Academic

Inspiring discovery. Building knowledge. Unlocking potential.

Cambridge University Press, like the whole academic publishing market, encountered several headwinds throughout the financial year, including the ongoing retail channel shift to ordering on demand rather than for stock, and the impacts of policy changes on research library budgets in several markets, including the United States. Despite these challenges, a combination of resilient sales, strong new products (notably in higher education publishing and online courses), and licensing for generative AI use, helped overall performance.

Trusted content and real-world impact

The Academic group is dedicated to creating high-impact, evidence-based and trusted content, which is of critical value to society in an era of AI and disinformation. We have taken a proactive stance on AI and copyright issues, advocating for the proper licensing of content.

Removing barriers to the development of knowledge through our open research initiatives has been a hallmark over the last decade.

We continue to prioritise quality over quantity, publishing a wide range of high-impact books this year, including The Complete Cambridge Jane Austen, A Climate of Truth by Mike Berners-Lee and Brain Boost by Barbara Sahakian and Christelle Langley. Peer recognition of our titles and authors remains strong, and the numerous awards and prizes we have received for our publishing are listed here.

“It’s amazing to see seven Cambridge authors become Nobel Laureates in 2024. These results speak once again to the Press’s long history of publishing research by outstanding individuals.”

Mandy Hill, Group Managing Director, Academic

Respecting book authors’ rights when engaging with AI

This year, we have contacted book authors to give them agency in whether their works are included in any generative AI licensing deals.

Seven Cambridge authors win Nobel Prizes

We have published the works of nearly 200 Nobel Laureates in our books, journals and partner journals. We had an outstanding year, with seven of our authors and contributors awarded Nobel Prizes. They are Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson (Economic Sciences), Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun (Physiology or Medicine), John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton (Physics), and Demis Hassabis (Chemistry).

Elements double in output

The number of Cambridge Elements, our unique publishing format that bridges the gap between monographs and journal articles, doubled from 1,000 to over 2,000 this year. Across all our Elements, there have been 6.8 million downloads of content spread among 225 different series and over 250 open access titles.

Celebrating 75 years of the New York office

We celebrated the 75th anniversary of the New York office, our first international office which was established in 1949, and highlighted Cambridge’s long-term commitment to the USA as our largest market, as well as our largest author base.

Colleagues celebrating 75 years of the New York office in 2024

“There’s no better press in the world than Cambridge University Press.”

Cass Sunstein, author of Manipulation

Cambridge Advance Online delivers outstanding courses

Cambridge Advance Online, our programme of short online executive and professional courses led by University of Cambridge academics, has delivered a number of outstanding courses for schools, faculties and departments. Learners have acclaimed the service, giving it a 97 percent positive rating.

Among our Cambridge Advance Online courses, we won gold at the Learning Technologies Awards 2024 for the Compelling Communication Skills course, which supports professionals to develop communication skills and confidence across all areas.

Cambridge online learning highlights

Eight new courses developed with University academics covering topics from global risk management, AI and ethics, to health sciences
A new Carbon and ESG Analyst course developed in partnership with Localised and Mastercard, designed for recent university graduates in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Cairo to train for sustainability jobs in Africa
Launch of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership portfolio of four short courses on sustainable business practices and leadership

“We need to understand that you can’t deal with climate on its own. We need to see the big picture. We need to stand back and see the big dynamics of what’s going on. We need to think globally.”

Mike Berners-Lee, Cambridge author of There is No Planet B

Sustainability: building knowledge and changing operations

We are playing our part in becoming a more sustainable organisation by building knowledge of the climate emergency, as well as changing the way we do things.

The research we publish is inspiring action and solutions to the climate crisis. Our publications cover the full spectrum of subjects, from soil science to social policy and palaeontology to environmental law. We are also making significant contributions to sustainability goals through our shift from paper to digital formats. Since 2021, we have removed over 600,000 journal print copies and we aim to have reduced journal print volumes by 70 percent by the end of 2025. Around 88 percent of our books catalogue is now available as print-on-demand, with a target to reach 95 percent by the end of 2025.

“From smashing a promotion interview, to inspiring a team, to securing millions of pounds in funding, we’ve loved hearing so many stories of success.”

Simon Hall, course leader of Compelling Communication Skills

Marking 100 years of publishing the Cameo Bible

This year, the Cameo Bible – our most popular Bible – turned 100 years old. The Cambridge Cameo Bible is an historic edition of the King James Version that the Press first produced in 1925. One hundred years on, it is the oldest Bible design continuously produced by us.

Promoting the role of publishing to the world

In May 2025, Mandy Hill, Managing Director of Cambridge University Press, became the President of the UK Publishers Association. The Presidency role lasts for one year and will highlight the significant impact of UK publishing on the global stage, as well as celebrate the importance of academic freedom and the value of facts and evidence in an age of disinformation.

In focus

Anti-piracy work steps up to protect authors

We continually invest in technology to protect our intellectual property and that of our authors and other rightsholders. In 2024–25, we removed over 53 million links to pirated Cambridge content, helping to secure trust in our assessments for learners and recognising bodies, and to protect the work of our authors and rights holders worldwide.

The vast majority of links removed were connected to shadow libraries distributing unauthorised copies of educational materials. Our efforts included not only takedowns from hosts, but also delisting URLs from search results, to greatly reduce the visibility of pirated content. The unprecedented volume of removals – three times the number removed in the previous year – highlights the increasing effectiveness of our enforcement strategy.

Over

53 million

links to pirated Cambridge content were removed this year