Publish with us

• … as a Masaryk University professor or student

Are you going to publish a scientific monograph, textbook, or anthology? This will be considered a work made for hire so the publication will be financed by your department or perhaps by grant funds.

Contact the editorial officer at your faculty or the manager of your project. With their help, please fill in the PUBLICATION APPLICATION* and send it to us.

• … as someone outside the Masaryk University

Are you going to offer a professional or scientific book manuscript to us? Please fill in the PUBLICATION PROPOSAL* and send it to us directly. We will get back to you.

First, the proposal needs to be endorsed by the faculty editorial board and included in their editorial plan. The proposal goes through a regular review (see below). Munipress in turn compiles all faculty editorial plans into a university-wide plan which is submitted to the university editorial board for approval. 

A typical editorial path for approved manuscripts goes as follows: the manuscript is submitted → it is read by one to two reviewers → the author incorporates their comments into the text → the manuscript receives factual and linguistic editing by our editor → the text is finalised by the joint effort of the author and the editor → typesetting is done by our graphic designer → several rounds of proofreading handled by the author, editor, and graphic designer → printing or e-book production.

All steps of this process take place in cooperation between the author, the publisher, and the author’s home faculty. The responsibility for particular phases of the editorial process (proofreading, editing, typesetting, layout, etc.) is always determined in advance.

When the book is freshly printed, its life is only just beginning. The next and very important task is getting the book to the readers. And we cannot do this without you, our authors. Please read further and learn how you can help.

• Please think of your reader when you choose a name of your book. A short and ‘catchy’ title accompanied by a longer, descriptive subtitle is optimal. (Example: "How is it for Mums. Psychological research in mothering") Consider using some verbs as they make titles more dynamic, attracting the reader’s attention. 
• An abstract is another crucial factor determining whether the reader bothers to open the book. Please help us to make it brief, concise, and interesting.
• References are equally important. Think of them as a valuable service to the readers which makes it easier for them to follow your reasoning and verify your claims. Try to quote and reference in a consistent manner, use full citations including fields such as ISBN, ISSN, and DOI. 
• Please send your manuscript as a single file in a standard text format (DOC, DOCX, RTF). Make sure all chapters are complete and arranged in the final order. Tables and graphs may be included directly in the MS Word text or supplied in a separate MS Excel file, with their correct location marked in the text. Please contact the editors in advance to discuss the parameters of visual materials and the way of their delivery. Further recommendation on the preparation of the manuscript can be found below.
• Formal requirements of our publications are governed by valid regulations, especially ČSN 01 0166, “Publisher’s lay-out of books and some other kinds of non-periodic publications”, and our own Principles of publishing activities. Although there is considerable freedom in visual and graphic design of current books, the Masaryk University unified visual style needs to be respected. More information and various templates are stored in the university BrandCloud (MUNI → MUNI Unified Visual Style → Publications). The publication template including relevant data is available below. 

At Masaryk University Press, professional publications go through a standard two-step review. While the process may vary for specific titles, the underlying rules are always observed. The publication proposal or the manuscript itself is sent to one or two internal readers. After their approval, it is submitted to two experts on the subject outside the university. When required by the author and/or circumstances, double-blind peer review is used where the author and the reviewers do not get to know each other’s identity. Moreover, there may be more than two reviewers in some more complicated cases.

Reviewers’ comments are meant to provide meaningful and constructive feedback. The author is then invited to respond to the comments and to revise their work if necessary. Depending on the number and importance of the comments, other review rounds may follow. Once the review is finished with all parties contented, the book proceeds towards publication.

peer review form

The licensing process at the Masaryk University depends on the nature of the work. 

Works for hire, created by a university employee under the terms of their employment obligations, do not require the university to conclude a license agreement with the author. Please note that if the work (or a part of it) is created in this mode for a third party (such as a paper written as a part-time job at another university), the author should keep this in mind and sort out their obligations towards the other employer. We will gladly help you with this.

Those authors who have not created their works under the terms of their employment at the Masaryk University, and thus are sole proprietors of personal and property rights to their works, conclude a license agreement with the university before the work is published. Again, we are ready to help you and to answer any questions when drawing up the agreement.

There is a specific mode for works for hire created for the purpose of publication in scientific journals and conference proceedings. In such cases, university employees retain the copyright (i.e. they are free to dispose of the rights at their discretion), except when the works have been intended for publication in magazines, proceedings etc. published by the Masaryk University – in which case, the property rights do stay with the university.

We will be happy to assist you in all the above cases so do not hesitate to contact us. 

If you are interested in what happens to your book after it is released, please read the Presentation, Distribution, Sales section of the web.

Here are some tips what you can do:

• add the information on your book into your e-mail automatic signature
• add the information on your book to your personal page and to other internet profiles, like on LinkedIn
• share your book on social networks, including any positive reviews or other mentions
• share the information on your book in online groups and message boards where you participate 
• ask relevant professional associations to notify their members, for example in a newsletter 
• help us reach out to relevant book reviewers and scholarly journals that might be interested in publishing a review
• ask your employer (university department, faculty) for help promoting the book on their website or social network profiles 
• write an article on the topic of your book to a blog or other media and share it
• make a video about the topic of the book and put it on YouTube, Vimeo or elsewhere and share it
• make a podcast related to the topic of the book and share it
• do not forget to mention the book in your lectures or conference speeches; the book should ideally appear in the presentation 

Or come up with any other promotion tip. We will be happy to help if we can!  

One of the core tasks of universities as centres of education is creating knowledge. The results of scientific, research, and pedagogical activities stemming from working or studying at the university constitute the intellectual property of the university.

The management of intellectual property at Masaryk University is regulated by the Rector’s Directive No. 10/2013. However, this issue is also affected by other internal regulations which you will find below along with other relevant information.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (Czech only)

If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact Zuzana Konvalinková. Please send your questions to konvalinkova(at)press.muni.cz.

• Masaryk University Principles of Publishing Activities

• MU academic and professional employee code of ethics

• Best practices in scientific publishing 
• MU’s Position on Predatory Publishing and Open Access Scholarly Journals
• Recommendations for working with and understanding bibliometric indicators
• „Scientific outcomes“ – MU Research and Development Office