About the Press

The scientific, social, and cultural functions of the university are closely linked to book editing and dissemination of the intellectual, creative, and artistic production by its members and the community in general in activities involving research, teaching, learning, and development. By means of EAFIT Publishing House, the office of the Vice-Rector for Discovery and Creation edits and publishes books as a strategy to impact society with content that meets the challenges of each period in time.

Therefore, the mission and vision statements of EAFIT Publishing House include disseminating the knowledge produced at EAFIT University under the highest standards. Accordingly, these also serve as an adequate link for the exchange and knowledge transfer of its academic community with other higher education institutions and academic publishers in the country and abroad.

To do so, different factors are considered for the selection and commitment of certain content: (1) national and international evaluation and measurement criteria, (2) search for greater dissemination of researchers and knowledge produced, and (3) social and academic recognition of the university as a center and setting for the production of ideas.

Background

Under minute 132 dated May 21, 1997, the Superior Council of the EAFIT University approved the creation of an editorial fund. Thus, the university assumed the responsibility to be incorporated as a publishing house. As an academic decision, this helps strengthen its research, teaching, cultural, and dissemination processes. As an administrative and commercial decision, this implies generating coherent editorial policies, creating competent organisms, appropriating budget, establishing clear management criteria for all stages of book production, and choosing the advertising and distribution mechanisms for efficient commercialization.

Mission

EAFIT Publishing House upholds its start-up mission statement, described as the means to give visibility to the knowledge produced at EAFIT University in different types of media such as digital, transmedia, and traditional under high standards of quality and excellence. Among its cross-sectional goals are strengthening, enhancing, and motivating the institution’s academic, research, creation, and outreach capacities as well as promoting the relation between the society and EAFIT University. This approach can be reached through the publication of works that are part of the past and present’s cultural, literary, and artistic heritage, which not only includes the city’s heritage but also that from the region and the country. 

Vision

EAFIT Publishing House will focus on quality edition in all senses, regardless of the medium used for publication. Its products must provide a solid and reliable identity reflected in the university’s brand. Without disregarding editing or publishing on traditional media, EAFIT Publishing House will focus on digital publishing, co-publishing, and transmedia production to reach a wider audience worldwide. It will be consolidated as a support unit for the dissemination of research and creation work, assisting the different academic levels of the university and representative communities of society. Moreover, it will always adhere to regulations and internal criteria of excellence and transparency and to the national and international regulations of the editorial field. EAFIT Publishing House will be an academic and cultural platform wherein alliances with other universities and research developments are promoted, in addition to being a source of expressing the country’s culture.

Editorial Policies

EAFIT Publishing House welcomes and develops editorial projects in different areas of knowledge and culture. It receives, evaluates, advises, publishes, promotes, and markets works by authors from the EAFIT University community and other academic, intellectual, artistic, local, national, and international sectors. More specifically, it is involved in the following:

  • It welcomes and develops all the editorial projects aimed at supporting and strengthening the intellectual, scientific, and literary production generated at EAFIT University. It also contributes to the dissemination and mobility of significant works for the social and cultural development of our community. Therefore, it also includes editorial proposals from authors not belonging to the EAFIT community.
  • It verifies compliance with the requirements established by the Ministry of Science for academic books that apply for publication with the support of the Publication Management Office.
  • As it is flexible, its editorial products reflect the changing horizons of knowledge and establish dialogs between multiple paradigms and different visions of the world about everything based on the communities that constitute the cultural mosaic of our country.
  • It maintains an independent intellectual attitude and, thus, contributes to the generation of pluralism and tolerance environment, as established in the EAFIT University’s mission.
  • The decisions to publish a text are made according to clear and previously established criteria related to the public interest of the work, its academic and stylistic quality, and its relevance in the catalog.
  • It does not accept any pressure for publishing works that do not conform to the established editorial criteria or to the ongoing projects approved by the Editorial Committee.
  • It does not accept plagiarism or infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, lack of academic rigor, and carelessness in style.
  • It guarantees the publishing of knowledge products created within the university by authors that comply with the required academic and stylistic criteria.
  • As it has a clear sense of editorial identity, it establishes criteria for the design and layout management of its books, which guarantee the aesthetic quality of the edition and the brand identity of the publisher.
  • It fosters an alliance with related publishers to carry out editorial projects (co-publishing) as well as promotion and distribution of publications.

