Submissions open for our inaugural First Book Prize for early career researchers

Early career researchers can now apply to our First Book Prize—a new, annual prize in the humanities and social sciences.

As an education provider, we know that early career researchers face steep challenges, such as navigating the current job market and securing funding for their projects. This is at a time when their research approaches are needed to help bring understanding to society’s biggest problems.

To support them, the First Book Prize will award up to 10 applicants with the opportunity to publish their original and innovative work fully open access on our Oxford Academic platform with a full open access fee waiver, in addition to publication in hardback.

Explaining why we introduced the prize, Sophie Goldsworthy, Director of Content Strategy & Acquisition, said: 

“Our work with early career researchers often focuses on helping scholars ensure their work stands out and the demystification of the publishing process, but we know that open access fees remain a barrier to many and publishing openings are limited. The research monograph is of pivotal importance, allowing an author the space to make a sustained argument, and with the OUP First Book Prize we are creating an opportunity to help disseminate the best new work as widely as possible. We are excited to see the submissions.”

In supporting open access publication for exceptional early career researchers, we aim to make this work available to a wide audience, both within and beyond academia, unlocking opportunity for those at the start of their careers.

The books will be selected by a global prize committee, who will be looking for the most original work, especially work that blends disciplines and methodologies to create meaningful insights into complex societal problems. 

Nandini Das, Professor of Early Modern English Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford, OUP Delegate, and acting as adviser on the First Book Prize, said: 

“This is a thrilling new initiative that champions the transformative power of humanities and social science research, which enables us to understand our world and its complexities in fundamental ways. At a time when the higher education landscape and such research are both under ever-increasing pressure, the OUP First Book Prize will provide a global platform for excellent and original research from the next generation of scholars.”

The inaugural prize is now open for submissions, closing on 3 March 2025. You can find out more about our prize here.