(12 Nov 2026) A coalition of university presses has launched a new charter aimed at strengthening trust, quality and transparency in scholarly publishing, as publishers respond to growing concerns around research integrity, artificial intelligence and financial sustainability.
The University Press Charter, launched during University Press Week (9-13 November), brings together university presses behind a shared commitment to support high-quality scholarship and highlight the distinctive role university-based publishers play within the research ecosystem.
The initiative was founded by seven presses in a collaboration led by Cambridge University Press and Bristol University Press. Alongside the two organisers, the founding group includes Edinburgh University Press, Liverpool University Press, Manchester University Press, Princeton University Press and University of London Press.
The charter commits signatories to putting quality and integrity at the heart of scholarly publishing, increasing transparency around publishing services and costs, developing responsible approaches to artificial intelligence, expanding global participation in the creation and sharing of knowledge, supporting responsible research assessment, and working collaboratively across the scholarly communities they serve.
The charter also seeks to draw attention to the role university presses play within scholarly communications. According to its founders, university-based publishers reinvest any financial surpluses in publishing and the wider academic mission, while supporting specialist, multilingual and long-form scholarship that may have significant scholarly or public value despite limited commercial returns.
More to be found here.
