UCL Press Journals

UCL Press currently publishes 15 open access (OA) journals covering a broad range of topics across the humanities, law, and social sciences, as well as science, technology, and engineering. 

All UCL Press journals are published open access under the CC-BY 4.0 international licence (see here) to help ensure the widest possible dissemination for research and are all editorially independent, supported by an Editorial Board with specialist expertise in the subject area. In addition, all journals are indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and articles are hosted on this ScienceOpen platform.

UCL Press journals are divided into two programmes:

UCL Press academic journals
A list of 14 OA journals publishing open access articles without charging authors to publish, publsihing across historical, literature, law, and social sciences. The list of journals can be found in the tab 'Journals', or readers can click here.

UCL Open
UCL Press's new open sceince and open peer-review journal platform. UCL Open: Environment is the first iteration and pilot journal of the platform that focuses on environment-related research. Our ambition is to further develop the platform and to roll it out across other broad and multidisciplinary foci. UCL Open: Environment can be accessed at: ucl.scienceopen.com

Following the merger of UCL Press and UCL IOE Press in 2019, Race Equality Teaching and the International Journal on School Disaffection, both of which were previously published by the UCL IOE Press and have ceased publication, are now completely and freely available to the community via the Portico archive service. Access the content by clicking the title below:

• Race Equality Teaching (ceased publication June 2016)
• International Journal on School Disaffection (ceased publication 2016)

UCL Press Journals Editorial Policy

• Open access policy and copyright
• Originality of article statement
• Authorship and author consent policy
• Ethics approval
• Research involving humans
• Clinical trial registration
• Consent for publication
• Research involving animals and plants
• Competing interests
• Textual overlap and suspected plagiarism
• Reviewer policy
• Editor policy
• Article deposit
• Corrections and retractions
• Misconduct and grievance procedure
• Research misconduct
• Publication misconduct
• Appeals and complaints
• Advertising policy
• Article-processing charges.

Open access policy and copyright

All articles are published open access and are licensed under the CC-BY 4.0 International licence agreement. Under this licence authors retain copyright, and unrestricted reuse of the content is allowed as long as proper attribution is given to the original author of the work. Further information regarding this can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and licensing terms and conditions can be found in the author contributor agreement.

Copyright in any open access article published by UCL Press is retained by the author(s).

Originality of article statement

All submitted articles must not be under consideration for publication anywhere else, nor have been published in any form prior to submission to any UCL Press journal. By submitting, authors are agreeing that the submission is original except for material in the public domain and such excerpts of other works that have written permission of the copyright owner. Where there is potential for duplication authors must correctly reference and cite the work.

Co-publication of an article, as agreed with the publisher and journal, may be considered in accordance with the ICMJE guidelines on overlapping publication, at the discretion of the Editor.

Authorship and author consent policy

All listed authors must have made a significant contribution to the article and have approved all its claims. Authors are required to include an authorship statement in their article to outline how each author contributed to the article, after any acknowledgements in the article.

UCL Press adheres to the statement of authorship as outlined by the ICMJE statement, and considers an author of an article to have:

1. made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. made final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

For suspected and incorrect authorship, UCL Press will refer to the UCL description of authorship misconduct as outlined here and follow COPE guidelines.

Ethics approval

UCL Press is committed to ensuring the highest standards of integrity in all aspects of its publication activities and expects that all authors submitting to a UCL Press journal have secured all relevant ethics or institutional review board approval for their research. A statement declaring this must be included in the article, along with the name of the ethics or institutional review board granting approval.

Where ethics or institutional review board approval is waivered, a statement declaring this must be included in the article along with the name of the ethics or institutional review board granting waiver status. Authors also declare that by submitting to a UCL Press journal this information will be made freely available to the Editor(s) upon request.

Retrospective ethics approval

If a study has not been granted ethics or institutional review board approval prior to commencing, retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained and it may not be possible to consider the article for peer review. The decision on whether to proceed to peer review in such cases is at the Editor’s discretion.

