Published on BreakingExpress:
By Denise-Marie Ordway
“Free books and more: 4 ways university presses can help journalists” originally published on The Journalist’s Resource on November 10, 2026. Licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0. Text-only republication; media omitted and formatting sanitized.
When it comes to cultivating sources, some journalists might overlook university presses. These organizations can be a big help, however, particularly for journalists who report on policy topics such as education, public health, economics, criminal justice and immigration.
University presses publish scholarly works, typically in the form of books and academic journals. Although most of these publishing houses are affiliated with research universities, they operate independently as nonprofit organizations. Unlike commercial publishers such as Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, university presses require their authors’ work to go through a formal vetting process known as peer review prior to publication.
During peer review, scholars with subject area expertise scrutinize a book or article and provide feedback to its author or authors.
“Peer review is essential to the university press mission of advancing scholarship,” says Annette Windhorn of the Association of University Presses, which represents 169 presses worldwide, 127 of which are in the U.S. Here are four other reasons journalists may want to add university presses to their source lists:
They give journalists free books.
Although their policies vary, university presses generally provide copies of books to journalists who ask for them. Some reserve free copies for journalists who plan to review them for their news outlets. But many will send copies to journalists who want to read them to inform their reporting.
The University of California Press, University of Michigan Press and University of Virginia Press provide copies of books published within the past two years, including award-winning titles such as “Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers” and “Tabula Raza: Mapping Race and Human Diversity in American Genome Science,” according to their websites. The University of California Press notes that it fulfills requests for older titles on a case-by-case basis.
Journalists can ask the Harvard Education Press for three titles simultaneously, regardless of their release date. Its publications focus exclusively on education topics with titles such as “Manufactured Outrage: The Conservative Industrial Complex’s War on Education and How to Fight Back,” published in 2026, and “Name, Image, and Likeness in College Sports: Power and Policy in the New Era of Athletics,” due out in March.
Journalists may have success asking university presses for digital copies, which are easier and less expensive to make and share than physical copies,
Keep in mind that university presses often publish a limited number of open-access books, too. These are digital books that anyone can download for free for any reason. MIT Press Direct, which has the largest open-access book program in the U.S., offers more than 350 open-access titles.
They publish research on issues of local interest.
University presses often publish books on local trends, events and people that can help journalists bolster local news coverage. Not only can these books help journalists get up to speed on issues of local interest, they can also reveal new questions and angles to pursue.
Examples of books about local issues:
- “A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary,” published by the University Press of Florida.
- “Policing the Project: State Violence and the Dismantling of Chicago Public Housing,” forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press.
- “Deep Dish Conversations: Voices of Social Change in Nashville,” published by the Vanderbilt University Press.
- “Invisible Hawkeyes: African Americans at the University of Iowa during the Long Civil Rights Era,” published by University of Iowa Press.
They help journalists coordinate interviews with authors.
Each university press publishes the work of experts from various higher education institutions and research organizations. They also help authors promote their books and expertise. Although journalists frequently prefer to coordinate their own interviews, asking a university press official for help can speed up that process.
Here’s why: In recent years, university faculty have become the target of scams from people impersonating news reporters, including well-known reporters from national news outlets. Because of that, some scholars have begun to rely more heavily on their institution’s media relations team or on university press officials to vet the journalists who ask for interviews.
In addition to helping arrange interviews, university presses can alert journalists to new books and upcoming releases.
Many university presses host webinars, in-person events and podcasts that can help journalists report on the news.
University presses schedule events throughout the year to promote their authors’ work and engage the scholarly community in conversation. The majority are in-person events. But a few upcoming online events include:
- A free webinar, “What the Midterms Mean for Education,” hosted by the Harvard Education Press on Thursday, Nov 12 at 3 p.m. ET.
- A virtual book talk featuring Ana María Silva Campo and her new book, “The Inquisition’s Gambit: Making Wealth and Race in Cartagena de Indias,” hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Press on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m. ET.
- A virtual book talk featuring John C. Lacy and his new book, “The Law of the Miner: The Arizona Experience,” hosted by the University of Nevada Press on Thursday. Dec. 17 at 3 p.m. ET.
Some university presses produce their own podcasts. Check out the University of California Press podcast “Beyond the Margins,” for example, or the New York University Press podcast, “From the Square.”
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Source: The Journalist’s Resource
