
4 weeks
Proofreading
3 weeks