Edinburgh University Press buys Dundee’s publishing arm

The university said that it had made the purchase in order to grow its academic publishing business and consolidate its position “as the leading academic publisher in Scotland”.

Dundee’s press was launched in 2004 and had published books on law, history and general interest topics.

Timothy Wright, the Edinburgh University Press chief executive, said that Dundee’s output “complements our own and will underpin our commissioning particularly in the area of law”.

“They also have a focused and excellent list in Scottish history which will sit well with our books in this field. There are numerous opportunities for us to grow the list – particularly in the textbook and digital areas,” he added in a statement.

Christopher Whatley, director of Dundee University Press, said in a statement: “It is clearly in the interests of our authors that they can now benefit from the greater market reach that EUP has.

“EUP’s reputation is another powerful attraction for this move. The scale of EUP’s operation is such that the areas in which DUP has created a presence can grow much faster than DUP – a much smaller company – was capable of,” he continued.

The news comes after the University of Aberdeen announced last month that it was reviving its own publishing arm.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com