A key activity of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) is collecting and disseminating essential information on our sector of the scholarly communications industry.
The Annual University Press Operating Statistics Report for 2022-2025 was completed and shared with participating presses and the member community in February 2026. New incentives raised participation back to 60 presses and allowed for faster data analysis and distribution of the report. The Quarterly Sales Comparison Reports have been completed for the fiscal year ending June 31, 2025, and through the first three quarters of the current fiscal year. The biennial AUPresses Compensation Survey will collect 2026 data and next be published in spring 2027. These statistical programs are carried out by a confidential agent, analyst Kimberly Schmelzinger.
Committees charged with completing or initiating specific survey projects have been very active in this area. A new questionnaire on Generative AI in UP Publishing has been distributed by the Generative AI Task Force. A regular iteration of the Journals Community Survey was undertaken in spring 2026 and is being studied by the Journals Committee. The final report from the 2025 Editorial Board Survey was completed and published by the Acquisitions Editorial Committee, who shared important take-aways from the survey in a Feeding the Elephant post by Bethany Wasik and Elisabeth Maselli, and in a column for Inside Higher Ed, “What Does the Editorial Board Do, Anyway?” by Yasmine Hung and Alison Syring
The Association was extremely pleased to launch a new annual member information update process at the end of 2025, integrating the data collection directly into the office’s association management system to decrease the administrative burden on both staff and members. This infrastructure project is resulting in new forms of the Annual Directory, including an expanded public listing for each member on the aupresses.org website, and a new edition of the traditional print-format Directory coming later in 2026.