Research involving humans

Any work or research that involves collecting data from human participants must comply in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and authors must have received any and all relevant ethics or institutional review board approval. A statement declaring this must be included in the article, along with the name of the ethics or institutional review board granting approval.

Where ethics or institutional review board approval is waivered, a statement declaring this must be included in the article along with the name of the ethics or institutional review board granting waiver status. Authors also declare that by submitting to a UCL Press journal this information will be made freely available to the Editor(s) upon request.

If authors are unable to provide sufficient evidence to the Editor(s) upon request, the Editor(s) may reject the article and inform the author(s) institution and any other third parties where applicable.

Clinical trial registration

In line with ICMJE guidelines, UCL Press requires registration of all clinical trials that are reported in articles submitted to any of its publications.

The ICMJE uses the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a clinical trial, which is “any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes”. This definition includes phase I to IV trials. The ICMJE defines health-related interventions as “any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome” and health-related outcomes as “any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants”. Authors who are unsure whether their trial needs registering should consult the ICMJE FAQs for further information.

Suitable publicly available registries are those listed on the ICMJE website.

Consent for publication

For all articles involving human subjects, including any images, videos, and any other personal and identifiable information, authors must have secured informed consent to participate in the study and to publication before submitting to the journal, and a statement declaring this must be included in the article.

Authors also declare that by submitting to a UCL Press journal this information will be made freely available to the Editor(s) upon request.

Research involving animals and plants

A statement detailing compliance with relevant guidelines and/or ethical approval (including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number where appropriate) must be included in the article. Where ethics or institutional review board approval is waivered, a statement declaring this must be included in the article along with the name of the ethics or institutional review board granting waiver status. Authors also declare that by submitting to a UCL Press journal this information will be made freely available to the Editor(s) upon request. UCL Press and Editors reserve the right to contact the ethics committee for further information.

The below subheadings outline the policy regarding research involving animals and plants, however, authors are recommend to comply with the following, where applicable:

1. Ethics and Animal Welfare Committee http://iclas.org/committees/ethics-and-animal-welfare-committee
2. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora https://cites.org/
3. IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/PP-003-En.pdf
4. ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) guidelines https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines

Research involving animals

When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Authors should follow the Basel Declaration http://www.basel-declaration.org/basel-declaration/ to further advance the implementation of ethical principles such as the 3Rs whenever animals are being used and to call for more trust, transparency and communication on the sensitive topic of animals in research. The Editor will take account of animal welfare issues and reserves the right to reject an article, especially if the research involves protocols that are inconsistent with commonly accepted norms of animal research.

Field studies and other non-experimental research on animals must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. A statement detailing compliance with relevant guidelines and/or appropriate permissions or licences must be included in the article at submission.

Research involving plants

Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild), including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. Field studies should be conducted in accordance with local legislation, and the article should include a statement specifying the appropriate permissions and/or licences. We recommend that authors comply with the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction (https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/PP-003-En.pdf) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora https://cites.org/.

Voucher specimens must be deposited in a public herbarium or other public collection providing access to deposited material. Information on the voucher specimen and who identified it must be included in the article.

Competing interests

Following UCL’s (University College London’s) Disclosure of Conflict and Declaration of Interest Policy guidance, broadly speaking, a conflict or competing interest can occur when personal interests, personal relationships or duties to others, compete with obligations and are likely to be compromised, or may appear to be compromised, by personal gain or gain to your immediate family (or people you have a close personal relationship with).

Authors must declare any and all conflicts of interest and competing interests that may relate to the submitted article, including all financial and non-financial competing interests. This must be stated in their article after the main text and acknowledgements under the heading ‘Competing interests’. Where there are no conflicts of interests or competing interests, authors must clearly declare this under the same heading. The Editor may decide to reject a submission after considering any and all conflicts of interest and the reviewer will be informed of this decision. The Editor’s decision is final.

