About The APS Press
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is the oldest learned society in the United States, founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” In keeping with Franklin’s vision, the APS has rebranded and relaunched its historic publishing program, producing new publications that promote and explore the dynamics of “useful knowledge” in today’s multidisciplinary context, and re-promoting its list of classic works. The Press also publishes two distinguished journals, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society and Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.
APS Books
The APS Press publishes books for scholars across the disciplines, and publishes trade books for the discerning general reader. Alongside the new books, the APS Press also has a recently digitized backlist of over 1,000 titles, many available in print and online for the first time in years. Penn Press has been distributing the APS Press books since 2024, and you can find APS Press books in Penn Press catalogs and on the Penn Press website.
See all titles currently available from The APS Press on pennpress.org ❯
APS Journals
The APS Press also publishes the Society’s two venerable journals, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society and Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.
Proceedings, first published in 1838, is a quarterly journal that contains papers presented at the APS’s biannual Member Meetings, biographical memoirs of APS Members, field reports from recipients of APS grants or fellowships who have completed scholarly projects in the sciences and humanities, and occasional peer-reviewed articles by prominent professionals, scholars, and scientists.
Transactions is the oldest scholarly publication in North America, dating back to 1771 and covering various fields of study, ranging from 18th-century American history to the history of science, to various topics in the humanities and scientific practice. Transactions, which was briefly published as a combination of edited issues and monographs, is, as of 2024, a quarterly, all-thematic-issue journal. The journal draws its content from the work presented at APS conferences and workshops.
Penn Press & The APS Press
In 2023, the APS and Penn Press joined forces to distribute and market the books and journals published by the APS. Both the APS and Penn Press’s home university are products of Benjamin Franklin’s fertile imagination, and this new partnership brings together the distinctive strengths of two pillars of Philadelphia’s intellectual landscape.
In this partnership, Penn Press provides the APS with distribution, sales, rights representation, and other publishing services that give APS Press books and journals—and their authors—unprecedented access to readers via online merchants and bookstores, through exhibits at academic meetings, domestic and international sales representation, and subsidiary rights representation for translation into languages around the world. The APS Press books backlist has also been digitized and is now available to libraries, suppliers, and booksellers in print-on-demand and e-book formats through Penn Press’s relationship with Paradigm, a division of De Gruyter-Brill. The APS Press’s two distinguished journals, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society and Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, are being published as a part of Penn Press’s robust journals program.
Learn more about the APS Press/Penn Press partnership in our handy Guide!
More Info for Prospective APS Press Authors
The APS Press Proposal guidelines
Read the APS Press guidelines on the use of AI
Contact Us
Kimberly Guinta, Director and Acquisitions Editor
kguinta@amphilsoc.org
James Chung McKenna, Marketing and Publicity Associate
jmckenna@amphilsoc.org
David Carpenter, Editorial Assistant
dcarpenter@amphilsoc.org
Kate Tyler Wall, Managing Editor of Transactions
ktylerwall@amphilsoc.com
Annalisa Zox-Weaver, Managing Editor of Proceedings
azox-weaver@amphilsoc.org
Peter J. Dougherty, Editor-at-Large
pdougherty@amphilsoc.org