Wydawnictwo UG

Regulations of the University of Gdańsk Publishing House

The principles of operation of the University of Gdańsk Publishing House and publications in the University of Gdańsk Publishing House are specified in the Regulations of the University of Gdańsk Publishing House, adopted by the Senate of the University of Gdańsk on July 8, 2024. The Regulations are an annex to the resolution of the Senate of the University of Gdańsk No. 52/21, amended by the Senate resolution No. 35/24  [link]

§ 1. Publishing House Organization

1. The Publishing House of the University of Gdańsk, hereinafter referred to as the Publishing House, provides support for the publishing process of academic textbooks, scientific and popular science monographs, journals and documentation-information publications in all fields of knowledge covered by the research and educational activities of the University of Gdańsk, as well as occasional publications.
2. Substantive supervision of the Publishing House is exercised by the vice-rector responsible for science.
3. The Publishing House is managed by a Director employed by the Rector.
4. The Publishing House includes a Printing Department and a University Bookstore.
5. The Publishing House maintains a register of its own publications.

§ 2. Publishing Plan

1. Individual organizational units of the University and authors submit publications for publication in the Publishing House by the end of February each year.
2. The Director has the right to accept for publication also publications not listed in the publishing plan.

§ 3. Publishing House Council

1. The Publishing House Council is responsible for:
   • reviewing annual publishing plans;
   • reviewing reports of the Director on the activities of the Publishing House;
   • shaping publishing policy and establishing strategic directions for the Publishing House activities.
2. The Publishing House Council is appointed by the Rector for the term of the University of Gdańsk authorities. The Council includes a representative of each faculty indicated by the dean, possessing at least a doctoral degree.
3. The Publishing House Council elects a chairman from among its members at its first meeting.

§ 4. Editorial Board

1. The Editorial Board, consisting of minimum 3 persons, is appointed by the Rector from among academic teachers employed at the University of Gdańsk distinguished by their publication record.
2. The Director manages the work of the Editorial Board.
3. The tasks of the Editorial Board are:
   1. ensuring high publishing standards and effective implementation of the Publishing House strategy;
   2. substantive assessment of publications submitted to the Publishing House;
   3. conducting the process of qualifying work for publication;
   4. making decisions regarding co-financing the publication of academic textbooks and monographs constituting habilitation dissertations.

§ 5. Process of Qualifying Work for Publication

1. The basis for substantive assessment of work submitted for publication is a publisher’s review, prepared by at least one reviewer. Every publication is subject to review.
2. Before deciding to send work for review, it is checked in the Publishing House using an anti-plagiarism system.
3. The Editorial Board may decide not to accept a book for publication and not to send it for review in case of justified doubts regarding substantive quality, reliability of the work or violation of publication ethics rules.
4. Work submitted by the author or editor of a collective work is sent by the Publishing House for scientific review to specialists in the given scientific discipline, not employed by the university where the author or editor is employed. The reviewer cannot be a person regarding whom there are justified doubts about their impartiality.
5. The choice of reviewer(s) is made by the Editorial Board. The name of the reviewer is not disclosed to authors or scientific editors at the stage of review preparation, and after receiving the review is disclosed provided the reviewer consents.
6. After receiving the review, it is transmitted to the author or editor with a preliminary decision on acceptance or rejection of the work for printing. The author or editor responds comprehensively to the review and submits their response together with the corrected work again to the Publishing House. In response to the review, the author addresses all comments point by point, explaining whether and how they were incorporated, and if some were omitted, should explain why.
7. The Editorial Board analyzes the author’s response to the review and makes a final decision on:
   1. acceptance of work for printing;
   2. rejection of work with written justification;
   3. sending work for re-review.
8. A manuscript containing part or all of the results of defended doctoral dissertations may be published solely under the name of the dissertation author, in the form of a monograph or a chapter in a collective work edited by.

§ 6. Financing

1. The Publishing House prepares a material and financial plan for a given budget year. It presents it for approval to the vice-rector responsible for science.
2. Publication of academic textbooks and monographs intended to constitute a habilitation dissertation or containing achievements constituting the basis for habilitation proceedings of up to 10 publishing sheets may be financed within the Publishing House budget provided they are previously listed in the publishing plan for the given year, referred to in § 2, whereby the Publishing House may co-finance maximum 2 habilitation dissertations per year from each Faculty and 6 textbooks in total from all faculties. For textbooks by the same authors, the Publishing House may co-finance a new textbook publication maximum once per 3 years (this does not apply to reprints of textbooks previously published).
3. The decision on financing is made each time by the Editorial Board. The cost of non-standard sheets and non-standard equipment (e.g. color illustrations, hardcover) and other types of publications are financed from funds indicated by the organizational units submitting the publication or by the authors.
4. The basis for deciding to accept a publication for printing is, besides a positive publisher’s review, a preliminary estimate of its publication.
5. In case of publications with high demand, the Director, after consulting the Editorial Board, may decide to finance a reprint from Publishing House funds.
6. Apart from textbooks and habilitation dissertations, the Publishing House may partially or fully finance the publication of books whose publication is profitable for the Publishing House due to great interest in the subject from Readers and books written by Authors on commission for the Publishing House. The decision on this matter is made by the Director of the Publishing House in consultation with the vice-rector responsible for science.