Reviewers must declare any and all conflicts of interests and competing interests when invited to review and when returning their review for the Editor’s consideration. Where there are no conflicts of interest or competing interests, reviewers must clearly declare this in the review form online, or by contacting the Editor. The Editor may decide to reject a review after considering any and all conflicts of interest and the reviewer will be informed of this decision. The Editor’s decision is final.

Editors must declare any and all conflicts of interests and competing interests when assessing an article, and therefore not be involved with a submission when they:

1. have a recent publication or current submission with any author in the submission
2. share or have recently shared an affiliation with any author in the submission
3. collaborate or have recently collaborated with any author in the submission
4. have a close personal connection to any author in the submission
5. have a financial interest in the subject of the work of the submission
6. feel unable to be objective
7. are a named author of the submission

Textual overlap and suspected plagiarism

All authors are responsible for the content written and published in their articles. In cases where unacceptable textual overlap and suspected plagiarism is found, UCL Press Editors will follow COPE’s guidelines, as well as refer to UCL’s policy on plagiarism as outlined here. Editors also have access to use iThenticate plagiarism detection software.

UCL and UCL Press define plagiarism as the presentation of another person’s thoughts or words or artefacts or software as their own. Any quotation from another person’s published or unpublished works must be clearly identified as such by correct citation and referencing.

Self-plagiarism is defined as the presentation of a person’s own thoughts or words or artefacts or software where it has been previously published as a new publication, without clear identification as such by correct citation and referencing. 

UCL Press journal Editors make every effort to ensure that published content does not infringe any person’s rights, or applicable UK laws. If you believe or have cause for concern that content in any of UCL Press journals may infringe on copyright, textual overlap, and/or plagiarism, please contact the Journal Editor who will review the complaint and take appropriate action.

To avoid such cases and for best practice, authors should be transparent and ensure proper and correct referencing and citation.

Reviewer policy

Reviewers must declare any and all conflicts of interests and competing interests when returning their review for the Editor’s consideration (please see Competing interests for further information). Where there are no conflicts of interest or competing interests, reviewers must clearly declare this in the review form online, or by contacting the Editor. The Editor may decide to reject a review after considering any and all conflicts of interest and the reviewer will be informed of this decision. The Editor’s decision is final.

Ethical Obligations of Reviewers of articles

To ensure the highest quality research in UCL Press publications, reviewers are expected to uphold the following when reviewing:

1. Provide clearly written, unbiased feedback in a timely manner on the scholarly and/or scientific merits and value of the work, together with a documented basis for the reviewer’s opinion. Judge the paper on its merits without regard to personal bias, ethnic origin, race, religion, citizenship, language, political or other opinion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, appearance, age, or economic class, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author(s)
2. Thoroughly address all review criteria provided by the journal
3. Decline to review articles for which the reviewer lacks sufficient time, is not qualified, or has a conflict of interest with any of the authors, including personal or competitive relationships
4. Explain and support judgments adequately so that Editors and authors may understand the basis of their comments. Any statement by a reviewer on an observation, derivation, or argument that has been previously published should be accompanied by the relevant citation
5. Provide citations to relevant work by other scholars/scientist as appropriate
6. Alert the Editor to any significant similarity between the article under consideration and any other published paper or article submitted concurrently to another journal. Report any plagiarism or the appearance of plagiarism by contacting the Editor
7. Never use or disclose unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in an article under consideration, except with the consent of the author
8. Never include personal criticism of the author in reviewing an article

Editor policy

Every Editor of a UCL Press journal has the responsibility to establish and maintain guidelines that adhere to the highest ethical standards for selecting and accepting article submitted to that journal. The UCL Press Board have responsibility to ensure the independence of the Editors and provide agreed-upon support so that the quality of publications is not compromised.

