28 editors resign after takeover at publisher AUP
28 international editors have announced their resignation from commercial publisher Taylor & Francis, which recently acquired their book series from Amsterdam University Press (AUP). The editors made this known today in a signed letter to the publisher. “We do not want to work for free for a company that makes a lot of money from our work.”
Before the summer holidays, 28 editors who published book series at Amsterdam University Press (AUP) have made their decision. In a signed letter, they have handed in their resignations as editors at commercial publisher Taylor & Francis, which acquired all of AUP’s international books and series at the beginning of June. The group of editors consists mainly of international professors in film and communication studies, who were responsible for eight different book series.
Principle
One of the signatories is UvA professor of film studies Patricia Pisters, who previously said in Folia that she was shocked by the takeover. Pisters is co-editor of the 100th book in the series Film Culture in Transition and yesterday, together with her editorial team, submitted her resignation to Taylor & Francis by email.
Pisters: “We spent a month talking to editors and authors and tried to get clarity about the implications and the way forward. The commissioning editorThe person responsible within a publishing house for selecting and purchasing new books at AUP with whom we had been working for years has been dismissed and a new editor at Taylor & Francis is still being sought. There is a lot of uncertainty, but we have now made a decision. We do not want to work for free for a company that earns a lot from our work.”
For Pisters, it is also a matter of principle. “Every academic journal I have published in over the past few years turned out to be owned by Taylor & Francis. I do not think that is a healthy situation. We want to show that quitting is also an option.”
AUP had 21 book series in the discipline of film, media and communication. The editors of six of those series have now announced that they are stepping down. That is a small part of AUP’s total output of books and publications in the humanities and social sciences. According to the website, there are 34 magazines and the publisher publishes 80 monographs, scientific treatises on a single subject, each year. It is unclear how many book series are in progress. AUP also declined to respond to questions from Folia about the resignation letter.
New name
Pisters is currently exploring alternatives for publishing its book series. Pisters: “We have asked AUP if the contract can be terminated and if we can transfer the series to a new publisher. Should that prove impossible, we will join a new publisher to publish our book series under a new name.”
There is a great deal of confusion and dismay among the authors who contribute to the book series. Pisters: “Some of them absolutely do not want to work for Taylor & Francis and want to move with us to a new publisher. Others want to stay, and that is their right. We will fulfil our obligations to handle matters properly.”
14 July 2025: addition by AUP director Jan-Peter Wissink:
Last year, we published 142 academic monographs, we carried 98 different book series and we now publish 49 scientific journals.
The vast majority of authors whose titles are being transferred to T&F understand this, and some even welcome the switch. I am convinced that T&F is an excellent home for the titles it has acquired from AUP. T&F has excellent people who are good at working with authors and editors, and they also have the resources to share knowledge on a large scale in a rapidly changing digital landscape around the world.
We will continue to publish journals and books ourselves, partly under the name Amsterdam University Press and partly under the name Central University Press, with numerous new initiatives. More than half of AUP's programme has not been sold to T&F.
Amsterdam University Press, which I have been managing since 2012, employs more than 20 dedicated staff who are committed to the optimal dissemination of scientific insights and knowledge, both nationally and internationally.
Read the full letter below.
