PUBLISH WITH US
Why publish your book with Practical Action Publishing?
Our books range from analytical texts, practical books, hands on manuals, and reference works. You can view an index of our current editors, authors and contributors here.
We particularly welcome proposals for books to publish with us in the subject areas of: development studies, agriculture, building and technology; climate change; energy access; gender; global public health; humanitarian assistance, enterprise development and microfinance; social development; urban services; water supply; sanitation and hygiene; all in the context of international development.
Authors should consider publishing with us because:
- As the specialist publishing arm of a global change-making organisation, Practical Action Publishing puts affordable knowledge into the hands of people who need it most, whatever their location, in a language and format that suits them best. We innovate and respond to what change-makers need - from practical 'how to' manuals, to academic texts and journals; online, in print, and in Open Access formats.
- Our 2000+ books and 3000+ journal articles bridge the gap between research and practice and have been offering world class insight on the global challenges that affect communities around the world since 1974.
- Your proposal and manuscript will be peer reviewed by experts in relevant fields and produced by an experienced editorial and production team.
- As an independent publisher we are the exclusive publisher and distributor for prominent international partners and we publish for a variety of international organisations and academic research institutions such as Oxfam GB; FAO; the Emergency Capacity Building Project; The SEEP Network; Sphere; and IRC, Netherlands. We also co-publish with leading research organizations such as IDS, University of Sussex; Overseas Development Institute, London; University of Manchester.
- Our website platform, launched in 2020, is optimised for institutional use, as well as for individual customers worldwide. It houses all our online digital resources (ebooks and journal articles), and showcases all our print books available, including and extensive back catalogue. The website, along with our sales book catalogue, and sales distributors and agents will promote your book to international development practitioners, researchers and students.
- Our Marketing team will work closely with you to help your work create the impact it deserves. Being part of global change-making group Practical Action, means that we are rooted in hands-on community development experience. We have built established networks across the sector and in academic institutions, and can also reach the relevant audience for your work through reviews, blog posts, events, social media, and email campaigns.
- Our production team can source designers and printers from around the world to produce your book efficiently, attractively and cost effectively, helping us to keep our RRPs low for those who most need our resources.
We offer Gold Open Access options for books
Post acceptance, authors who have indicated an Open Access requirement will be asked to pay a Book Processing Charge (BPC). Funding for this may be available as part of the original research project or from an author’s institution. Payment of the BPC ensures that a PDF of the title is freely available in perpetuity and in its final published form, from the moment of formal publication. The title will also be maintained as part of the scholarly record and benefit from inclusion in industry standard archival and preservation initiatives. This charge is dependent on the length of the book and calculated only once the text is finalized.
Books can be published under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License, Practical Action’s own Open Access License (Non-Commercial, No Derivatives) or an All Rights Reserved copyright status. Practical Action Publishing will also ensure that a hard copy is available for purchase. Authors may also choose to pay for additional reflowable ebook formats to be produced in addition to the PDF. Practical Action Publishing will distribute these via popular channels such as Amazon, Apple and Mobi.
Author should note that all books published via Gold Open Access routes available with Practical Action Publishing will be subject to rigorous peer-review at both the proposal stage and when the manuscript is complete.
Book processing charges: Up to 50,000 words: $12,000 |£6,000 |€9,000. Books which exceed this word count will be charged at the basic rate plus $2,000 |£1,000 |€1,500 for every additional 20,000 words or part thereof. Please note that the quoted fees apply to books with a low level of complexity; higher charges will apply for a non-standard design template or for greater levels of design complexity, including photos and figures. Authors are responsible for the production of an index for their book, if the publishers consider this to be desirable.
We are not currently accepting new article submissions for our international peer reviewed journals.
However, if your organisation or institution would like to become a Practical Action Publishing supporter to ensure that our change-making journal articles from peer-reviewed journals Waterlines, Enterprise, Development & Microfinance, and Food Chain, are available for everyone, we would love to hear from you! Find out more here
Enterprise Development & Microfinance offers practice-based insights into the role of markets, enterprises and financial services in reducing poverty and stimulating economic development. Contributions to EDM include: Research article: original development-relevant research, peer-reviewed, up to 6000 words; Perspectives from the field; ideas and experiences on entrepreneurship in developing countries, peer-reviewed, up to 4000 words; Editorial: reflections on the state of market-oriented research and development practice; Crossfire: debate between experts on the unknowns, dilemmas, and tensions in microfinance and enterprise development; Book review: critical thoughts on relevant books and manuscripts.
Waterlines is a refereed journal that bridges the gap between research and practice. Our approach to journal indexing reflects this position. In recent years, we have sought to expand the availability on key journal databases, such as Scopus and Google Scholar, and through this process we have been allocated a variety of Impact Factor indexing scores. However, we have not been listed on the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Indexing System, which is the most widely recognised system for producing Impact Factor scores within academic settings. This is because we felt this system provided limited benefit to practitioners and we wished to remain flexible to meet the needs of both our practitioner and researcher audiences. This position is now under review and we are actively assessing the benefits of a submission to gain a Web of Science Impact Factor.
Useful downloads for authors
House style guide (including instructions for book submission)