4.1.1. Authors and the Publications Office

The services provided by the Publications Office to authors include preparation of publications in various formats, graphic design, proofreading, printing on demand and provision of identifiers.

The European Union’s institutions, bodies and organisations may call upon the Publications Office in connection with any planned publication. The Office provides authors (inter alios) with the following services:

  • preparation of publications in paper and multimedia form (CD-ROMs, DVDs, websites and electronic books) and contracts with external providers,
  • graphic design,
  • proofreading,
  • printing on demand (POD),

  • provision of identifiers (ISBN, ISSN, DOI, catalogue numbers – see Section 4.4).

    NB:

    In the case of publications prepared by the Office itself, identifiers are assigned automatically.

Procedure overview

The originating departments must first submit a service-provision request to the authorising department of their institution, body or organisation. A publication request is then drawn up and sent to the Publications Office, which issues an estimate or quotation to be used as a basis for preparing the order forms. In turn, the order forms are sent to the authorising department to be signed.

After receiving the final version of the manuscript and the signed order form, the Publications Office carries out typographical preparation and a preliminary reading of the document. At the end of the production process, the ‘passed for press’ form is issued after the number of copies, the identifiers (ISBN, ISSN, DOI, catalogue number), the selling price (where applicable) and the delivery details have been checked.

After reception, the Publications Office carries out a quality acceptance of the publication and checks that the publication delivered corresponds to what appears on the invoice.

As regards periodicals, any change of title or appearance in the course of the year should be avoided, since such changes tend to complicate and delay the series and the cataloguing thereof, to hamper sales and to confuse readers.

tip:

For authors

Producing a publication? Creating a poster? Targeting an audience?
For answers to your questions on technical and administrative matters, please go to:

https://op.europa.eu/en/web/publicare/providing-publishing-and-preservation-services

(Internal link for staff of the European Union’s institutions, bodies and organisations)