US presses enjoy tax freedom

Among university presses in the United States, Yale University Press operates very like the model adopted byCUP and OUP.

YUP, founded in 1908, is a department of the university and enjoys tax exemption. It is self-financing and expected to run without financial assistance from the university. YUP sales for 1998-99 are projected at $23 million.

Unlike Cambridge and Oxford, all of YUP returns all of its surpluses to the press for investment in future projects.

YUP, unlike any other US university press, has a London subsidiary, which also enjoys charitable status and has its own editorial staff.

The press has a strong reputation in such fields as current affairs, art, religion, history, social science and reference.

By contrast, Columbia University Press, founded in 1893, is a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation that is separate from the university, although it bears the university's name and is closely associated with it. For 1997-98 net profits for the press were $10 million. It specialises in history, literature and science.

Princeton University Press is also organisationally independent, although the university has a large say in its running by having ten of its academics on the press's 15-strong board.

Founded in 1905, it is a non-profit organisation and does not make a surplus in most years. PUP's annual sales are more than $16 million. It specialises in history, classics, science education and art history.