Editors must declare any and all conflicts of interests and competing interests (please see Competing interests for further information) when assessing an article, and therefore not be involved with a submission when they:

1. have a recent publication or current submission with any author in the submission.
2. share or have recently shared an affiliation with any author in the submission.
3. collaborate or have recently collaborated with any author in the submission.
4. have a close personal connection to any author in the submission.
5. have a financial interest in the subject of the work of the submission.
6. feel unable to be objective.
7. are a named author of the submission

Where the Editor(s) cannot be involved with a submission due to a competing or conflicting interests, another Editor or Editorial Board Member will be assigned in place to manage the peer review process of the submission and make acceptance decisions for publication. 

Editorial Board Members are guided in their duties by the terms of reference as outlined online at https://ucl-about.scienceopen.com/editorial-board-terms-of-reference/.

Article deposit

UCL Press works to include journals in various indexes and open access depositories to ensure article permanency as far as possible. In addition to subject specific indexing, officially published articles are deposited into the Portico Preservation Service and to UCL’s institutional open access repository, called UCL Discovery, where articles are freely available to access and download. Authors are permitted to deposit their published article in their choice of repositories (also known as self-archiving), but must ensure appropriate credit and reference to the journal the article originally published is given as per the CC-BY licence it will publish under.  

Corrections and retractions

When corrections and retractions are necessary to maintain the integrity of published content, UCL Press will publish erratum, corrigendum, addendum, and retraction articles but will not make alterations to the version of record initially published, other than to provide a URL link to the erratum, corrigendum, addendum, or retraction article.

UCL Press and Editors will follow COPE guidelines where corrections and retractions may be required.

Misconduct and grievance procedure

In the event of any suspected allegations of publication and/or research misconduct, UCL Press and Editors will follow COPE guidelines. This can result in UCL Press and Editors contacting the author’s institution raising concern over findings and can lead to sharing article and submission information to other third parties, including but not limited to: author(s); institution(s); ethics committee(s); other journals and publishers.

Research misconduct 

Any research that involves humans, animals, or plants, must have been carried out within the appropriate ethical framework, as above. Should research submitted to a UCL Press journal be suspected of not having taken place within an appropriate ethical framework, the Editors may reject the article and inform the author’s institution and any other third parties where applicable. In addition, where misconduct has been proven, UCL Press will follow COPE retraction guidelines.

Publication misconduct

In the event of any suspected allegations of publication misconduct concerning any submission or publication, UCL Press journals will follow COPE guidelines.

Appeals and complaints

UCL Press journals follow the COPE code of conduct when dealing with any appeals and complaints. In the first instance, contact the Editorial office and Editor. Further information including contact information can be found in the individual journal’s information pages.

Advertising policy

UCL Press does not currently place any advertising on journals’ webpages or include any advertising in journal issues.

Article-processing charges

UCL Press Academic Journals

UCL Press Academic Journals, as listed below, do not currently charge an Article-Processing Charge (APC). Authors of accepted papers will not be requested or required to make an APC payment before publication of their article. The list of UCL Press Academic Journals are:

• Archaeology International
• Architecture_MPS
• Europe and the World: A Law Review
• Film Education Journal
• History Education Research Journal 
• International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning 
• International Journal of Social Pedagogy
• Jewish Historical Studies: Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England
• Journal of Bentham Studies
• The Journal of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society
• The London Journal of Canadian Studies
• London Review of Education 
• Radical Americas
• Research for All 

UCL Open: Environment

UCL Open: Environment levies an Article-Processing Charge (APC) to all non-UCL authors once the article has been editorially accepted. Further information can be found at https://ucl-about.scienceopen.com/article-processing-charges. Please refer to the UCL Open: Environment website for further information about the publication - https://ucl.scienceopen.com/

UCL Press Journals Contributor Agreement

ALL UCL Press journals publsih articles open access inder the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC-BY) 4.0 international licence agreement, making them immediately and freely available to read and download. The CC-BY licence agreement allows authors to retain copyright while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of the work. The below terms are made freely available to prospectus authors before submitting to either of the following journals.

