Project MUSE and Non-Profit Publishers

Combining the strengths of individual journals and journal programs from multiple respected presses, societies, and other non-profit publishers has resulted in a powerful interdisciplinary journal collection seen as essential by academic libraries worldwide. Bringing together these key titles has also created strong subject-based synergies — such as in film studies, Judaic studies, modern literature and more —resulting in increased usage and serendipitous discovery not possible when journals go it alone. Participation in this rich, well-designed collection helps individual titles reach a much wider audience.

Non-profit publishers benefit from MUSE's size and take advantage of the opportunities resulting from online scholarly communication. MUSE's economies of scale make the transition to electronic publishing affordable and financially rewarding for titles and journal publishing programs of all scopes and sizes.

University Presses and Project MUSE

MUSE understands the mission and role of the university press in the scholarly communication network. Project MUSE was built upon the strength and quality of several notable university press journal publishing programs. After its historic 1995 launch of the Johns Hopkins University Press journals, MUSE expanded its role as a leading online provider of journals in the humanities and social sciences in 2000 by offering other university presses the opportunity to participate in and benefit from this successful publishing initiative.

Some of the first university presses to join MUSE include the MIT Press, Indiana University Press, Oxford University Press, University of Texas Press, Pennsylvania State University Press, and the University of Wisconsin Press. Well-known presses continue to join MUSE, which now boasts journal content from some 30 university presses worldwide.

The individual university presses currently working with Project MUSE contribute content from as many as 60+ titles down to just one title; some choose to include all of their humanities and social science journals in MUSE, while other presses choose to contribute just a selection.

Scholarly Society and Independent Journals

While many journals from societies and educational institutions publish with MUSE member university presses, a number of these organizations publish directly with MUSE.

Many of the finest and best-known journals are affiliated with scholarly societies, for whom publishing is part of their mission to disseminate and enhance knowledge in their fields. Project MUSE understands the goals and challenges involved in mission-driven publishing and shares the mission of societies to support scholarly disciplines and research.

Joining Project MUSE helps societies reach a wide audience of readers. Inclusion in an online journal collection of MUSE's depth and breadth provides opportunities for interdisciplinary connections and broader discovery of the high-quality scholarship in society-based titles.

Project MUSE also offers societies a number of options for providing electronic access to their titles outside of the collection structure. In addition to single-title institutional sales, Project MUSE can provide online journal access for society members, especially beneficial for independent scholars and researchers. The scholarly societies with whom MUSE works directly to bring their flagship journals to MUSE's worldwide audience include the Linguistic Society of America, the African Studies Association, and the Latin American Studies Association.

Part of Project MUSE's mission is to help independent publishers remain independent and succeed in the transition to an electronic publishing environment. In addition to university presses and societies, Project MUSE works with a variety of other non-profit scholarly publishers as well as independent journals, such as those published in academic departments or research institutes. These journals include, among others, the Hastings Center Report, the James Joyce Quarterly and Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature (from the University of Tulsa Department of English), Studies in the Novel (from the University of North Texas Department of English), Population, English version (from the Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, France) and Monumenta Nipponica (from Sophia University, Japan). The addition of these independent journals has grown tremendously during MUSE's second decade of electronic publishing.