Services for authors and editors
Berlin Universities Publishing Books (BerlinUP Books) enables you to publish high-quality scholarly books in open access. Our services primarily address scientists and scholars of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). Comprehensive standard services are available free of charge for BUA members. Additionally, high-quality supplementary services are provided. Note that for external authors, a different financing model is applied.
The scientific quality of the books is ensured by a standardised peer review process based on international standards.
A special characteristic of BerlinUP Books is the close personal support of you as authors and editors throughout the entire publication process, from manuscript submission to publication. Besides the standard services, BerlinUP Books provides you with high-quality external services from reliable partners.
BerlinUP Books guarantees the worldwide visibility of its products. All titles are listed in international bibliographic databases and are available on global open-access platforms.
Contact: books@berlin-universities-publishing.de
Dagmar Schobert
Head of Department Publication Services, University Library TU Berlin
+49 30 314-76127
Robert Wiese
BerlinUP Books, Consultancy
+49 30 314-76119
Kathleen Forth
Author support, Consultancy, Production
+49 30 314-76131
Marléne Friedrich
Author support, Consultancy, Production
+49 30 314-76459
Technische Universität Berlin
University Library
Main Department Publication Services
Fasanenstr. 88
10623 Berlin
1. Proposal
Please provide us with the main information regarding your project and proposal via our proposal form.
2. Internal check
Initially, we review your proposal internally. In case you submit a manuscript for publication within one of our series, the relevant editorial board will decide whether to accept your manuscript, as well as the implementation of content quality assurance.
3. Peer review
After positive feedback, please submit the manuscript to the publisher as a PDF via a suitable file transfer system. BerlinUP Books will now initiate the necessary steps for review. The reviewers may suggest revisions in their reviews, which we ask you to incorporate.
4. Initial meeting
We will then invite you to a meeting where we will discuss the publishing contract, funding, and anticipated publishing schedule.
5. Contract conclusion
We will send you the contract via mail. If you agree with the terms and conditions, please print two copies of the contract, sign both copies, and then send them to us. Afterwards, we will send you a copy of your documentation back, also signed by us.
6. Metadata collection
We transfer the metadata from your proposal to our databases.
7. Imprint and front matter
BerlinUP Books creates the imprint and the front matter of your publication for you.
8. Production
Version A: Typeset manuscript
Please submit your typeset manuscript via a suitable file transfer system.
We will assign external typesetters to professionally typeset your publication. You will receive two proofs of your book for review. On the first proof, you can make corrections to the text. The execution of these corrections can be checked on the second proof. During the initial meeting, possibilities of financial support for external services can be discussed individually.
Option B: Print-ready manuscript
Please submit your print-ready manuscript after you have done the typesetting yourself.
For typesetting, please follow our instructions for manuscript preparation and typography. Include the publisher's imprint and inside title pages in your document.
8.1 Creating the print template and the online file
Please transfer the online file to the publisher in PDF/A format, suitable for long-term digital archiving, and the artwork in PDF/X format, suitable for the printing house.
8.2 Formal editing
BerlinUP Books will check your files for any formal errors. Following the formal proofreading, you will receive correction notes that we ask you to incorporate.
8.3 Transfer of the original files
For conversion purposes and internal archiving, please send us your original file(s), from which the artwork PDF was created.
9. Print approval
Once the manuscript is ready for printing from the publisher's point of view, we will send you the print release form, which we ask you to sign. After approximately two weeks, you will receive a proof copy to check for typographical errors. As soon as any final corrections have been incorporated, we request final printing approval for the production of the first edition and online publication.
10. Research data
BerlinUP Books supports you in making the research data, underlying your publication publicly available without restriction, at the time of publication. Thereby, the presented results can be contextualised, traced, and reproduced.
See also Research Data
11. Publication
BerlinUP Books publications are permanently available via the TU Berlin repository, DepositOnce. Long-term archiving is secured via the digital long-term archiving system of the German National Library. By using standardised interfaces, all titles are available on global open-access platforms (including the Directory of Open Access Books) and are referenced in national and international bibliographic databases.
Downloads
As the author, you grant the publisher simple, nonexclusive rights of use. This means that you are free to grant other parties simple rights of use and, if necessary, to publish the work elsewhere in print or electronically, either in full or in excerpts.
