Membership Guidelines
Admission to Membership and Maintenance of Membership
As revised June 14, 2007
A. Preamble
The purposes of the Association are to encourage dissemination of the fruits of research and to support university presses in their endeavor to make widely available scholarly knowledge and the most important results of scholarly research; to provide an organization through which the exchange of ideas relating to university presses and their functions may be facilitated; to afford technical advice and assistance to learned bodies, scholarly associations, and institutions of higher learning; and to do all things incidental to and in furtherance of the foregoing purposes without extending the same.
B. Types of Membership
The Association admits members in four categories: (1) full membership, (2) associate membership, (3) international membership, and (4) introductory membership.
1. Full Membership
Eligible for full membership are nonprofit university presses, defined as the scholarly publishing arm of a university or college or a group of such institutions within a state or geographic region, located within the Americas and publishing primarily in English, that satisfy the following criteria:
(a) Eligible presses must be an integral part of one or more such colleges and universities, and should be so recognized in the manual of organization, catalog, website, or other official publication of at least one such parent institution. The organization and functions of the university press must lie within the prescription of its parent institution or institutions.
(b) A committee or board of the faculty of the parent institution or institutions shall be charged with certifying the scholarly quality of the publications that bear the institutional imprint.
(c) Publication of ten or more scholarly titles in the twenty-four months preceding the date of application shall be required for admission to full membership. Scholarly books, journals, and digital projects that include original scholarly content will all be counted to satisfy this requirement. The word "scholarly" is used here in the sense of original research of a character usually associated with the scholarly interests of a university or college. (Textbooks, manuals of a synthetic character or intended for class use, and publications for which the press serves primarily as a printer and/or distributor for other departments or divisions of the university or college are not to be included in the aforementioned minimum scholarly publishing requirement.)
(d) An acceptable scholarly publishing program shall have the benefit of the service of not fewer than three full-time equivalent employees, of whom one shall have the rank and functions of director. This official shall report, organizationally, to the President of the university or college, or to an officer at the vice-presidential or decanal level (i.e., an officer reporting either to the President or to the chief academic officer) having both academic and fiscal authority, or to the designated representative of a group of such institutions who shall have both kinds of authority.
Any press satisfying these requirements shall be eligible in principle for election to full membership in the Association.. Annual dues for full members shall be set from time to time by the Board.
2. Associate Membership
Presses of non-degree-granting scholarly institutions and associations may apply for associate membership, providing those institutions are incorporated as not-for-profit and that the presses satisfy the requirements for membership, except that the auspices and structures of the parent organizations of such presses will in all instances be those of non-degree-granting institutions or scholarly associations rather than those of universities. Applicants for associate membership should be in a state or geographic region located within the Americas and publishing primarily in English. In the absence of an editorial committee or board, an applicant for associate membership shall observe commonly accepted standards of editorial review.
Associate members shall enjoy such rights and privileges as determined by the Board of Directors, including the right to serve on the Board of Directors and on the Standing Committees of the Association and the right to vote on any business conducted by it. Associate members shall not be eligible to participate in the Association's statistical programs for full members. The number of associate members shall not exceed thirty-five percent of the number of full members of the Association and no more than one associate member representative may serve on the Board at any one time. Annual dues for associate members shall be set from time to time by the Board.
3. International Membership
International membership may be applied for by (a) university-affiliated scholarly publishers and presses of non-degree-granting scholarly institutions and associations in parts of the world not embraced by the Americas and (b) such presses within the Americas that publish primarily in languages other than English.
Candidates for international membership will be expected to provide evidence concerning the size and scholarly character of their publishing programs but will not be expected to meet the staffing or organizational requirements of full membership.
International members shall enjoy all rights and privileges of full membership except the right to vote in any business conducted by the Association. Any reference elsewhere in the By-Laws to a voting right, therefore, shall be so read as to exclude international members. International members shall not be eligible to participate in the Association's statistical programs. Annual dues for international members shall be set from time to time by the Board.
4. Introductory Membership
Eligible for introductory membership are nonprofit scholarly publishers that intend to apply for AAUP membership in one of the other categories either during their introductory term or at the end of that term.
Candidates for introductory membership will be expected to provide evidence concerning the scholarly character of their publishing programs and information about present staffing, reporting relationships, review processes, and also any changes or developments proposed in these areas, but they will not be expected to meet the publication rate, staffing, or organizational requirements of full membership. Presses may not stay in the introductory category for more than three years.
At any time during the introductory period introductory members may apply for regular membership in the appropriate category. If a press does not wish to continue as an introductory member for three years, it may resign from the Association after payment of its current annual dues. After three years, the introductory membership is automatically terminated.
Introductory members shall enjoy such rights and privileges as determined by the Board of Directors, but in no event shall their rights and privileges extend to service on the Board of Directors or on the Standing Committees of the Association or voting in any business conducted by it. Any reference elsewhere in the By-Laws to a voting right, therefore, shall be so read as to exclude introductory members. Annual dues for introductory members shall be set from time to time by the Board.
