MDPI Books launches open access publishing competition for social sciences, arts, and humanities researchers
The new program invites proposals for individual books and edited volumes, with selected works to be published free of charge under a Creative Commons license.
MDPI Books, the open access publishing platform operated by MDPI, has announced a new book competition for researchers in the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (SSAH).
Selected proposals will be published at no cost to authors, with distribution through the MDPI Books platform under a Creative Commons license.
Headquartered in Switzerland, MDPI is a fully open access publisher with a portfolio of over 450 academic journals. Its book division offers researchers the ability to publish single-author works or edited collections in digital, globally accessible formats.
Eligibility and evaluation criteria
The competition is open to individual authors or teams with original, unpublished book proposals in any SSAH field. Submissions must be intended for open access publication under a CC BY license and should be between 30,000 and 90,000 words in length.
Proposals will be assessed by subject specialists appointed by MDPI Books. Evaluation criteria include:
Original contribution to the field
Relevance to current societal or academic debates
Methodological rigor
Interdisciplinary potential
Clear structure and argumentation
Successful proposals will progress to peer review, in line with MDPI Books’ editorial and quality assurance standards. The deadline for entries is August 31, 2025.
Submission and follow-up
Applications must be submitted via MDPI’s online portal, clearly marked as entries for the SSAH Book Competition. Authors not selected may be invited to explore alternative publishing pathways or funding options through the MDPI Books platform.
Laura Wagner, head of the books division at MDPI, says: “Researchers in the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (SSAH) make substantial contributions to public discourse and explore topics of broad public interest.
“However, they often work within formats such as books and may have limited financial resources for open access publishing. At MDPI, we recognize both the value of their work and the challenges they face and we are committed to supporting greater accessibility and impact in these fields.The competition will broaden accessibility and impact in these fields of research by providing the opportunity to publish in open access at no cost to the authors, helping their work reach wider audiences.””
