Publication Guide
University of California Press (UC Press) is the non-profit publishing division of the University of California system. Founded in 1893, it is one of the oldest and most respected university presses in the United States, publishing about 50 scholarly journals alongside roughly 250 new books a year. Its journal list is strongest in the humanities and social sciences - film and media studies, history, literature, area studies, music, sociology of culture - with selected science titles, most visibly the open-access journals Collabra: Psychology and Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.
UC Press has also been an open-access leader among university presses: it launched the Luminos open-access book program and the Collabra journal program in the mid-2010s, well before most peers. This guide covers how to pick the right UC Press journal, what open access costs, how peer review works, and how to submit.
Which UC Press journal fits your paper?
UC Press journals serve very different fields and publishing models. Use the table below to find the right starting point.
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have an empirical psychology paper and want affordable Gold OA | Collabra: Psychology - the press's flagship open-access journal, with a low APC (~$975) and a mission-driven publishing model. |
| Work on environmental or Anthropocene science and need Gold OA | Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene - a fully open-access, CC BY science journal (APC ~$1,950; confirm on its fees page). |
| Write in film, media, or visual culture | Film Quarterly - one of the most respected film-studies journals in the world, published since 1958. |
| Have an applied management or strategy article | California Management Review - UC Berkeley-affiliated management journal bridging research and practice. |
| Work in literary history or Victorian studies | Nineteenth-Century Literature - a leading venue for anglophone literary scholarship of the period. |
| Work in public history, Asian politics, or contemporary affairs | The Public Historian, Asian Survey, or Current History - long-running field journals in their disciplines. |
What UC Press actually publishes
About 50 peer-reviewed journals, most of them subscription-based humanities and social-science titles, many published on behalf of scholarly societies. The portfolio includes:
- Open-access science and psychology - Collabra: Psychology and Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, both fully OA under CC BY licenses.
- Film, media, and music - Film Quarterly, Music Perception, Journal of Popular Music Studies.
- History and area studies - The Public Historian, Asian Survey, Current History, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences.
- Literature and culture - Nineteenth-Century Literature, Gastronomica.
- Law, policy, and management - Federal Sentencing Reporter, California Management Review.
On the books side, UC Press publishes about 250 new titles a year, including the Luminos open-access monograph program, which applies the same selection and peer-review standards as its conventional list.
Open access and APCs
UC Press supports three OA routes for journals, plus Luminos for books:
- Gold OA - fully open-access journals, led by Collabra: Psychology and Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. Default license CC BY.
- Hybrid OA - an open-access option on selected subscription titles; availability varies by journal.
- Green OA - self-archiving of manuscripts is permitted; check each journal's policy page for the allowed version and any embargo.
| Route | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Collabra: Psychology (Gold OA) | ~$975 | Low-cost, mission-driven model; waiver support for authors without funds |
| Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (Gold OA) | ~$1,950 | CC BY; confirm current fee on the journal's publication-fees page |
| Hybrid OA on subscription titles | Varies | Offered on selected journals; see the journal's author page |
| Subscription publishing (non-OA) | $0 to author | The default for most UC Press humanities and social-science journals |
Most UC Press journals charge authors nothing: the majority of the list is subscription-based, so publishing a standard article is free. APCs apply only when you choose an OA route. Fees are revised periodically - always check the journal's current price list before submission.
Peer review process
- Default model: double-anonymized peer review is the norm across UC Press journals, in line with humanities and social-science practice.
- Open-access titles: Collabra: Psychology uses rigorous, methods-focused review and supports open-science practices such as data and materials transparency.
- Turnaround: varies widely by field; humanities titles commonly take 2-4 months to a first decision. Check the individual journal's author guidelines for stated timelines.
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Browse the UC Press journals list at online.ucpress.edu and match scope, not just prestige.
- Read the author guidelines. Each journal has its own submission requirements, word limits, and style notes.
- Format in Chicago style. Most UC Press journals use Chicago - either author-date or notes-bibliography, per the journal. SciSpace templates can handle the formatting for you.
- Submit via Editorial Manager. Most UC Press journals accept submissions through Editorial Manager; the journal's page links to the correct portal.
- Respond to review. Expect substantive, field-specific reader reports, especially at the society-owned titles.
Ethics and integrity
UC Press is a member of COPE and OASPA, and its journals follow COPE guidance on corrections, retractions, and disputes. As a university press, its mission-driven, non-profit status underpins its editorial independence; its open-access programs (Collabra, Elementa, Luminos) publish under CC BY licenses with transparent fee policies.
