For Authors
Choosing the right publisher is key to having your book meet its potential. AIP Publishing’s experienced Commissioning Editors will help you develop your proposal, and our Development Editors will work with you along the way to make your manuscript the best it can be. We’ll publicize your book once it’s published and will provide marketing support to help your promote your work.
Learn about authoring a book with AIP Publishing – Download the brochure.
Find out what our book authors are saying about their experiences working with us.
Ready to begin?
By publishing your book with AIP Publishing you’ll be able to share your expertise, drive discovery and enable learning, and encourage best practice in research and scientific analysis. Already have a proposal or want to discuss your idea with one of our commissioning editors? We’d love to hear from you.
Want to know more?
Click on each step in the infographic to see how AIP Publishing will work with you on every step along the way. Or you can read the full path to publication below.
Download the full size infographic here. Adobe Acrobat required.
The Path to Publication
#1 Discuss your idea with a Commissioning Editor
Our Commissioning Editors are subject area specialists who understand the information needs of graduate students, researchers and professionals in their respective markets. We can’t wait to learn more about your idea, and to work with you to create your proposal and publish your book! We publish books for graduate researchers and academics across the physical sciences, working in:
- Materials Science
- Biophysics and Engineering
- Optics and Photonics
- Applied Physics and Engineering
- Condensed Matter
- Mathematical and Theoretical Physics
- Chemical Physics
- Nanotechnology
…and for professionals working in:
- Acoustics, Noise, and Vibration
- Education
- Energy and Power
- Healthcare and Medicine
- Information Display
- Instrumentation
- Manufacturing
- Processing
After discussing your idea, the next step in the process is to develop a proposal. It is worth spending some time developing your proposal. Have a look at our proposal form to remind you of the points you will need to cover to develop a good proposal.
A proposal gives you an opportunity to tell us more about your work and experience. It will help you outline the planned contents of your book, making sure that it provides information in a way that is accessible to your target audience. Will your book be a reference for students and researchers who need an overview of a field? Will it provide guidance on how to use a scientific instrument or perform a particular technique? It will also allow you to identify the key features that differentiate your work from existing texts on the market. What will your book add to the existing literature? What are the gaps that it will fill?
It’s important to let us know what type of book you plan to write. Are you working on your own, or will you work with a co-author? Will you invite contributors to write individual chapters? It’s also a good idea to think about how long you expect the book to be, and how much time you’ll need to complete it. If you have a sample chapter or an example of material you have written before, please attach them as seperate files when you submit your proposal.
Finally, you’ll have an opportunity to recommend experts in your chosen topic who would be happy to assess your proposal on our behalf. Send your complete proposal to your Commissioning Editor, who will make sure it’s ready for the next step – Review.
When we receive your proposal, your Commissioning Editor will send it out for review, to people you have identified in your proposal, and to others in our own network. Our reviewers are experts in the field, or potential end-users of your book, who will evaluate your proposal to find out:
- if there is a need for your book on your chosen topic;
- whether all relevant topics have been covered;
- whether any important topics are missing;
- if any improvements ought to be made before the book is published.
The Commissioning Editor will introduce you to your Development Editor who will support the review process. The review process helps our authors refine their proposals and improve the quality of their coverage to make sure the book meets the needs of their identified readers. All comments will then be sent back to the submitting author who will then have the opportunity to clarify any outstanding queries, revise the proposal if required, and submit a final proposal to AIP Publishing.
We will then discuss your final proposal with you and come to a mutual agreement on how we proceed.
#4 Reject
We may decide that your vision for a book does not match the mission of our program at the current time, or that we aren’t the best publisher to reach to the intended target audience for your book. We would still like to keep in touch with you and to look for other opportunities in the future, when the time is right to develop a different type of book.
#5 Accept
Your Commissioning Editor will present your final, reviewed proposal to our publishing committee. The committee, made up of colleagues from publishing, marketing and sales, will assess the merits of your work as a contribution to the field. If we agree that your book meets the needs of our readers, we will extend an offer to publish your book.