Goals

The publishing house’s goals are framed within the EAFIT 2030 Itinerary and contribute to the discovery of excellence and turning EAFIT into a physical and digital core of culture and artistic creation.

Editorial Quality

To guarantee the editorial quality of its publications and achieve recognition, increasing the university’s name at the same time, in local, national, and international publishing fields 

  • To ensure that the editorial processes are of excellent quality, starting from the evaluation, contracting, and legalization of copyrights and authorizations of use to content edition, design, printing, and materials used
  • To keep the selection and evaluation processes of publication proposals (editorial evaluation, external reader concepts, academic peer concepts and the Editorial Committees minutes) updated in order and properly filed.
  • To encourage authors interested in publishing with EAFIT, guaranteeing good treatment, timely response as well as informing them when decisions related to their books are made, especially those related to the rejection of their publication proposals

Dissemination of EAFIT Academic Production

To position EAFIT Publishing House as an important means of disseminating the academic production of university professors and researchers

  • Supporting the measures and policies proposed by the office of the Vice-Rector for Discovery and Creation to strengthen the visibility and impact of academic publications
  • Ensuring criteria compliance for the publication of the following types of books: research results, research-creation, creation in arts, architecture or design, activities of social knowledge acquisition, and dissemination
  • Ensuring compliance with national and international technical standards in relation to the academic books it publishes
  • Encouraging the presentation and consolidation of publications by the EAFIT University professors and researchers at the publishing house by updating the policies of reception and publication of works in accordance with national and international regulations for the edition of academic books
  • Making alliances with schools and research groups to offer socialization venues, considering the current provisions and regulations that apply when a book project is presented to the publisher
  • Strengthening academic production, especially of items meant for the students of EAFIT University and other educational institutions, such as manuals, guides, workshops, and teacher’s feedback
  • Distributing and selling academic books published by EAFIT Publishing House by using the distribution means available and samples displayed at national and international book fairs; posting on the publisher’s social media; and updating the physical and virtual catalog, with the latter being published on the university’s website 
  • Linking distribution and dissemination efforts with the Luis Echavarría Villegas Library Cultural Center
  • Making alliances with other EAFIT campuses for the promotion and sale of digital and printed books; participating in book fairs in Pereira and Bogotá and supporting the Library Literary Exchange in Llanogrande; and scheduling talks by authors to promote their books in Pereira, Bogotá, and Llanogrande
  • Managing financial resources for translation to different languages of the works that require it, together with the author’s school; depending on this, the publisher may hire translators, copy editors, and proofreaders duly trained to work in the corresponding foreign language. 
  • Referring to the Language Center whenever they perform translations as one of their functions  
  • Participating in calls from the Colombian Book Chamber that support translations of works by the publisher to sell the rights to other countries and foreign publishers

Dissemination of Literary Creation

To publish and, thus, make the literary creation of Colombian authors visible, giving preference to locals and young authors who have not had the opportunity to publicize their work

  • Strengthening EAFIT recognition as a “striving” publishing house for many national and foreign authors
  • Enriching the literary and cultural heritage of the region and country by publishing fundamental works that have not been published for decades or that have never been published; the Rescates Collection and the Libraries promoted by EAFIT Publishing House are essential. 
  • Providing a space for authors with a consolidated work who publish their work with the EAFIT Publishing House due to its quality standards
  • Supporting new authors who present their first work to strengthen creation and culture in the city and the country 

Digitization 

To strengthen digital editing by venturing into new transmedia proposals, print on demand, book commercialization on new platforms offered by the digital world and its integration in internationally recognized databases

  • Training staff working at the publishing house through workshops, courses, and conferences related to the use of new technologies applied to different areas such as editing, design, advertising, and marketing 
  • Promoting the hiring of staff involved in editing and design processes as the number of books for electronic or printed publication increases; to do this, the staff of qualified proofreaders and designers will be increased.
  • Strengthening and promoting publication processes on digital platforms and positioning the publisher’s titles in digital markets through alliances with distributors 
  • Working in print on demand from Spain, Argentina, and Mexico, according to the publisher’s title market in other Spanish-speaking countries 
  • Keeping the copyright provisions updated for paper and electronic books and proposing the amendment of the current editing contracts to the authors, according to copyright provisions, to sell the books in printed and electronic versions