For an overview of the publication process, please view our Life Cycle of a Book. Please familiarize yourself with our Policy on the Use of AI Tools. We also recommend you consult our list of Additional Resources for more on the research, writing, and publication process.
Peer Review
Peer review is the hallmark of a university press. You and your acquisitions editor will agree on a deadline for submitting your manuscript for peer review. Your acquisitions editor will enlist established figures in your field to review your manuscript. All manuscripts submitted for peer review must be exclusive submission. The manuscript should adhere to the Checklist for Preparing a Manuscript for Review. Consult this page to find out what you can do while your manuscript is under review. When the reviews are received, your editor may ask you to prepare a letter of response.
For more information about peer review, see our webinar on the topic:
Editorial Board Approval
If the peer reviews are sufficiently positive, the project is submitted to either the University Press of Florida Faculty Editorial Board or the UF Press Faculty Editorial Board, depending on the project’s subject. Your acquisitions editor will share a packet of information about your project with the board, including a Manuscript Cover Sheet, and the board will vote on final approval.
Preparing Your Final Manuscript for Publication
A manuscript is complete and acceptable for transmittal to Editorial, Design, and Production (EDP) when final revisions have been made and the final files have been prepared.
Authors must submit the following at this stage:
- Final manuscript adhering to the Manuscript Requirements and the House Style Guide
- Image files, captions, and alt-text following the Illustration Requirements
- Completed Cover Design Form
- Permission for any materials that you did not create, following the Permission Guidelines, using the Permissions Request Templates, and completing the Rights Log
- Completed Launch Cover Sheet
Volume Editor Guidelines
An edited volume has different needs and challenges than those you would encounter when authoring a book. Please reference the Volume Editor Guide for more information.
Editorial, Design, and Production (EDP)
After you submit the final manuscript and all related files, your acquisitions editor will review them carefully to ensure they meet the requirements detailed above, and then, they will transmit the project to EDP. The meeting where this transmittal happens is the “Launch” stage in our Life Cycle of a Book.
At the launch meeting, your manuscript is assigned to a project editor. The Press copyedits the manuscript, and the author has an opportunity to review all copyedits. After copyediting, the designer creates book pages: these finished pages are called page proofs. At this stage, authors are responsible for proofreading the page proofs and providing an index. Authors may choose to hire a professional proofreader and indexer or do the proofreading and indexing themselves, using our Indexing Guidelines. After these files have been finalized, the book is sent to the printer.
Sales & Marketing
The Sales and Marketing department helps market and promote your book to its intended audience. In advance of the “Launch” meeting, we will ask you to complete an Author Questionnaire to provide suggestions as helpful supplements to our core marketing plan. Each book is marketed according to its audience and subject. You are an important part of the marketing plan as well. See Promote Your Book for suggestions on how you might prepare for this step.
Ordering Your Book
For information on discounts for authors, volume editors, and contributors, see How to Order.