C. Application, Admission, and Cancellation
1. Application
All inquiries from prospective applicants for membership in the Association are to be directed to the Membership Manager of AAUP. The Membership Manager shall advise the candidate of the substance of these Guidelines on Admission to Membership and Maintenance of Membership, and shall require as evidence of satisfactory compliance with them for all membership categories, except the Introductory Membership, the following materials for submission to the Committee on Admissions and Standards:
(a) One copy of each of 10 or more different scholarly titles published by the applicant and certified by its faculty editorial board or committee in the twenty-four months preceding the date on which the application for membership is filed, and full runs of the issues of any journals for the year or years in which a journal serves as one of the titles. If original digital publications are submitted, the applicant will provide access to committee members.
(b) A list of the peer reviewers (names and affiliations) for each of the books or original digital publications submitted as part of the application. Published reviews of the titles and information about scholarly awards received may be submitted as part of the application.
(c) Copies of the applicant press's catalogs for the past two years for each member of the Committee on Admissions and Standards.
(d) A complete list, by name and title, of the staff of the applicant press, to be prepared in that form in which such information is given for active members in the most recent edition of the Directory of the Association of American University Presses. For part-time staff the list should indicate the percentage of time each person devotes to the press.
(e) A statement from a senior administrative officer of the parent institution, or the designated representative of a group of institutions, outlining the immediate and long-term intentions and financial expectations of the institution or group of institutions for its press, and reflecting a realistic appreciation of the cost of supporting a serious program of scholarly publication.
(f) Copies of its financial operating statements for the two most recently completed fiscal years.
With respect to the scholarship of published works, the Association will in general accept the certification of the press's own faculty board or committee and will not pass judgment on the scholarship of any individual work. However, the Committee on Admissions and Standards will take into account the observance by the press of commonly accepted standards of editorial review, ordinarily including at least one positive evaluation by a qualified scholar not affiliated with the author's own institution.
2. Admission
Following the filing of a formal application for full, associate, or international membership and notification by the Membership Manager of AAUP to the applicant of its acceptance for consideration, the candidate press shall be regarded as having entered a period of probation, which will last for a period of time no longer than one year, at the end of which, if not sooner, its candidacy will be acted upon as prescribed under the By-Laws, and during which it shall enjoy the following privileges of membership: (a) the right to send delegates to the Annual Meeting at the member rate, and (b) the right to send representatives to all training sessions, workshops, symposiums, and conferences dealing with professional activities of scholarly publishers and enjoying the support of the Association.
A press shall be elected to full, associate, or international membership by an affirmative vote of a majority of the Association's full members at the Annual Meeting or a Special Meeting, a quorum being present, on the recommendation of the Board of Directors. Such action shall be taken by the Board only on the prior recommendation of the Committee on Admissions and Standards, which shall be responsible for determining that the applying press satisfies the minimum requirements for membership. Admission of a new full, associate, or international member to the Association shall take effect immediately following an affirmative vote of a majority of the Association's full membership at the Annual Meeting or a Special Meeting.
Admission to introductory membership shall be made at the discretion of the Executive Director of the Association in consultation with the Board upon receipt by the Membership Manager of a letter of request that includes information about present staffing, reporting relationships, review processes, and any changes or developments proposed in these areas.
To maintain its active membership status, each member press shall be required to submit each year to the Central Office of the Association, for publication in the annual Directory of members, both a roster of its current staff and an indication of the number of books, journals, and original digital publications that it has published in each of the two calendar years preceding and that have been certified as to scholarship by its editorial board or committee.
3. Cancellation
A university press, by its very nature, must be devoted to scholarly and educational ends; the failure of a press to pursue such ends as its fundamental business shall constitute grounds for canceling its membership in the Association. Any accusation of such a failure will be brought to the Committee on Admissions and Standards for a recommendation to the Board. Cancellation of membership shall be effected, on recommendation of the Board of Directors, by a two-thirds' majority vote of the members present and voting at the Annual Meeting or a Special Meeting, a quorum being present.
It shall be the responsibility of the Membership Manager to review each listing of an active press in each annual edition of the membership Directory, and to undertake action as follows when any member seems to have fallen below the qualifying criteria for membership: (a) to notify the Executive Director and the Committee on Admissions and Standards of a member's apparent delinquency under the Guidelines so that the Executive Director may make an inquiry and, if current standards are not being met, offer the assistance and cooperation of the Association in bringing about satisfactory solutions to the member's problems; (b) to advise the President, the Committee on Admissions and Standards, and the Board when notification of an apparent delinquency has been sent and an offer of assistance made; (c) to inform the President, the Committee on Admissions and Standards, and the Board of any response received from the member press following the offer of assistance.
Should the delinquent press fail to resolve its difficulties within one year of the Executive Director's notice, the Committee on Admissions and Standards shall submit to the Board of Directors a full report of the situation, and recommend, for endorsement by the Board and transmission to the membership for ratification, that the membership of the delinquent press be terminated. Two years from the date of its expulsion, a press shall be entitled to apply for readmission through initiation of the application procedures herein prescribed.
D. The Committee on Admissions and Standards
The official agency for the administration of these guidelines shall be the Committee on Admissions and Standards, which shall operate under authority delegated by the Board of Directors, and which shall consist of between four and six members, two of whom, at least, shall be the director of a member press. The incoming President will appoint the chair of the committee from among members of the current committee with at least one year of service. The chairs shall each serve a term of one year as part of their three-year term on the committee and may not succeed themselves in office. The chair shall appoint the remaining committee members. Terms of the committee members will normally be three years each except that in the year that these revised Guidelines take effect shorter terms may be established for some of the members. Committee members will not be eligible to serve more than two successive terms.
