Each work will have a long-form component suitable for printing. We will be happy to entertain monographs as short as about 80 pages. We expect most works to be in the range of 200-350 pages, but have no strict limit on length provided the length is justified by the argument and purpose of the work.
Some works will also have additional components to be made available online only.
We are especially interested in basic research (editing and analysis of primary materials both textual and physical), data-heavy research, and highly specialized research of the kind that is either hard to place with the leading publishers in Classics or extremely expensive for libraries and individuals when produced by a leading academic publisher. Under this heading we have in mind especially archaeological publications, papyrological and epigraphic studies, technical textual studies, and the like.
Although basic research is our main goal, we do not intend to exclude from consideration work in other areas, such as ancient history, ancient philosophy, commentaries on literary works, or general literary and cultural studies, if authors are strongly committed to the open-access digital model.
In the initial phase we encourage in particular tenured and senior scholars to submit. We believe it is the responsibility of senior scholars to help establish recognition of peer-reviewed open-access works and to promote the change in culture that will make it possible for junior scholars to feel comfortable using such a venue.
Before the end of 2013 CCS will announce a competition to identify two outstanding works by junior scholars to include in the series. All production costs for these works will be covered by CCS’s startup grant.
We invite proposals (or nominations) for the reissue in digital form of a distinguished work under copyright (published after 1923) that is not currently available to the public. For such a project, the author or an identifiable heir must be living, and it must be possible to verify that the author or heir controls the rights to the work. In some cases, this means requesting that the original press acknowledge in writing that it cedes all rights back to the author. All production costs for one work of this type will be covered by CCS’s startup grant.
We will also consider a volume of collected seminal articles on a unified general theme by a senior scholar.
At this time, CCS will not consider volumes of conference papers (except from a UC Berkeley research center), Festschriften, or other collective volumes. We encourage editors of such works to try to place their papers in an open-access venue, so that article-length works are readily accessible in digital form.
Authors are normally expected to be technologically adept enough to communicate by email, receive and send attachments, follow instructions for formatting final submission files, and follow specifications for providing supplementary online materials (images, maps, plans, datasets, and the like).
