Publication Guide
NYU Press is the scholarly publishing arm of New York University, founded in 1916 by chancellor Elmer Ellsworth Brown and today a department of the NYU Division of Libraries. The important thing to know before you plan a submission: NYU Press is a book publisher. Its list is monographs, edited collections, readers and trade-crossover scholarship. It does not run a journal portfolio, so there is no article processing charge, no rolling article submission system, and no read-and-publish agreement to check.
That changes what "submitting" means. Instead of uploading a finished manuscript to an editorial system and waiting for a first decision, you pitch a project to a named acquisitions editor, revise with them, then go through external peer review and a faculty editorial board vote. This guide covers what the press publishes, how the proposal and review process works, what open access looks like for books, and how to prepare your files.
Which NYU Press route fits your project?
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a finished or near-finished scholarly monograph in the humanities or social sciences | Standard book proposal - pitch the relevant acquisitions editor by email with an abstract, annotated table of contents and one or two sample chapters. |
| Be assembling an edited collection or reader | Edited volume proposal - same materials plus contributor bios and a realistic delivery schedule; the press will want to see that contributors are committed. |
| Want the book free to read on publication | Open Square - NYU Press's open-access book platform. Discuss funding early: OA monographs are paid for by grants, institutional programmes or subventions, not by the author personally. |
| Be publishing a short-form or digitally enhanced project | Digital projects - the press runs initiatives such as Enhanced Networked Monographs and the Keywords collections alongside conventional books. |
| Represent another press looking for US distribution | Partner press programme - NYU Press distributes Monthly Review Press, New Village Press, University of Regina Press, Wits University Press, University of Guam Press and Fonograf Editions. |
What NYU Press actually publishes
The list is concentrated rather than encyclopaedic, and it is strongest where NYU's own faculty strengths are:
- American studies and history, including media and cultural history.
- Race and ethnic studies - African American, Asian American and Latinx studies are all long-running programmes.
- Gender, sexuality and queer studies.
- Law and criminology, including critical race theory and criminal-justice policy.
- Religion and Jewish studies, a programme the press has been known for since the mid-twentieth century.
- Sociology, anthropology and urban studies, often with a New York City frame.
- Translated classics through the Library of Arabic Literature, a parallel-text Arabic-English series.
The press also has a long history with major editorial projects - it published The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman - and with award-winning single-author books such as Henry Jenkins's Convergence Culture.
Open access at NYU Press
Open access for books works differently from journals, and the difference is the single most common source of confusion.
| Route | What it means | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Priced edition (default) | Print plus ebook, sold through Ingram in the US and Combined Academic Publishers in the UK | Readers and libraries |
| Open Square | The press's OA book platform; titles are free to read online | Grants, institutional OA-monograph programmes, or a publication subvention |
| Green / self-archiving | Chapter or manuscript deposit, negotiated in the contract | No fee; terms vary per title |
There is no standing price list to quote, because there is no APC. If open access matters to you, raise it in the proposal stage - funding usually has to be lined up before the contract is signed, not after.
Peer review and the editorial board
NYU Press follows the standard American university-press model:
- Editorial assessment. Your acquisitions editor decides whether the project fits the list.
- External peer review. The manuscript or sample chapters go to scholarly readers, normally two, who write substantive reports.
- Author response. You reply to the reports and revise.
- Faculty editorial board. The board votes on whether to authorise a contract.
- Contract and production. Copyediting, design, marketing and distribution follow.
Budget several months for steps two to four. Reviewer turnaround, not editorial indecision, is usually what sets the pace.
How to submit a proposal
Proposals go by email to the acquisitions editor who covers your subject - the press states it no longer accepts submissions by post. A complete proposal includes:
- A one-to-two-page description of the book and its argument
- The intended audience and the fields it speaks to
- Three or four competing titles and how yours differs
- An annotated table of contents with chapter summaries
- An estimated word count and completion date
- Details of any illustrations
- Contributor biographies, for edited collections
- One or two sample chapters, ideally including the introduction
- Your current CV
Contracted authors receive the press's manuscript-preparation guidelines, an author questionnaire, and keyword, abstract and alt-text guidance.
Formatting and citation style
NYU Press works in Chicago style, the norm for humanities and social-science monographs; notes-and-bibliography is typical for history and literary work, author-date for social science. Follow the manuscript-preparation guidelines your editor sends over any general advice, and settle permissions for images and long quotations early - clearing rights is frequently the step that delays production.
Ethics and integrity
As a non-profit university press governed by a faculty editorial board, NYU Press's quality control sits in external peer review and that board vote rather than in journal-style ethics machinery. The press supports the Initiative for Open Citations. Standard scholarly expectations apply: disclose overlap with your own previously published work, secure permissions for third-party material, and tell your editor promptly if an error surfaces after publication so a correction or corrected reprint can be arranged.