#6 Sign an agreement to publish your book
If you accept our offer, we’ll proceed to an agreement. Our agreement with you will outline the format in which you must submit your manuscript for production, estimate the number of published book pages and agree for a date for delivering the manuscript. The agreement will also confirm your remuneration and will set out your responsibilities as an author and our responsibilities as a publisher, providing guidelines for a mutually successful collaboration.
Now that the proposal evaluation is out of the way and we’ve reached a formal agreement to publish your book, it’s time to start writing so you can deliver your manuscript on time!
Your Development Editor will send you a copy of the author guidelines and will work with you to outline a customized schedule to keep us all on track. The Development Editor is there to help you maintain a schedule for delivering your manuscript and will check in with you regularly to monitor your progress. Your Development Editor will:
- let you know when it’s time to send in some chapters of your book for review;
- check in with you to remind you to clear permissions for any material that you reproduce from previously published sources; and
- remind you when it’s time to talk about a cover design for your book.
The Development Editor will review your work as you write, helping you prepare your manuscript so that it complies with AIP Publishing’s style requirements. The Development Editor will review your chapters and will send all recommendations back to you for revision.
As you revise your manuscript, pay close attention to our guidelines for preparing figures, tables and equations, so that your published book will be legible in all the formats for which it is produced.
#9 …and revise some more
Remember, writing is an iterative process. You will have an opportunity to review the Development Editor’s recommendations, and to improve your manuscript and correct errors as appropriate. The Development Editor will be able to answer any questions you may have. You and the Development Editor will both be able to track your progress as the manuscript develops.
#10 Until your manuscript is ready
When your manuscript is complete, the Development Editor will go through our final checklist with you to make sure it is complete, that all required features are in place and that you have obtained the necessary permissions to use any third-party material.
#11 Submit manuscript to publisher
When you have gone through the checklist and are satisfied you have everything the publisher will need, it is time to submit your manuscript for production. You’ll receive a link to our submission site, with instructions on how to submit your manuscript. On the submission site you’ll be asked to confirm your full name and address details as you would like them to appear on all published materials, and to provide us with your ORCiD reference number. We’ll also send you a link to our keyword selection tool, where you’ll be able to assign up to 10 keywords for each chapter of your book.
The Development Editor will make sure your manuscript is delivered in full and is complete. We will then introduce you to your Production Editor who will provide a schedule for producing your manuscript and guide you through what to expect as your book goes through production.
#12 Publisher copyedits, typesets and designs book
The Production Editor manages the production process. It is during this phase that the manuscript is copy-edited and composed. The Copy Editor will correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. We will follow the AIP Publishing style and will create page proofs that we will send to you for your review. As happened during the writing phase, you will be able to track the progress of your manuscript as it makes its way through production.
#13 Review proofs and make corrections
We will send you an email with a link to download, review, and return the page proofs. The schedule will allow you enough time to check through the content carefully to make sure there are no errors; it is not a chance to rewrite entire sections of the work. If there are any errors, this is the opportunity to make minor corrections and send your comments back to us.
#14 Publish online, eReader, print
We will respond to your comments and review your proofs one final time before the book is published online. Your book will be published on Scitation.org and customers will also be able to buy digital copies that they may download to their devices or print copies if they prefer. You’ll receive a digital copy of your book as soon as it’s published.
#15 Promote your book
Now that your book is published, we’ll work with you to raise awareness of your book. We’ll craft messaging that you can use within your own networks and that we can promote through AIP Publishing. You’ll have access to web metrics to monitor online readership, and assess engagement from readers who reference and cite your work. Let’s create a buzz together!
#16 Time for your next book?!
You can now take a well-earned break! Thank you for publishing your book with us. As your work continues, do let us know when you are ready to start working on your next book project. We would welcome the opportunity to serve as your publisher again.