Cambridge University Press celebrates the first anniversary of one of their latest concepts in academic publishing, Elements 

Last month, Cambridge Elements, the short-format publishing program turned one. In just over a year this hybrid format has won admirers across the world.

Each Element is roughly 20,000-30,000 words to ensure that it can be rapidly published with a twelve week turn around. In one year, CUP have published 169 elements exceeding their aim of publishing 150 elements per year.

Which gives authors more space to develop ideas than they can in a journal article yet is a more accessible length than the typical monograph.  With a  production schedule of just 12 weeks authors are able  to get their ideas out much more quickly than in existing formats

The concept has been very well received with roughly 5,500 downloads per month. It is a dynamic product that provides essential reading for graduate students, researchers and practitioners from foundation level to advanced tutorials on specialisms.

Institutions can build up a series of elements that complement each other in a chosen field. Northumbria University was the first institution to purchase the full 2019 Elements Advanced Order in June 2019.

Alongside the generation of new products, Cambridge University Press is dedicated to high-quality content being freely available online. All Elements are free to download for their first two weeks. This has helped boost visibility and usage. In addition we have published five fully Gold Open Access Elements; Philosophy of Immunology; Book Clubs and Book Commerce; Making Global Policy; The Anglo-Norman Historical Canon; and Picture-Book Professors. These Elements can be read online free of charge.

When a new Element is published there is a free access period for two weeks to allow institutions, librarians and researchers to browse the entire PDF of the element online.

A recent development for the Cambridge Core platform is a partnership with Hypothesis that will allow users to annotate journals, books and Elements online. The partnership reflects the development in digital technology and research, as digital Elements now have the same scope for in-text analysis as a print version.

Print Elements have performed well with more print versions sold across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America than digital. Although designed as a digital product, sales of the print editions have exceeded our initial forecasts with some titles even registering as best sellers on Amazon.

For librarians in particular, Elements metadata (including KBART, MARC and XML records) conforms to the highest standards, improving discoverability and integration with library management systems.

Phil Meyler, Publishing Development Director commented: ‘The response to Elements from researchers, students, and librarians has been really encouraging. The opportunities that the format provides clearly resonate with authors, giving them greater flexibility in communicating their ideas and research.’

Tristan Collier, Head of Channel Marketing added: ‘We’ve been very pleased with the impact that Elements have made since launch. We’ve seen significant sales in print and high numbers of downloads of the online versions. With a strong pipeline of new publishing coming through in 2020, we’re confident that the breadth and depth of Elements publishing will now grow significantly.’

It has been a strong beginning for Elements with plenty to celebrate after the first year: the team hopes this momentum will continue in the next financial year and beyond.