Publishing Prize supporting information

As a supervisor, you may wish to encourage a former student to make an application. Or a student may contact you to support their application.

What work is needed on my part?

You will need to complete the supervisor’s section of the application form, and submit the completed form, along with the sample chapter, on behalf of the author.

If you also act as academic mentor, you will need to commit to helping the author through certain aspects of the publication process.

How do I enter a submission?

The thesis author completes the application form, providing information about themselves, their thesis, the proposed monograph and how they will transform their assessed work into this different format.

The form needs a supporting paragraph from you as the PhD supervisor, as well as a direct quote from the examiners’ report on suitability for publication.

There is also a place for the author to supply the details of someone who has agreed to act as an academic mentor. You may also take the role of mentor.

Once complete, you need to submit the form, along with a sample chapter of the proposed monograph provided by the author to: ecpublishingprize@leeds.ac.uk

Is this prize right for my student?

This prize is for students who are interested in the advantages that publishing an OA monograph could give in terms of career progress, especially given current expectations around a growing commitment to OA monograph publication by funders and for the next REF. If they are committed to maximum dissemination of their research to the widest possible audience but lack of funding for publication is a barrier then they should consider applying.

It is important to understand the two elements of the prize.

The first part sees the selection of the final list of prize winning proposals. The second sees the proposal taken through the WRUP peer review and commissioning process, with the hope that this will result in publication of the monograph proposed.

The two parts of the prize are linked and submission of a proposal is a commitment to follow the process through publication, if selected as a prize winner. This means that authors need to be able to commit to doing the work required to turn their thesis into a monograph, as these are very different research outputs.

They will have to engage with the peer review and editorial process, using feedback to develop the manuscript to its maximum potential. They must also be satisfied with WRUP as publisher. While the University of Leeds completely understands an academic’s right to publish where they choose, WRUP’s relationship with Leeds means they are confident in the quality of both the publication process and output, and in the cost effective model used. This maximises the number of prize winners we can support through publication. WRUP’s open access model also connects with the institutions’ commitment to supporting the open access agenda.

They will also have to commit to not submit their proposal, or others based on the same thesis or research, to other publishers until the shortlist is finalised. Prize winners will be committed to publishing their proposal with WRUP.

Entering the prize commits the author to engage with all the elements. If they are not comfortable with any of the elements of the prize, they should discuss their concerns or ask any questions before submitting by contacting: ecpublishingprize@leeds.ac.uk