§ 7. Organization of the Publishing Process

1. The Director of the Publishing House is responsible for the publishing process.
2. The Director applies for the assignment of ISBN and ISSN numbers.
3. After accepting work for printing, the Director passes the printout for editorial processing.
4. The Publishing House may outsource all activities related to the publishing process, regardless of the type of publication, to other entities and persons.
5. The following basic print runs for particular groups of publications are adopted:
   1. monographs intended to constitute habilitation dissertations or containing achievements constituting the basis for habilitation proceedings – 140 copies;
   2. other monographs – 200 copies;
   3. textbooks – maximum 1/2 of the number of students for whom the textbook will be recommended within the next 3 years.
   4. In special cases, the print run may be changed.
6. The publication deadline – depending on book volume, quality of its preparation by the author and complexity degree is individually established for each book after assessment of the material submitted to the Publishing House and is specified in the author’s contract, which may be extended for reasons on the authors’ part.
7. Book publication rules are specified in the author’s contract, whereby the Publishing House reserves the right to make final decisions regarding typography solutions, cover design and is responsible for editorial corrections. The Publishing House does not accept covers designed by authors.

§ 8. Printing Department

1. The Publishing House is served by a Printing Department which provides printing services of materials of all types for the entire University of Gdańsk and may provide services to external entities.
2. The Head of the Printing Department is employed by the Chancellor upon request of the Publishing House Director.
3. The Printing Department conducts separate financial management from the Publishing House.

§ 9. University Bookstore

1. The Publishing House is served by a University Bookstore, where all books of the Publishing House and books of other publishers are distributed according to the needs of academic staff and students, as well as promotional gadgets of the University of Gdańsk.
2. A café operates in the bookstore run by an external entity specialized in this type of service, and the rules of café operation are regulated by a separate agreement.
3. Author meetings, promotional events and events of cultural and scientific nature may be organized in the bookstore.
4. The Head of the University Bookstore is employed by the Chancellor upon request of the Publishing House Director.
5. The University Bookstore conducts separate financial management from the Publishing House.

§ 10. Promotion and Distribution

1. The Publishing House publishes information about new titles in specialized periodicals, on its own website and on selected available websites. The Publishing House sends review copies of new titles to specialized journal editors, including those indicated by authors, as well as to press, radio and television. The Publishing House sends signal copies of new titles to bookstores cooperating regularly with the Publishing House.
2. The Publishing House sends mandatory copies to libraries, including 2 copies to the University of Gdańsk Library.
3. In addition to the traditional paper version, the Publishing House may distribute its publications in electronic version (as e-books) on digital platforms of specialized companies.
4. Publications no longer available in paper version and not included in electronic distribution as paid e-books, the Publishing House transfers in electronic version to the repository of the University of Gdańsk Library, where they are made available to external users under the CC license.
5. The Publishing House participates in nationwide book fairs, co-organizes book promotions and presents publications at conferences and events thematically related to the subject matter of published books, as well as, depending on needs, at other universities and scientific institutions. The Publishing House publishes information about promotions and accompanying events on websites in advance.
6. The Publishing House conducts book sales through wholesalers, bookstores operating in UG facilities and other bookstores as well as its own online bookstore. The Publishing House also conducts sales for individual customers.
7. Detailed procedures for establishing prices, discounts and rebates are regulated by a separate Rector’s regulation.
8. The Publishing House annually organizes a competition for the best scientific and educational book, as well as for the best book presenting the results of doctoral work. The rules for submitting publications and their evaluation are specified in the competition regulations.
9. The Publishing House with the consent of authors may make available online (on the Publishing House website, in a special tab) articles of academic staff contained in collective publications for internal use within the University – for staff, doctoral students and students for download at a cost in PDF file format.
10. The Publishing House Director in consultation with the vice-rector responsible for science may decide to liquidate overstock books, from which publication more than 4 years have elapsed, if these items do not sell.

§ 11. Contracts and Author Royalties

1. The Director signs a contract with the author on the transfer of author’s rights or a license agreement before sending the work for review. The Publishing House may terminate such a contract in case of negative review or rejection of the work for printing by the Editorial Board.
2. The author’s contract contains a provision regarding the amount of royalty due to respective authors or scientific editors for publication of books (except for monographs intended to constitute a habilitation dissertation or containing achievements constituting the basis for habilitation proceedings with a print run of 140 copies financed from Publishing House funds).
3. The author’s contract authorizes the Publishing House to make reprints without the author’s consent, however, before making a reprint the Publishing House is obliged to consult the currency of the content of the publication with the author. If, as a result of the consultation, it turns out that the content of the work requires updating, the Publishing House will propose to the authors a second updated edition.
4. The amount of royalty and the method of its payment is regulated by a separate Rector’s regulation.

§ 12. Activity Report

By the end of March each year, the Director of the Publishing House submits to the Senate a report on the activities of the Publishing House for the previous year.