• Archaeology International
• Architecture_MPS
• Europe and the World: A Law Review
• Film Education Journal
• History Education Research Journal
• International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning
• International Journal of Social Pedagogy
• Jewish Historical Studies: Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England
• Journal of Bentham Studies
• The Journal of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society
• The London Journal of Canadian Studies
• London Review of Education
• Radical Americas
• Research for All  

Note: It is anticipated that Corresponding Contributing Authors will agree to these terms at the point of submitting their article. Agreement to the terms will be online by way of checking a box.

Contributor agreement

Also available as a pdf here.

Please note that the Article cannot be submitted and the Publisher cannot proceed to publication of the Article if the terms of this Agreement are not agreed to by the Corresponding Contributor Author. 

Parties

This Agreement is between the Publisher and the Corresponding Contributor Author.

Background

The Corresponding Contributor Author wishes to submit the Article to the Publisher to be published in the Journal.  Subject to the Article meeting the Publisher’s requirements, the Publisher wishes to publish the Article in the Journal.

Agreed Terms

1. Interpretation

1.1
The following definitions and rules of interpretation apply in this agreement:

Article means the manuscript produced by the Corresponding Contributor Author and the Co-Authors (if any) for inclusion in the Journal;

Co-Authors means any authors who would be recognised by accepted academic practice as having co-authored the Article together with the Corresponding Contributor Author;

Corresponding Contributor Author means the author of the Article and the person who the Publisher corresponds with on matters relating to the Article and this Agreement;

Creative Commons Attribution Licence means the licence terms known as the Creative Commons Attribution Licence 4.0, a copy of which are accessible here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode;

Journal means the journal published by the Publisher under an imprint owned by University College London, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT in which the parties intend the Article to be published;

Publisher means UCL Press, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT; and

references to you/your shall be construed as references to the Corresponding Contributor Author and, where the Article has been co-authored by Co-Authors, shall be construed as references to the Corresponding Contributor Author and all of the Co-Authors.

2. Co-Authors

2.1
Where the Article has been co-authored by Co-Authors (as defined above) then the Corresponding Contributing Author hereby declares that he/she is authorised by all of the Co-Authors to enter into this agreement on the Co-Authors' behalf . The Corresponding Contributing Author shall indemnify the Publisher for any losses arising as a result of a failure to obtain any Co-Author's express prior permission to enter into this Agreement.

3. Rights and Licence

3.1
In consideration of the mutual benefits to be derived by the parties pursuant to this agreement and subject to the terms and conditions herein contained you hereby grant to the Publisher:

3.1.1
the right to produce, publish, distribute and make available and to further sub-license the Article (including the abstract) in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Licence; and

3.1.2
the right and licence to be the first publisher of the Article and to be referred to as such.

3.2
Subject to clause 3.1 above, you retain all rights in and to the Article.

3.3
In the event of any inconsistency between the terms set out in this agreement and the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence shall, to the extent of any inconsistency, prevail.
 

4. Warranties and indemnity

4.1
You warrant to the Publisher that:

4.1.1
the Article is original to you except for such excerpts of other works as may be included with written permission of the copyright owner;

4.1.2
the Article is not under consideration for publication anywhere else nor been published in any form (other than under the terms of any open access licence granted by you to the institution of which you are a member of faculty or employee, including the licence known as the UK Scholarly Communications Licence), and that publishing the Article will in no way whatever give rise to violation of any existing copyright or a breach of any existing agreement, including any contract of employment;

4.1.3
the Article contains nothing unlawful or libellous and is in no way a breach of confidence or of any commitment given to secrecy, and that all statements in the Article purporting to be facts are true at the time of publication and that any recipe, formula or instruction contained in the Article will not, if followed accurately, cause injury or illness or damage to the user;

