Guidelines

This English translation is provided for your convenience only. The original version in German takes precedence and is binding.

Part I - General Regulations

§ 1 Definition and purpose of the publishing house

(1) kassel university press (hereinafter "publishing house") is a subdivision of the Kassel University Library (hereinafter „library“) of the University of Kassel (hereinafter „university“).

(2) It is the university's own publishing house and publishes academic works of users who belong to the authorised user group according to § 6.

(3) The present guidelines regulate the tasks and organisation as well as the usage of the services of the publishing house (publishing services).

§ 2 Mission

(1) the publishing house supports its users in electronic and print-based publishing. It aims to make scientific and scholarly publications available to the public as unrestrictedly as possible in accordance with the Open Access principle and also to make possible those publications which are difficult to publish on the commercial publishing market due to their specialisation in terms of content. The publishing house endeavours to offer its books at market-driven but reasonable prices in the book trade in order to ensure the widest possible distribution. The details of the publishing services are regulated in § 8.

(2) The fees for publishing services and the proceeds from sales shall be used for the work of the publishing house, in particular to cover running costs.

Part II - Organisation

§ 3 Governing body

The governing body of the publishing house shall be the publishing house management.

§ 4 Publishing House Management

The publishing house management shall be the responsibility of the head librarian. The publishing house management shall be responsible for all matters concerning the publishing house; in particular, it shall decide on

a) the charges for publishing services,

b) the conclusion of publishing contracts with users,

c) the staffing of the publishing house,

d) the responsibilities within the publishing house,

e) decisions on the publishing house's programmatic design; and

f) decisions on the provision of publishing services to external parties.

Part III - Usage

§ 6 User Groups

(1) A distinction is made between the following user groups of the publishing house (hereinafter referred to collectively as „users“):

a) Internal users. These include

• Members and affiliates of the University as authors of academic publications or editors of a series or anthology.
• Non-university users who use publishing services as part of a joint project with the university,
• doctoral and post-doctoral students of the University on publication of the dissertation (generally excluding collections of articles) or post-doctoral thesis until completion of the doctoral or post-doctoral procedure.
• Students, early students and guest students of the university with the consent of a university lecturer supervising the publication.

b) external users. These include

• Members and affiliates of the University who use publishing services for non-university purposes;
• if this is in the special interest of the University, other non-university users, including former academics of the University who are no longer members.
• A special interest of the university may exist in particular if the content of the publication is significantly related to the university, e.g. material, topics or research foci of the university. The publishing house can also offer publishing services for publications in the context of the extended spectrum of the University Library (State Library and Murhard Library); the decision as to whether publishing services are provided is the responsibility of the publishing management. In this context, specific cooperations with non-university institutions are also possible in principle.

(2) If the demand for publishing services is greater than the supply, the services are usually provided in the following order according to § 1

(a) internal users under section 1, first sentence, (a), (b) and (c),

b) other internal users,

c) external users.

§ 7 Rights and Duties of the Users and the Publishing house

(1) Publishing services are provided on the basis of written contracts between the users and the publishing house. The contracts in particular regulate the granting of rights of use and the costs expected to be paid by the users in accordance with § 9.

(2) A prerequisite to use the publishing services is that the user grants the publishing house rights of use to his/her work to the extent that the publishing house requires them for the production and distribution of the respective publication. Usually the publishing house only needs the single right of use for the electronic and printed form of a publication. The user must agree to the publishing house's general open access orientation and allow the publishing house to distribute the publication freely (usually under the Creative Commons licence CC BY or CC BY-SA). The user must provide a manuscript that is ready for publication. The formal requirements of the publishing house must be observed.

(3) A further prerequisite to use the publishing services is that the user assures that the university‘s guidelines for safeguarding good research practice and the usual scientific standards have been observed in the respective publication project and that the rights of third parties are not affected.

(4) The publishing house has the right to reject publications or to publish them at a later date. By submitting a manuscript, the user agrees that the publishing house may submit the manuscript to internal or external reviewers under obligation of confidentiality. The final decision on the design of the publications shall be incumbent on the publishing house, taking into account the author's opinion. The publishing house undertakes to exercise the usual care in the handling of publication projects.

§ 8 Publishing services

(1) Publishing services include

• consulting services for users about an optimal publication strategy and, if necessary, in the organization of the review process for the publication; consulting services are not included in the price calculation according to § 9, but are considered to be the university's own contribution
• Formal review of incoming manuscripts, preparation of the PDF file produced by the author for publication, design and creation of the cover, if necessary with the help of an external service provider, organisation of the production of physical media (e.g. printing).
• Open Access publication and long-term archiving,
• Submission of the publication to the German National Library as well as inclusion in the Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Bücher (VLB) (printed works are available for at least five years, electronic provision is for at least 15 years), forwarding to aggregators, supplying the stationary and online book trade.

(2) For additional services (proofreading, formatting, editing, language editing, typesetting, translation, special cover design, graphic work), third party providers shall be engaged if required. Their services shall be agreed and invoiced separately with the users.

§ 9 Financing of the publishing services

(1) The user shall bear the direct production costs for the first edition of the respective publication project. In addition to the copies requested by the author or editor, the first edition shall include two deposit copies for the German National Library, two copies for the publishing house and any copies for series editors. The production costs depend on the scope of the publication project (number of copies required, number of pages and colour illustrations of the publication, type of binding, print quality and, if applicable, other individual parameters).

(2) In addition, the user shall pay a fee for publishing costs and for graphics to cover the services listed under § 8, (1).

(3) The anticipated costs for the publication project (direct printing costs and fees) are specified in the publishing contract. If the cost calculation of the publishing contract deviates from the actual costs (e.g. due to changed number of pages, higher circulation, higher expenditure), the calculation shall be adjusted and the user shall be informed prior to publication. The final costs are due with the publication of a publication project. More detailed information on the applicable prices will be provided on the publishing house's website. Services for external users shall be subject in particular to the provisions of tax law and EU separation law.

(4) The retail price of the printed publication shall be determined by the publishing house. The publishing house shall endeavour to offer its publishing products at market-driven but favourable prices in book trades in order to ensure the widest possible distribution. The publishing house is entitled to the income from the sale of books. As a matter of principle, no royalties are distributed, as no profits are made with the publishing activities.

Part IV - Final Provision

§ 10 Entry into force

These guidelines shall enter into force on the day following their announcement at the University of Kassel.

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– Version 1.0 / State 2021-12-22 –