OUP launches latest Responsible Publishing Report

Oxford University Press (OUP) has published its latest Responsible Publishing Report outlining how it aligns many of its operational and publishing activities with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability, operating ethically, and supporting the communities it serves.

The report also highlights how OUP – as a signatory to the SDG Publishers Compact – continues to engage with some of the most important challenges facing society today, both through its publishing and across a range of initiatives supporting research and education.

OPUP says it has delivered several notable initiatives and activities in 2023/24, including:

• Encouraging sustainability and environmental action in science education through the development of the PISA 2025 Science Framework for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD);
• Compiling the Oxford Dictionary of African American English (ODAAE) – a landmark scholarly initiative to document the lexicon of African American English, in collaboration with Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research;
• Helping teachers to support refugees with their education, through the publication of a new research paper, ‘Supporting refugees: a primer for language teachers’ and a partnership with The Educational Equality Institute (TEEI); and
  
• Extending OUP’s Raise a Reader initiative in partnership with the National Literacy Trust for a second year, to help tackle concerns around the widening vocabulary gap. The Oxford Language Report, 2023 highlighted that 4 in 10 pupils have fallen behind in vocabulary development: https://global.oup.com/education/press/oxford-language-report-2023-4-in-10-pupils-have-fallen-behind/?region=uk

In addition to its publishing highlights, OUP continues to make progress against its three environmental sustainability targets, which it aims to achieve by 2025, including:

• A 6% reduction in carbon footprint versus the previous year;
• 90% of the paper it uses being certified as sustainable for print publications; and
• 85% of waste being recycled with some OUP offices achieving zero waste to landfill.

OUP also donated more than 292,000 books worldwide – many of which were distributed through its partnership with Book Aid International – and colleagues volunteered almost 1,000 hours to support relevant charitable initiatives.

Nigel Portwood, CEO of Oxford University Press, said: “Our Responsible Publishing Report demonstrates our commitment to operate responsibly in pursuit of our mission. Although the global context continues to be challenging, our colleagues have shown that they can successfully deliver impactful initiatives that we believe will make a positive difference. We have made good progress against our objectives in areas that support us in being a responsible publisher, and I look forward to building on this further in the future.”