Publish a British Academy Monograph

The British Academy Monograph series is open to any current or former British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, British Academy Newton International Fellow, or British Academy / Wolfson Fellow.

Award holders who have surrendered their awards early to take up academic posts are eligible. Proposals for monographs co-authored with non-award holders may be submitted but proposals will not be entertained for multi-author volumes to which an award holder has contributed one or two chapters.

Only work carried out in the context of the Fellowship (i.e. arising directly from the research programme or conducted during the period of the Fellowship) is eligible for consideration. The Fellowship may lead to several publications, but the Academy will consider proposals for a maximum of two monographs per award holder.

Award holders can publish a maximum of two proposals. One proposed monograph may draw on doctoral research (though award holders who have only recently completed their doctorates are cautioned against submitting a proposal prematurely), while the other proposed monograph may represent the culmination of the research programme.

Any proposed monograph should not simply represent a collection of previously published articles.

Where research has multiple strands, award holders can choose to select one part of their research to concentrate on in their monograph. Please explain this in your proposal form so that the Publications and Conferences Committee have an understanding of the rationale for the monograph.

The British Academy Monographs series operates three submission rounds per year. Please see the proposal submission deadlines above for closing dates.

To submit a proposal, please download and complete the following document:

Monograph proposal form.

Once completed, this should be submitted to the Publishing department prior to one of the three deadlines above, along with:

• Your Curriculum Vitae (including bibliography)
• A substantive sample chapter. This should be an original piece of work that has not been published elsewhere, i.e. do not submit a related journal article as an indication of your writing.
• The names of your two referees (see below for further details)

Once complete, please email the above to [email protected]. You may also direct any queries to the same address.

You will need to obtain two references in support of your proposal. A reference form is included as part of the proposal form.

Please complete Section 1 of the reference form and email this form to your referees, together with a copy of all elements of your completed proposal. Please allow your referees time to be able to compose their reference by the closing date.

Your referees should email their reference directly to the British Academy.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the references are submitted to the British Academy in time. An application cannot be considered unless the proposal and the references have been submitted before the next deadline.

Discipline-relevant assessors (usually Fellows of the British Academy) will evaluate: the nature and scope of the proposed monograph and the contribution it will make to the relevant subject area(s); how appropriate it is to publish the material as a monograph (as opposed to, say, a series of journal articles); the proposed structure and content of the monograph, as detailed in the contents list; the scholarship displayed in the specimen of monograph text; the readability of the specimen of monograph text; the market for this proposed monograph.

The final selection will be made by the British Academy’s Publishing and Conferences Committee.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome within the time frame indicated in the submission deadlines. Successful applicants will receive a Licence to Publish from the Publishing department, and the Notes for Authors will provide detailed steps to guide you through the next stages.

Where the Publishing and Conferences Committee believes that a proposal for a volume may benefit from further work, it may invite unsuccessful applicants to resubmit the proposal. Unless specifically invited, resubmissions will not be accepted.

As of 2022, books in the British Academy Monographs series are published open access online, worldwide, without charge, under and subject to the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), the terms of which are set out at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4. Further details regarding open access publication will be provided at contract stage.

The British Academy’s Code of Practice describes the standards of transparency by which the British Academy abides in administering applications for research awards and other proposals for support, and embodies the principles of equity, integrity and confidentiality for all who are involved in the assessment of proposals. The Code is intended to act as guidance to assessors in discharging the responsibilities placed on them in assessing proposals, and it sets out the proper conduct expected of them. Please read the Code in full. The Academy is regretfully unable to enter into correspondence regarding the decisions of the awarding Committee, which are governed by the Code of Practice. Please note that by applying into this scheme, applicants undertake to accept the terms under which applications are assessed.

The British Academy is committed to protecting and storing securely any personal and sensitive data held. This Privacy Notice sets out the basis on which any personal data we (the British Academy) collect from you in relation to administering the British Academy Monograph scheme. Please read the following carefully to understand how we will use your ‘personal data’ (‘personal data’ means any information relating to you, through which you can be identified, such as name, contact details and employment information).
Further information on the British Academy’s privacy policy.

How will your data be used?

As a monograph proposer, your personal data (name, contact information, employment information) is stored by the British Academy’s Publishing Department. Application forms will be retained for ten years in the case of successful applications, and five years in the case of unsuccessful applications. This information can be updated at your request.

As part of your relationship with us, the British Academy’s Publishing Department will use your personal data to: process your application; pass your application onto the monograph assessors and to the awarding Committee (Fellows of the British Academy who serve on the Publications and Conferences Committee); and to convey the outcome of your application. Other relevant members of British Academy staff may also view your application.

Proposers must secure the permission of any co-author to be listed as a potential co-author in their proposal.

The legal basis of processing

We will process your personal data for the purposes identified in this document on the following legal bases:

• Our legitimate interests, which relate to the processing of your personal data for the purposes of administering the British Academy Monograph scheme, as outlined in this document,
• Where you have freely consented to our use of your personal data for a specified purpose on an informed and unambiguous basis. Where this is the case, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at the address below.

Contact us

If you have any questions about Data Protection, or if you would like to speak to us about the way in which we process your personal data, please email [email protected].

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, at any time. The ICO’s contact details are as follows:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745