UCL Press

The UK’s first fully open-access university press is enabling people around the globe to freely download its wide range of its books and journals, many of which focus on sustainable development.

More than 160 books and a portfolio of 15 academic journals have been published by UCL Press since it was launched in 2015. Its open-access model means that people anywhere in the world can benefit from the research published in its books and articles.

The university has invested in UCL Press to ensure that the products of its research are made as widely available as possible. “This activity contributes to UCL’s mission to disseminate its research widely and openly throughout the world,” says Lara Speicher, Head of Publishing at UCL Press.

Its books and journals cover a wide range of topics, with many of them touching on SDG topics. It has published many books and journal articles on sustainability and education, as well as other areas of social science and humanities. Many of its journals and books focusing on SDG topics feature research that is international in its coverage, including the ‘International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning’, Sustainable Food Systems: the Role of the City and Integrating Food into Urban Planning.

““It contributes to UCL’s mission to disseminate its research widely and openly throughout the world.”

Since its launch, the books and journals published by UCL Press have been downloaded more than 3.5 million times in over 220 countries and territories. “It illustrates the global reach that can be achieved by making a book freely available so it can be downloaded anywhere in the world,” adds Lara.

In 2020, UCL Press launched two new online collections of published UCL research: the first of publications related to COVID-19 and the other of all published UCL SGD-related research.