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UC Press: Illuminating Knowledge

A distinguished legacy of academic publishing, fostering intellectual exploration across disciplines since 1893.

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About UC Press

Academic Foundation

The University of California Press, commonly known as UC Press, is an academic publishing house affiliated with the University of California. Established in 1893, its primary mission is to disseminate scholarly and scientific works authored by the faculty of the University of California system, which itself was founded 25 years prior in 1868.

Operational Structure

UC Press maintains its administrative headquarters in downtown Oakland, California. Complementing this are an editorial branch office located in Los Angeles and a dedicated sales office in New York City. The press also engages in international distribution through marketing offices strategically placed across Great Britain, Asia, Australia, and Latin America.

Governance and Oversight

Responsibility for the operations of the press rests with a Board composed of senior officers from the University of California. This Board holds the authority to approve all manuscripts for publication. Furthermore, an Editorial Committee, comprising distinguished faculty members from the university's nine campuses, ensures the academic rigor and quality of the published works.

A Legacy of Scholarly Publishing

Founding and Early Mission

Founded in 1893, the University of California Press was created with the specific purpose of publishing scholarly and scientific contributions from the faculty of the University of California, which had been established just 25 years earlier. This commitment to academic dissemination has remained central to its identity.

Typographic Heritage

In a notable collaboration between academia and artistry, the press commissioned the renowned type designer Frederic Goudy to create its corporate typeface, "University of California Old Style," between 1936 and 1938. While not always exclusively used today, this typeface represents a significant chapter in the press's design history.

Industry Engagement and Legal Landscape

University of California Press became a member of the Association of American Publishers (AAP). It was involved in the significant "Hachette v. Internet Archive" lawsuit, a case that ultimately led to the removal of access to a substantial number of books for global readers.

Scope of Publications

Annual Output and Holdings

Annually, UC Press publishes over 250 new book titles and approximately four dozen multi-issue academic journals. The press maintains an extensive backlist, with around 4,000 book titles currently in print, ensuring continued access to its diverse scholarly contributions.

Disciplinary Breadth

The press's publishing program spans a wide array of academic fields. Its core areas of focus include the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences, reflecting a commitment to comprehensive intellectual inquiry and the advancement of knowledge across these critical domains.

Pioneering Open Access

Collabra: Psychology & Elementa

Collabra represents UC Press's dedicated open access (OA) journal program. Currently, it publishes two prominent OA journals: Collabra: Psychology and Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. The press intends to expand this initiative further by acquiring additional journals.

Luminos: Transforming Monograph Publishing

Luminos is UC Press's innovative response to the evolving landscape of scholarly monographs. It operates as a transformative OA model, built on a partnership structure that shares costs and benefits. Luminos upholds the same rigorous standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing that characterize UC Press's traditional book publishing program.

Notable Contributions

Landmark Books

UC Press has published numerous influential works that have shaped academic discourse. These include seminal texts across various disciplines, from foundational anthropological studies to critical analyses of literature and society.

  • Language as Symbolic Action, Kenneth Burke (1966)
  • The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda (1968)
  • Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania, Jerome Rothenberg (1968; 50th anniversary edition 2017)
  • The Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain (definitive edition) (1969)
  • Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution (1969)
  • The Making of a Counter Culture, Theodore Roszak (1970)
  • Self-Consuming Artifacts: The Experience of Seventeenth-Century Literature, Stanley Fish (1972)
  • The Ancient Economy, Moses I. Finley (1973)
  • Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism, Marina Warner (1981)
  • Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education, Nel Noddings (1984)
  • Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age, Benjamin R. Barber (1984)
  • Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, Thomas Albright (1985)
  • Religious Experience, Wayne Proudfoot (1985)
  • The War Within: America's Battle over Vietnam, Tom Wells (1994)
  • George Grosz: An Autobiography, George Grosz (translated by Nora Hodges) (1998)
  • Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, Kevin Bales (1999)
  • Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn, Karen McCarthy Brown (2001)
  • A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America, Michael Barkun (2003)
  • Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History, Norman G. Finkelstein (2005)
  • Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume One, Mark Twain (2010)
  • Revival from Below, Brannon D. Ingram (2018)
  • Perfecting Women, Barbara D. Metcalf (1992)

California Fiction Series

Between 1996 and 2001, UC Press reissued a curated selection of novels under the "California Fiction" series. These titles were chosen for their literary merit and their capacity to illuminate the history and culture of California.

  • The Ford by Mary Austin
  • Thieves' Market by A.I. Bezzerides
  • Disobedience by Michael Drinkard
  • Words of My Roaring by Ernest J. Finney
  • Skin Deep by Guy Garcia
  • Fat City by Leonard Gardiner
  • Chez Chance by Jay Gummerman
  • Continental Drift by James D. Houston
  • The Vineyard by Idwal Jones
  • In the Heart of the Valley of Love by Cynthia Kadohata
  • Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Valley of the Moon by Jack London
  • Home and Away by Joanne Meschery
  • Bright Web in the Darkness by Alexander Saxton
  • Golden Days by Carolyn See
  • Oil! by Upton Sinclair
  • Understand This by Jervey Tervalon
  • Ghost Woman by Lawrence Thornton
  • Who Is Angelina? by Al Young

Organizational Framework

Geographic Presence

The University of California Press operates with a distributed structure, featuring its primary administrative offices in downtown Oakland, California. Key editorial functions are managed from a branch office in Los Angeles, while sales operations are centralized in New York City. This network facilitates broad reach and engagement.

Global Distribution

To ensure its scholarly works reach a worldwide audience, UC Press utilizes a network of marketing offices situated in Great Britain, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. This international presence is crucial for distributing its extensive catalog of books and journals.

Authority Control

Standardized Identifiers

To ensure consistency and facilitate discovery across various academic and archival databases, UC Press is cataloged using standardized authority control identifiers. These systems help link related resources and verify the identity of the institution.

Database Identifier
ISNI 0000000119574686, 2
VIAF 148948307
GND (Germany) 5087401-9
Library of Congress (US) n82118305
BnF (France) cb13510262r
NLA (Australia) an35576034
NKC (Czech Republic) ko2003183577
BN Portugal 64770
BN Poland 9811286629905606
NLI (Israel) 987007601484405171
CiNii DA12005759
Trove 10013510262
IdRef 050326139
SNAC ark:/99166/w69k8f54
Yale LUX 07b2cc51-1479-406b-8413-b2f3679aaf77

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References

References

A full list of references for this article are available at the University of California Press Wikipedia page

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Disclaimer

Important Notice

This page was generated by an Artificial Intelligence and is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The content is based on a snapshot of publicly available data from Wikipedia and may not be entirely accurate, complete, or up-to-date.

This is not professional advice. The information provided on this website is not a substitute for professional academic consultation, research guidance, or publishing advice. Always refer to the official University of California Press website and consult with qualified professionals for specific academic or publishing needs.

The creators of this page are not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for any actions taken based on the information provided herein.