Frequently Asked Questions

  • How many books do you publish?
    • We publish 30 books a year.
  • How many authors have published with Language Science Press?
    • As of 2020-12-31, about 1,200 different linguists have published with Language Science Press
  • How much money do you need?
    • We disclose yearly transparency reports. In general, we have costs of about 120,000 EUR and the same revenues since we are legally not allowed to run a profit (we could run a loss, but this would eventually bankrupt us)
  • How much does it cost to produce a book?
    • We have calculatory costs of about 4,500 EUR per book.
  • Why do other publishers charge much more than this, like 15.000 EUR or even 30.000 EUR?
    • We don't know.
  • How many people work for Language Science Press?
    • There are 1000+ authors, 400+ editorial board members, 400+ proofreaders, and 2 salaried employees at 50% each.
  • What is the legal status of Language Science Press?
    • Language Science press has the legal form of a "gemeinnützige Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt)". This translates as "not-for-profit micro-Ltd". We have a managing director (Sebastian Nordhoff) who runs the daily business. At the end of the year, we have to file tax forms, and the Berlin Finanzamt checks whether our accounts are in order and whether we still comply with the regulations for non-profits. Our statutes make it legally impossible to turn Language Science Press into a for-profit or to sell it to a for-profit entity.
  • Can I translate your books?
    • The CC-BY license permits the translation, provided you keep the attribution to the original author.
  • Can I use your LaTeX classes for other disciplines?
    • Feel free to do so. The most recent version on CTAN has the LangSci branding removed, so that you can use it for other disciplines without problems.
  • Your LaTeX code is broken! I cannot produce my book!