Author Solutions, fresh from having two recent lawsuits against it dismissed, has this week continued its long-term strategy of partnership agreements with the announcement of Alliant Press. The new imprint is in partnership with Alliant International University and will be operated by Author Solutions’ iUniverse imprint. Alliant is a private, independent university offering graduate study in psychology, education, business management, law and forensic studies, and bachelor’s degree programs in several fields. This is Author Solutions’ first venture into the field of academic publishing.

Launching a university press requires considerable fixed costs, making it prohibitive for most colleges and universities. For some time, we’ve believed that bringing the efficiencies of supported self-publishing to the university-press model could dramatically reduce barriers of entry, ultimately resulting in learning institutions disseminating scholarship for the greater good.

 

— Andrew Phillips, Author Solutions president and CEO

According to the press release:

Alliant Press will exclusively publish the academic works of AIU students, scholars, alumni, staff and other select authors. Authors will be chosen by an editorial board of scholarly experts, with AIU funding the works. Authors publishing their research, dissertations and other scholarly works through Alliant Press will maintain all copyrights and receive book royalties.

The press release also makes reference to the Alliant International University website, but nowhere on it could I find further details of the publishing program and from the above quote, it appears to me that there is a subtle differentiation between the selected works funded by AIU and research/dissertations published by authors. If Alliant Press proves to be curated and funded by AIU exclusively, then it would be a shift in strategy for Author Solutions.