4.1.4
you accept responsibility for obtaining permission for publication in the Article, at your expense, any textual and/or illustrative material in which copyright vests in any other person or party. Permission will be for the right to use the said material in the Article published by the Publisher.  You shall make available to the Publisher upon request any permissions so obtained for publication of copyrighted material;

4.1.5
all such third party material referred to above is clearly and appropriately acknowledged in the Article;

4.1.6
the Article shall comply with the Publisher's publishing guidelines (if any and as may be revised from time to time). A copy of the current guidelines (if any) shall be made available to you upon request; and

4.1.7
you undertake to indemnify the Publisher against any claims, loss, damage or costs, including any legal costs properly incurred, occasioned to the Publishers in consequence of any breach of the warranties set out in this Paragraph 5 or arising out of any claim alleging that the Article constitutes a breach of these warranties.

5. Publication

5.1
The Publisher may decline to publish the Article if it does not meet the Publisher's requirements. If the Publisher so declines, it may terminate this agreement on written notice to you.

5.2
The Article, if accepted by the Publisher for publication, shall be licensed by the Publisher to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence. The Publisher shall require attribution as the first publisher of the Article.

6. No royalty payment

6.1
You acknowledge that you are not entitled to any royalty payment whatsoever in connection with any publication of the Article, regardless of whether you are an employee of the Publisher or not.
 

7. Consequences of termination

7.1
The warranties and indemnities set out in this agreement shall survive the termination of this agreement.

8. Applicable law

8.1 
This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England whose courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

London Review of Education Calls for Papers

Date posted: December 2022

CALL FOR PAPERS: Systematic reviews in education: Producing and acquiring knowledge in times of crisis and social change. 
For publication from winter 2023. See link for information, contact and deadlines.  

CALL FOR PAPERS: Culturally responsive STEAM education. 
For publication from winter 2023. See link for information, contact and deadlines.  

The International Journal of Social Pedaogy Calls for Papers

Date posted: January 2023

CALL FOR PAPERS: Social Pedagogy and Transgression
For publication winter 2023/Spring 2024. See link for information, contact and deadlines.  

Europe and the World: A law review Open Call for Papers 2023

Date posted: January 2023

2023 CALL FOR PAPERS
See link for information, contact and deadlines.  

UCL Open Environment Open Calls for Papers

Date posted: January 2023

All current UCL Open Environment calls for papers can be found at: https://ucl-about.scienceopen.com/calls-for-papers

CALL FOR PAPERS: UCL Open Environment, UNFCCC/COP Special Series
Open call for contributions in response to COP themes of the past and present. Open for submissions until December 2023.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Community responses to climate change
Open call for contributions on the theme of community responses to climate change. Open for submissions until December 2023.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Water and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Call for papers and invitation to join our synthetic effort and debate on Water and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Open for submissions until December 2023.

CALL FOR PAPERS: COVID-19 interactions with our Environment
An on-going call for papers concerned with the effects on the environment that are and will be consequential on the societal restrictions and subsequent recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The benefits of publishing in a UCL Journal

UCL Press publishes a range of open access journals for the academic community, covering a broad range of topics across the humanities and social sciences. In addition, our UCL Open: Environment interdisciplinary journal covers a broad spectrum of environment related research, including life and earth sciences, medical, physical, population, engineering, and social sciences.

• All our journals are editorially independent – each supported by an Editorial Board with specialist expertise in the subject areas.
• UCL Press journals are free to submit to and publish in, with the exception of UCL Open: Environment – which has a low APC.
• ALL UCL Press journals offer free publication to UCL authors.
• Fast and transparent publication process.
• UCL Press journal articles are indexed in the relevant repositories and search engines – including EBSCO, Google Scholar, UCL Discovery and Portico Digital Archive.
• All our journals are indexed in the DOAJ - giving readers greater trust and our authors even greater exposure.

Find out more about UCL Open: Environment

Find out more about all our other UCL Press journals