Queen’s University Belfast Joins SUP

We are excited to announce that Queen’s University Belfast has joined Scottish Universities Press (SUP), bringing the total number of partner libraries to 19.  

Queen’s is a longstanding member of the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL) and is the only SCURL member institution operating outside of Scotland. At present, participation in SUP is available only to SCURL member libraries. 

Queen’s is the ninth oldest University in the UK and is a member of the Russell Group, combining excellence in research and education with a student-centred ethos.  Queen’s is ranked joint 13th in the UK for research intensity (Complete University Guide 2024), with 88% of research submitted by Queen’s assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent (REF 2021). 

Isabel O’Kelly, Bibliographic Services Manager at Queen’s University Belfast Library, will join the SUP Management Board from June 2024.

Isabel said “Queen's University Library is delighted to have joined Scottish Universities Press.

“The UKRI policy on Open Access monographs and the recent REF consultation policy has accelerated the move in QUB towards finding more sustainable and equitable publishing environments for OA monographs produced by our researchers. QUB is a long-standing member of SCURL and as such were pleased to join the existing group of institutions which form part of Scottish Universities Press group.

“The community-based, cost-effective model of SUP was one which was particularly attractive to us in QUB, one which provides a rigorous peer review process and a full publishing service. It was also important to us that authors retain the copyright to their work. Training and development for researchers in the area of OA  is a strategic imperative in QUB and one which Scottish Universities Press is well-placed to collaborate with us on.

“We are looking forward to playing a key part in the development of Scottish Universities Press here at Queen's.”

We are eager to start working with the academic community at Queen’s and researchers can now submit book proposals to SUP along with other member institutions. Please get in touch with any questions!