UCL Press books downloaded 7 million times

24 March 2023

Books published by UCL Press, the UK's first fully open access university press, have now been accessed more than 7 million times in 246 countries and territories worldwide.

UCL Press books have now been accessed more than 7 million times – a mere 10 months after reaching the 6 million mark – from 246 countries and territories across the world, reaching readers in countries as far afield as the Northern Mariana Islands and Antarctica, in addition to serving the needs of scholarly communities closer to home.

Since launching in 2015, the Press has published more than 280 academic books – including monographs, edited collections and textbooks – in a wide range of subjects. This includes Alexander Williamson: A Victorian chemist and the making of modern Japan, about how UCL's long history with Japan began with the UCL chemist and the Chōshū Five, the first Japanese students to study in the UK.

The 7 millionth download was Lockdown Cultures: The arts and humanities in the year of the pandemic, 2020-21. Edited by UCL's Dean of Arts and Humanities, Stella Bruzzi, and Maurice Biriotti, with Sam Caleb and Harvey Wiltshire, the book is a unique response to the question of how the humanities commented on and were impacted by one of the dominant crises of our times: the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCL Press books downloaded 7 million times

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