Established in 1993 to reflect the intellectual strengths and values of its parent institution, CEU Press is a leading publisher in the history of communism and transitions to democracy. Uniquely positioned between East and West it is widely recognised as the foremost English-language university press dedicated to research on Central and Eastern Europe and the former communist countries, in a wide range of subjects including political philosophy; Jewish studies; economics; history; human rights; political science; international relations; gender studies; and art history. It publishes approximately 35 new titles a year and has a large backlist of over 500 titles with e-books already available through several platforms.
Overview
Website
Type of Organization
Provider Role(s)
Details
Alternative Names
CEU Press
Parent Organization
Central European University
Year established
1991
Still in Operation
Yes
Main Address
Budapest
Central European University
Nador u. 9
1051
Hungary
Subject Areas
Resource Types
CRL Analysis & Profile
Mission Statement
Central European University (CEU) is an institution of advanced research and teaching, dedicated to socially and morally responsible intellectual inquiry. Having launched a new undergraduate offer in 2020, CEU’s distinctive educational program builds on the research tradition of the great American universities; on the most valuable Central European intellectual traditions; on the international diversity of its faculty and students; on its commitment to social service; and on its own history of academic and policy achievements in transforming the closed communist inheritance.
CEU is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. It aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social sciences, law and management, and engagement in promoting applications for each, in particular through their policy implications. CEU is a new model for international education, a center for the study of contemporary economic, social and political challenges, and a source of support for building open and democratic societies that respect human rights and human dignity.
In line with international movements towards making academic content Open Access (OA), both for journals and books, and in keeping with our mission to disseminate quality scholarship widely, CEU Press launched a partnership programme with research libraries worldwide called Opening the Future. This is an alternative to author-facing OA charges for forthcoming books that do not have research funder support. With this scheme CEU Press is introducing a model that will reduce costs to libraries while opening up books to readers around the world. There are no catches and no hidden fees. The aim of this approach is to continue to yield a sustainable source of revenue for the press while achieving the desired commitment to making more titles OA. Given the current global library environment and budget pressures that have now been exacerbated by Covid-19, a consortial model of funding promises a cost-effective solution for OA that means no single institution bears a disproportionate burden.
History
Founded in 1991 at a time when revolutionary changes were throwing off the rigid orthodoxies imposed on Central and Eastern Europe, CEU was based on the premise that human fallibility can be counterbalanced by the critical discussion of ideas and that this critical spirit can be sustained best in societies where citizens have the freedom to scrutinize competing theories and openly evaluate and change government policies. CEU is one of the most densely international universities in the world. The Press was founded in 1993 to reflect the intellectual strengths and values of its parent institution.
Financial Information
Governance: Board / Owners / Parent organization
Technical Information
Backlist access for library members/patrons is via Project MUSE - a leading not-for-profit platform in scholarly humanities publishing. Authentication methods supported include IP, Shibboleth, and referring URL, and the books will be seamlessly integrated with any other library holdings on the MUSE platform. Books are provided in PDF format.
Project MUSE provides MARC and KBART files for the titles, via the MUSE library customer dashboard, and has shared package metadata with major library discovery services. MUSE also supplies COUNTER-compliant usage statistics.
OA frontlist access is provided by Project MUSE, OAPEN, and the Open Research Library (ORL). OA titles are listed in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).
Access
Library members/patrons will have unlimited access to the titles in the backlist packages, DRM-free for the duration of membership. Libraries retain secure access to the books for as long as they are members: membership will last a minimum of three years, with the option to renew after that. At the expiry of the three years, libraries will own the package in perpetuity but have the option to renew membership and subscribe to another package of different titles.
| Annual Pricing Per Package (USD) | U.S. Classification (Carnegie Classification-Basic) | Canada Classification (CRKN Bands) |
| $425 | Associate's | Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| $950 | Baccalaureate/Master's | Bands 6, 7, 8, 9 |
| $1,425 | Doctoral | Bands 10, 11, 12, 13 |
Legal Information
In lieu of a license, Opening the Future uses Shared Electronic Resource Understanding (SERU), a NISO Best Practice governed by Copyright Law (though libraries may contact LYRASIS if they require a formal license).
CEU Press will not use any membership fees to make a profit - all membership fees will produce new OA books and any surplus in a year will go towards supporting infrastructure projects devoted to enhancing open book dissemination.
It costs CEU Press approximately €7,500 (approx $9,100 USD) to produce an OA monograph and get it set up and discoverable on the appropriate platforms: membership fees cover this cost.
Membership revenue will pay for only those books that do not already have funding.