Publishing Subvention

1. To lower the list price of books by UW faculty thereby facilitating increased dissemination of their work;
2. To further support the ecosystem of scholarly publishing in the humanities and qualitative social sciences;
3. To provide additional levels of support for open-access monograph publishing; and
4. To provide additional levels of support for heavily illustrated monographs.

Subventions go directly to publishers to offset the costs of book production. Faculty seeking support for costs incurred in the preparation of manuscripts, such as acquiring permissions to publish images, should use start-up or retention funds or may apply to the Fall Competition.

Application should be made to Florence Hsia, Associate Vice Chancellor for Arts and Humanities, in pdf format after the peer-review process has been successfully completed and the publisher has committed to the project. Application can be made at any time. The application should include:

1. A letter of request from the author including the title and description of the book, the number of words of the manuscript, the number and type of illustrations (black and white or color), the expected date of publication, and the amount requested;
2. The author’s CV;
3. If applicable, documentation of any other internal or external grants that have been applied for to support publication;
4. A letter from the publisher that documents the commitment to the project and the successful completion of the peer-review process, with a budget and justification.

In general, you will need your publisher to provide an invoice to the UW for “publishing services expenses incurred related to the production of [Book Title]” for the amount of the subvention provided by the OVCR. If a W-9 or W-8BEN tax form is not on file with the UW, you will need to have the publisher supply that documentation with the invoice. Once this documentation is secured, standard procurement processes should be followed. Payment of the subvention award will be made directly to the publisher.

The process of academic publishing is a non-competitive bid process. If the dollar amount is over $5,000, you will also need to complete a Purchases for Services Justification Form and a Contract Details Form. If the payment amount is under $5,000, follow standard purchasing policy for "low dollar, best-judgement" scenarios.

Please visit the Business Services website to help answer any questions.

The following conditions are attached to the award of subvention support and must be accepted by the recipient:

1. Support awarded to an author will be paid directly to the publisher by the Department (see below). The publisher will be required to provide written assurance that the funds will be returned to the university in the eventuality that the book is not published for any reason.
2. The faculty member will be solely responsible for any and all tax consequences that may result from the payment of the publication subvention support to the publisher.
3. The faculty member must agree to acknowledge publication subvention support in the preface, introduction, or acknowledgement of the book with the following: “Support for this research was provided by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.”
4. The publisher must agree to provide one copy of the book to the VCRGE at no cost to the author or to UW–Madison.

You may use a P-card to purchase images if, at the time of purchase, you intend the images to be used for teaching or research purposes only, even if permission to publish is effectively bundled with the cost of acquiring the images by the vendor. You may bundle all images acquired from a single vendor for teaching or research in one transaction.

Payment processing: when reconciling such a P-card transaction, please use Account Code 3101 (Supplies-Office). Please be sure the amount of purchase is within policy and cycle limitations.

For details, see the Business Services royalty payment process.

In most cases, purchasing the right to publish an image is treated as a royalty. If, at the time of purchase, you anticipate publishing an image, you must follow the existing policy on royalty payment processing. You may bundle all images acquired from a single vendor for publication in one transaction.

Purchasing image rights for publication requires a UW payment request form, invoice or other supporting documentation, and a W-9 or W-8BEN form completed by the vendor. Collect the necessary documentation and completed W-9 or W-8BEN form from the vendor and process payment as directed by your Department or Dean’s office. For details, see the Business Services royalty payment process.

When these publishing services are not handled directly by your publisher, standard UW procurement policy and processes should be followed. Be sure that you consult with your department administrator and/or school/college dean’s office before making any payment.

Yes, provided that general purchasing policies are followed.

Yes, but first check with your publisher to see if there is a “comp/desk copy” clause in your contract that might make the books gratis. If there is no such clause, try to negotiate directly with your publisher to provide extra copies of your book at no cost.

If, after contacting your department or school/college business office you find you still have questions, feel free to contact Russell.Schwalbe@wisc.edu in the OVCRGE for additional guidance.

Please email the following address: competitions@research.wisc.edu.

Please apply electronically at https://vcr-uwmadison.smapply.io/ . You may log-in using your UW–Madison NET-ID and password.  Select the “Special Research Funding Requests 2” program tile.  Click “Apply” to start a new application.

Some Key Tips:

1. The faculty member must initiate and submit the complete application.
2. You can also invite additional collaborators to fill out the application form. However, the faculty member who starts an application must also be the person that ultimately submits the application.
3. The on-line cover sheet requests information about the faculty member.  The on-line publishing subvention request form will ask you to supply information on the amount requested and details about the book and publisher.
4. Remember to scroll down to select “mark as complete” at the bottom of each completed page.
5. You will be able to select “review and submit” before final submission.
6. You will also have the option of downloading the entire application document.

Technical questions should be sent to:  competitions@research.wisc.edu

General questions about the publishing subvention request should be sent to the  appropriate divisional associate vice chancellor.