Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Book Competition
MDPI Books is pleased to announce a new publishing initiative supporting researchers working within the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (SSAH). Through this competition, selected book proposals will receive full editorial support and a complete waiver of Book Processing Charges (BPC), enabling open access publication at no cost to the author(s).
This initiative forms part of MDPI’s wider commitment to making high-quality academic work accessible and impactful across disciplines.
Why This Competition?
Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities are essential to understanding how societies evolve, how culture shapes identity, and how individuals interact in an increasingly complex world. Yet, researchers in these fields often face limited resources for publishing, particularly in book formats.
“Researchers in the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (SSAH) make substantial contributions to public discourse and explore topics of broad public interest,” says Laura Wagner, Head of Books at MDPI. “However, they often work within formats such as books and may have limited financial resources for open access publishing. At MDPI, we recognize both the value of their work and the challenges they face. The competition will broaden accessibility and impact in these fields of research by providing the opportunity to publish in open access at no cost to the authors, helping their work reach wider audiences.”
The campaign also includes contributions from established SSAH scholars. Read our latest interview with Prof. Dr. Manfred Max Bergman to learn more about the value of open access and societal research in today’s world.
Eligibility and Submission Criteria
- The competition is open to researchers working within the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities.
- Proposals can be submitted by an individual or predefined team of authors.
- There are no restrictions based on career stage, geographic location or institutional affiliation.
- Proposals must clearly indicate they are intended for the SSAH Book Competition.
- Proposed books should be between 30,000 and 90,000 words in length.
- Manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and intended for open access publication under a CC BY license.
What Selected Proposals Receive
- Full waiver of Book Processing Charges (worth up to CHF 12,000).
- Complete editorial and production support, including peer review, copyediting, typesetting, and layout.
- Global visibility and indexing through MDPI Books’ Open Access platform.
- Optional co-branding opportunities with relevant MDPI journals.
How to Apply
The deadline for submissions is 31 August. Note: When submitting to the SSAH competition, please state you are doing so in the "Additional Information and Remarks" section of the proposal form. This is so we can distinguish between submissions for the competition and general submissions.
Read the submission guidelines.
For questions, contact us at: books@mdpi.com