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Cambridge University Press
Parent company	University of Cambridge
Status	Active
Founded	1534
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Headquarters location	Cambridge, United Kingdom
Distribution	Worldwide
Nonfiction topics	Science; Technology; Medicine; Humanities; Social sciences; English language teaching; Education
Revenue	£205.1 million GBP
Official website	www.cambridge.org

[[:Image:Edinburgh_Building_UK_Cambridge_MED.jpg|thumb|right|The Edinburgh Building, Official Headquarters of Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, United Kingdom]] Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted Letters Patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest continually operating book publisher.

The Press’s mission is to “To further through publication and printing the University’s objective of advancing learning, knowledge and research worldwide.” This mission is laid out in ‘Statute J’ in the University of Cambridge’s Statutes and Ordinances. The Press is both an academic and educational publisher, with a regional structure operating in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); the Americas; and Asia-Pacific.

Its publishing includes professional books; textbooks; monographs; reference works; around 240 academic journals; Bibles and prayer books; English Language Teaching publications; educational software and electronic publishing.

Governance

The Press is a department of the University of Cambridge; it has no shareholders and is entirely self-financing. It is a not-for-profit organisation so any surplus is used to develop the publishing programme and to support the University.

The Press has since 1698 been governed by the Press ‘Syndics’ (originally known as the 'Curators'), who are made up of 18 senior academics from the University of Cambridge, representing a wide variety of subjects. The Syndicate has two main sub-committees: the Publishing Committee and the Finance Committee. The Publishing Committee provide quality assurance and formal approval for the titles to be published. The Finance Committee is concerned with financial and governance strategy. The Publishing Committee meets 18 times a year to review editorial and publishing strategy matters. The Finance Committee meets four times a year. The Press Syndicate meets in the Pitt Building, which is the old headquarters of the Press located in Cambridge city centre. The operational responsibility of the Press is delegated by the Syndics to the Press’s Chief Executive and six Officers, including a Finance Director.

Publishing structure

Cambridge University Press is divided into three main publishing groups. These are:

Academic and Professional

Publishes textbooks and reference books in the Science, Technology and Medicine, and Humanities and Social Sciences topic areas. They also publish bibles and academic journals.

Cambridge Learning

Publishes English Language Teaching courses and books for all ages. This group also publishes educational books and courses for primary, secondary and international schools.

The New Directions Group

With the advent of online delivery, Cambridge has stated that this represents an opportunity to reach a vast global market, and is a welcome development . In order to take advantage of these new technologies, a team called the New Directions Group at Cambridge University Press was put together in 2008 to explore and exploit new educational technologies, and to lead development of products and applications.

Cambridge brands and series

The Press’s professional and academic brands include Cambridge Histories Online, Cambridge Archive Editions, Cambridge Books Online and the Cambridge Library Collection. Cambridge Journals is the Press’s journals publishing business, which publishes over 240 academic journals and hundreds of research articles every month.

English Language Teaching brands include the In Use, Interchange and Touchstone series, Cambridge Dictionaries Online, English 360 and English in Mind. Educational brands and series aimed at school learners all over the world include the Rainbow Reading series, Cambridge School Shakespeare, the Cambridge Latin Course and the Checkpoints study guides.

Cambridge–Hitachi is a collaboration between Cambridge University Press and Hitachi Software Engineering that produces educational content for use on whiteboards. Cambridge–Hitachi has produced Race to Learn, a collaboration with Williams F1 racing that helps to teach children team work. Other brands also include Global Grid for Learning, and Arab Grid for Learning, which are digital content networks for teachers worldwide.

History

Cambridge University Press is both the oldest publishing house in the world and the oldest university press. It originated from Letters Patent (similar to a royal charter) granted to the University of Cambridge by Henry VIII in 1534, and has been producing books continuously since the first University Press book was printed in 1584. Cambridge is one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). In 1698 a body of senior scholars, ‘the Syndics’, (at first know as ‘the Curators’) was appointed to be responsible to the University for the Press’s affairs.

The Press has published authors such as John Milton, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Bertrand Russell, Noam Chomsky and Stephen Hawking, and it has published more than 50 Nobel Prize winners . The Press’s contribution to academic journal publishing began in 1893, and today it publishes around 240 journals.

During the past fifty years, the Press has rapidly expanded its international presence, with 53 official offices in 39 countries around the world. It also draws on a wide range of authors (currently around 36,000 from 122 different countries) and markets and distributes both print and electronic material to readers everywhere.

In 1992 the Press opened its own bookshop at 1 Trinity Street, in the centre of Cambridge. Books have been sold continuously on this site since at least 1581, perhaps even as early as 1505, making it the oldest known bookshop site in Britain .

Controversies

Main article: Alms for Jihad

In 2007, controversy arose over Cambridge’s decision to destroy all remaining copies of its 2006 book, Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World, by Burr and Collins, as part of the settlement of a libel lawsuit brought by Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz (1949-2009) . Comments made in the book about bin Mahfouz’s alleged financial support of terrorism had, unbeknown to the Press, already been upheld as libelous in the English courts.

Within hours, Alms for Jihad became one of the 100 most sought after titles on amazon.com and eBay in the United States. Cambridge sent a letter to libraries asking them to remove copies from circulation. Cambridge subsequently sent out copies of an "errata" sheet.

The American Library Association issued a recommendation to libraries still holding Alms for Jihad: "Given the intense interest in the book, and the desire of readers to learn about the controversy first hand, we recommend that U.S. libraries keep the book available for their users."

The publisher's decision did not have the support of the book's authors and was criticised by some who claimed it was incompatible with freedom of speech and with freedom of the press and that it indicated that English libel laws were excessively strict . In a New York Times Book Review (7 October 2007), United States Congressman Frank R. Wolf described Cambridge's settlement as "basically a book burning."

Cambridge defended its actions, saying it had acted responsibly and that it is a global publisher with a duty to observe the laws of many different countries .

Community work

The Press has been recognised on several occasions for its commitment to community involvement and social responsibility, and it has stated that public engagement is an important part of the Press’s role, embracing a wide range of educational projects, fundraising and donations to charity .

In 2009 the Press’s Chief Executive Stephen Bourne was recognised for his leadership and commitment to responsible business by being awarded The Prince’s Ambassador Award for the East of England .

Bibliography

• A History of Cambridge University Press, Volume 1: Printing and the Book Trade in Cambridge, 1534–1698; McKitterick, David; 1992; 978-0-5213-08014
• A History of Cambridge University Press, Volume 2: Scholarship and Commerce, 1698–1872; McKitterick, David; 1998; 978-0-5213-08021
• A History of Cambridge University Press, Volume 3: New Worlds for Learning, 1873–1972; McKitterick, David; 1998; 978-0-521-30803-8
• A Short History of Cambridge University Press; Black, Michael; 2000; 978-0-521-77572-4
• Cambridge University Press 1584–1984; Black, Michael, Foreword by Gordon Johnson; 2000; 978-0-521-66497-4, Hardback 978-0-521-26473-0

External links

• Cambridge University Press website
• Cambridge Journals Online
• Cambridge Bibles
• Cambridge’s English Language Teaching
• Cambridge University Press Bookshop