The APS Press

The American Philosophical Society Press is the oldest continuously-operating scholarly publisher in the nation.
Current New Releases
Featured Journals
The APS Press Blog
Other APS Publications
Instructions for Authors
Contact

The American Philosophical Society first began publishing manuscripts in 1771 and has since held firm to Benjamin Franklin’s mission to promote useful knowledge.

In the course of two-and-a-half centuries, the APS Press has built a backlist of over 1,000 titles, including many landmark works. Its roster of authors includes Benjamin Franklin, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the anthropologist Margaret Lantis, the science historian Otto Neugebauer, the linguist Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, and the economist Jacob Viner. In partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Press and De Gruyter, the APS Press is in the process of digitizing this priceless archive of intellectual history, which will soon be available as the APS Legacy Collection.

As of Summer 2024, the Press has commissioned three new series:

Learned Lives, a series of intellectual biographies of influential humanist thinkers and social scientists that will paint their subjects with a vivid concreteness, reminding readers that the life of the mind is always lived through a body and among others. Edited by Suzanne Marchand and Anthony Grafton.

Disciplines & Discontinuities, a series of brief, essay-like books that will track changes in scholarly fields, addressing the emergence of new disciplines, the influence of interdisciplinary exchange, and the development of cross-disciplinary fields around pressing cultural, regional and global questions. Edited by Carol Greenhouse.

APS Classics, a series of reprints of classic texts from the APS backlist and great works by APS members; forewords by leading historians and afterwords by contemporary specialists in the represented fields will put great thinkers of the past and present in dynamic conversation. Edited by Joyce Chaplin.

The APS also publishes two distinguished journals, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society and Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.

To view all APS titles in print and to search our current publications, please visit our fulfillment service partner, the University of Pennsylvania Press. 

Current New Releases

Edward Duffield Cover

Edward Duffield: Philadelphia Clockmaker, Citizen, Gentleman, 1730-1803

Bob Frishman
Cover of Surgeons and Something More

Surgeons and Something More: A History of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania

Clyde F. Barker and Elizabeth Barker
Ben Franklin in American Thought and Culture Cover

Benjamin Franklin in American Thought and Culture, 1790-1990

Nian-Sheng Huang
The Other Presidency Cover

The Other Presidency: Thomas Jefferson and the American Philosophical Society

Patrick Spero
Cover of Tom Paine's Iron Bridge

Tom Paine's Iron Bridge: Building a United States

Edward G. Gray
A Male Hysteria Cover

A Male Hysteria: Diabetes and the Victorian Mind

Edward Beasley
Diplomacy of Independence Cover

The Diplomacy of Independence: Benjamin Franklin Documents in the Archives of Spain

Thomas E. Chávez
Five Hundred African Voices Cover

Five Hundred African Voices: A Catalog of Published Accounts by Africans Enslaved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1586-1936

Aaron Spencer Fogleman and Robert Hanserd

Featured Journals

Transactions of the American Philosophical Society

Transactions is the oldest scholarly publication in North America. It began as a scientific journal in 1771, and over its long history has covered fields of study ranging from astronomy to American history, from archaeology to economics, from linguistics to the history of science. Transactions, which had been publishing a combination of edited volumes and monographs, transitioned to a new format in 2024. It now releases quarterly issues organized around specific themes, with content drawn from papers given at APS conferences and workshops. 

Subscribe at our partner, Penn Press.

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society

Proceedings, first published in 1838, is a quarterly journal that includes papers read at the APS’s biannual Member Meetings, biographical memoirs of APS Members, and occasional peer-reviewed articles by prominent professionals, scholars, and scientists. Future issues will include a new feature: field report essays from recipients of APS grants who have completed scholarly projects in the sciences and humanities. 

Subscribe at our partner, Penn Press.

Recent issues of Transactions and  Proceedings are available on Project MUSE. 

Past issues of Transactions and Proceedings through 2023 are available on JSTOR. 

 

The APS Press Blog

Forthcoming from the APS Press: Surgeons and Something More, Clyde and Elizabeth Barker’s Complete History of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital

Jon Repetti
September 23, 2024

The APS Press Announces APS Classics Series

American Philosophical Society
August 14, 2024

“If They Are Ever Used Again…”: The 1945 Atomic Energy Symposium, with a New Introduction by John P. Holdren

Jon Repetti
August 9, 2024

Still Ticking: A Modern Clockmaker Revives His 18th-Century Philadelphia Predecessor, in a New Biography from the APS Press

Jon Repetti
July 15, 2024
APS Press

Other APS Publications

American Philosophical Society News

The APS News is published annually. Please click on a link below to view that year's newsletter. 

2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 

American Philosophical Society Yearbook

The APS Yearbook includes a list of Resident and International Members, the President's Annual Message, the Report of the Executive Officer, and reports from each APS department. The Yearbook is a Members-only publication and is not available for sale to the public.

Instructions for Authors

The APS Press accepts proposals and manuscripts from all scholarly disciplines, and produces both scholarly and trade publications. Authors whose works are accepted have completed postdoctoral studies, and their submitted manuscripts are the results of primary research.

For unsolicited proposal submissions, please follow our Proposal Guidelines. 

For specific information on manuscript formatting and submission, the handling of copyrighted materials, the review process, indexing, advertising, royalties, and stylistic considerations, contact Editorial Administrator David Carpenter at [email protected]. 

Contact

Submissions:

 

Kimberly Guinta, Director

[email protected]

 

Peter J. Dougherty, Editor-at-Large

[email protected]

 

Staff:

 

Allison Cadle, Associate Editor

[email protected]

 

David Carpenter, Editorial Administrator

[email protected]

 

Jon Repetti, Publishing Fellow

[email protected] 

 

Kate Tyler Wall, Managing Editor of Transactions

[email protected] 

 

Annalisa Zox-Weaver, Managing Editor of Proceedings

[email protected]