About the Press

Books@Atla Open Press was conceived in 2014 as a means of publishing open access books that were relevant to the study and practice of theological librarianship. Currently the mission of the program is publication of open access works on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries. We seek to provide resources that guide and support innovative library services and enhance professional development. 

The Press publishes volumes representing new and creative research on topics that impact what theological and religious studies librarians do and how they do it as well as works that aim to assist theological and religious studies librarians in their day-to-day work and professional development.

Books@Atla Open Press does not publish PhD dissertations, DMin projects, or other terminal degree theses as such. To be considered for publication, these works must be revised or otherwise modified to make them appealing to the wider audience of Atla and beyond. 

Consideration for publication by Books@Atla Open Press requires submission of formal proposals as detailed in our submission guidelines and are subject to external peer review and subsequent approval by the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board aims to select and publish 3-4 new titles per year. Prospective authors may contact the Editorial Board.

Reprints are previously published print books have been deemed by Atla to have value to the profession of theological and religious studies librarianship and therefore important to re-release as open access online editions. Reprints are selected at the discretion of Atla and are digitized and published in their original form with permission of the copyright holder where necessary.

Authorial Name Change Policy

Atla Open Press recognizes the importance of author identity and attribution, especially as it relates to names and pronouns. Name changes and pronoun changes for authors are available upon request by contacting Atla. These requests will be approved without documentation. Name and pronoun corrections will be made in confidence and as soon as possible.

Name and pronoun changes may be requested by authors for various reasons, including but not limited to name changes due to marriage or divorce, non-Western naming or spelling structures, or gender identity. Transgender and gender diverse authors who would like to request a change are especially encouraged to contact the Press.

Any request for a name and/or pronoun change will result in the following:

  • Removal of the earlier name/pronouns from any and all publications produced by the Press, including books and journals, within the power of the Press to change.
  • Removal of the earlier name/pronouns from any and all metadata related to the publications produced by the Press, including books and journals, within the power of the Press to change. Revised metadata will be sent to our indexing partners
  • Removal of the earlier name/pronouns from the PDF version of publications produced by the Press, including books and journals, within the power of the Press to change.
  • Name changes WILL NOT be announced, nor will any notices be published that draw attention to the changes.
  • Citations of publications produced by the Press and included in future submissions will be assessed to verify that the earlier name is not included in any newly published materials.

Conflicts of Interest

Atla Open Press requires that all parties involved in a publication—including authors, peer reviewers, volume editors, guest editors and editorial board members—declare any potential conflicts of interest to ensure that all parties are appropriately informed of any relevant considerations while they work on a submission. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include prior publication and personal relationship with guest editors, volume editors, editorial board members or Atla staff.

Members of Atla’s Board of Directors are permitted to author submissions to publications of Atla Open Press or to serve as a specially appointed editor for a special forum or contributed volume but will not receive any honorarium or other compensation for this service.

Digital Accessibility

Atla Open Press is committed to ensuring that all of our users have a fully accessible experience of our publications. We endeavor to conduct regular automated and manual audits to evaluate and measure accessibility of our site and publications. 

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, the EPUB Accessibility 1.0 guidelines, and the PDF/UA guidelines to achieve this. The WCAG guidelines have three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. As of February 2023 Books @ Atla Open Press publications are level AA compliant, fully EPUB Accessibility 1.0 compliant, and fully PDF/UA compliant. 

Varying levels of accessibility are available in publications prior to February 2023. 

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of Books @ Atla Open Press. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers on Books @ Atla Open Press. We try to respond to feedback within 2 business days.

Atla Open Press website

The websites for Atla Open Press publications are not yet WCAG compliant.

Open Access Policy and Copyright

Titles published with Books@Atla Open Press are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (CC-BY-NC 4.0 International) unless otherwise specified. Readers are welcome to download, copy, share, and modify works provided that full attribution to the original work is given and reuse is not for commercial purposes.

Copyright in individual submissions are held by the author and compiled works are copyrighted to Atla. Copyright in reprints remains with the original copyright holder with permission granted to Atla to make the digital version of the work available open access under the CC-BY-NC license.

Works will be made available in EPUB and PDF format with some titles also available as Print on Demand for a reasonable price.

Authors or volume editors will receive an author agreement within two weeks of proposal acceptance. The  long form agreement used for monographs and edited volumes is derived from the Model Publishing Contract for Digital Scholarship.

Plagiarism and Misconduct

Atla Open Press does not tolerate plagiarism, copyright infringement, inaccurate attributions, failure to disclose conflicts of interest, or libel. All manuscripts submitted to Atla Open Press are checked by iThenticate prior to being accepted for publication.

Concerns regarding observed plagiarism or misconduct in any Atla Open Press publication should be directed to Atla.

Preservation Policy

Books published as Scholarly Editions and Association Editions are archived by Portico as part of a partnership between Atla Open Press and Portico. Portico is a leading digital preservation service worldwide. The content is preserved as an archival version and is not publicly accessible via Portico, but is provided when required under specific conditions, such as discontinuation of the collection or catastrophic failure of the website.

Privacy Policy

The data collected from registered and non-registered users of this site falls within the scope of the standard functioning of scholarly publishing. It includes information that makes communication possible for the editorial process; it is used to inform readers about the authorship and editing of content; it enables collecting aggregated data on readership behaviors, as well as tracking geopolitical and social elements of scholarly communication.

The Press' editorial team and Atla staff use this data to guide their work in publishing and improving this publication. Data that will assist in developing the OMP publishing platform may be shared with its developer Public Knowledge Project in an anonymized and aggregated form, with appropriate exceptions such as article metrics. The data will not be sold by this the Press, Atla, or PKP nor will it be used for purposes other than those stated here.

Those involved in editing, publishing and hosting this journal seek to be compliant with industry standards for data privacy, including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provision for 'data subject rights' that include (a) breach notification; (b) right of access; (c) the right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design.

Use of AI Generated Content

Atla Open Press recognizes the challenges and opportunities Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLM), like ChatGPT, present for scholarly communication. The Press aims to provide a policy to guide contributors and their submissions to Atla Open Press publications. Atla Open Press prioritizes transparency from contributors regarding AI usage in their submissions, recognizing that there are and will be contexts where AI usage does not impact authorial integrity but rather is an effective and important part of the authorial process. Press editors will assess submissions with this in mind, considering all AI usage and its impact on the integrity of the submission.

We recommend the following values be articulated to potential authors at the point of submission and advertised on each publication’s website:

  • Any use of AI must be declared prior to submission and clearly explained in the submission to any Atla Open Press publications. Where appropriate, this acknowledgment and explanation may be included in the published version of the submission.
  • AI will not be considered an author for Atla Open Press publications. AI tools may not be listed as an author on any scholarly work published by Atla.
  • All authors are accountable for their submissions’ accuracy, integrity, and originality, clearly accounting for any use of AI.
  • Any use of AI must not breach the Atla Open Press policy on plagiarism. Scholarly works must be the author's own and not present others' ideas, data, words, or other material without adequate citation and transparent referencing.