BerlinUP Books recommends that you use the Creative Commons CC BY licence for open access books. Under the condition that the name of the copyright holder (author or editor) is named, this licence allows you to reproduce and distribute the content. Adaptations may be made and distributed. The content may be used commercially. Text and data mining are permitted.
The bibliographic metadata are distributed under CC Zero (CC0). They may thus be retrieved and stored by anyone. They can be made available to third parties, in enriched form if necessary or in parts.
As an author, you contractually assure BerlinUP that you will not violate the rights of third parties (copyright and personal rights) with the publication and that you have obtained the necessary rights of use. The publisher will work closely with you to prevent infringements of third-party rights.
Related Topics
Related Links
Publications from BerlinUP Books are publicly accessible worldwide in open access – without legal, technical or financial barriers and without embargoes, which restrict reuse by third parties.
BerlinUP Books supports open science as a human right (cf. Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)).
The FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reuse) serve as the basis for the actions of BerlinUP Books.
The primary form of publication is online open access in various digital format.
Related Topics
Related Links
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations
- Sustainable Development Goals | United Nations
- FAIR principles
Open access policies
BerlinUP sees itself as an active participant in the open access community. The open access policies of the BUA partners shape the publishing policy. The publishing services should be seen as a contribution to the implementation of the Open Access Strategy for Berlin and the Berlin Declaration (2013).
Related Links
- Open access policy of the Freie Universität Berlin
- Open access policy of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
- Open access policies und guidelines of Technische Universität Berlin
- Open access at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Open Access Strategy for Berlin [only available in German]
- Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities
Rights
As the author, you grant the publisher simple, nonexclusive rights of use.
The recommended license is the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0.
The metadata of the publications are distributed under CC Zero (CC0).
Related Topics
Related Links
BerlinUP Books supports you in making the research data on which your publication is based accessible as Open Research Data at the time of publication. This way, the results presented in your publication can be contextualised, verified, and reproduced.
In certain cases, contractual, ethical, or legal regulations may prevent the publication of research data. In these cases, the contact persons for research data management at the involved institutions will advise you on alternative solutions (e.g., controlled access repositories, anonymisation and de-identification of data, sharing metadata only, and implementation of data use agreements).
The publication of research data as supplements to publications is not favoured.
1. Who can publish with BerlinUP Books?
BerlinUP Books services are mainly provided for researchers at Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Nevertheless, authors from external institutions are also welcome to publish with BerlinUP Books.
2. How can I submit a proposal or manuscript?
Please fill out the proposal form with basic information regarding your project. After a positive response to the proposal, you can submit the manuscript in PDF format via a suitable file transfer system (e.g., tubCloud, GigaMove, and WeTransfer).
3. Who decides which books will be published?
BerlinUP Books reviews your proposal and submits it to the Scientific Advisory Board. The Scientific Advisory Board checks whether the manuscript fits into the publishing program.
The inclusion of a publication in one of the existing series is made by the editors of the series.
Furthermore, all BerlinUP Books publications must have undergone a defined quality assurance process. The editors are responsible for this. For single publications and monographs, peer review is organised by the publisher.
4. Who owns the copyright to books published by BerlinUP Books?
The copyright is retained by you as the author. You grant the publisher simple, nonexclusive rights of use. This means that you are free without limitation to grant other parties simple rights of use and to use or publish the work in whole or in parts elsewhere.
5. What rights do the users of my publication have?
The recommended licence for BerlinUP Books book publications is the Creative Commons licence CC BY 4.0. This licence allows third parties to distribute, modify, and combine a work with other works, including commercially, as long as the author of the original is credited. The rights of the author are preserved by the obligation to mention the author's name.
6. Who is responsible for obtaining the rights to copyrighted material?
As the author, you are responsible for obtaining the rights to use copyrighted material. You assure the publisher that you hold the copyright to all parts of the work and that the rights of third parties, particularly copyrights and personal rights of third parties, are not violated by the publication.
7. How long does the publication process take?
The length of the publication process depends on the review process and the range of publishing services provided. We will discuss an individual production schedule with you.
8. How can I support the marketing as an author?
BerlinUP strongly encourages you to promote your own publications. Please use all available options, for example, personal websites, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.