AU Press operates on the model of a knowledge-based economy, to which we contribute by providing peer-reviewed publications unfettered by the desire to commodify thought or to restrict access to ideas.

AU Press is the first university press to be established by a Canadian university in the twenty-first century. We are dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge and research through open access digital journals and monographs, as well as through new electronic media.

AU Press will offer its imprint only to scholarship of the highest quality, as determined through peer review. In keeping with Athabasca University’s mission of overcoming barriers to education, we intend to work with emerging writers and researchers to promote success in scholarly publishing.

Our geographical focus is on Canada, the North American West, and the Circumpolar North. One of our mandates is to publish innovative and experimental works (in both fiction and non-fiction) that challenge established canons, subjects, and formats. We plan to develop series that contribute to the scholarship of established and new disciplines. As we are dedicated to making AU Press publications accessible to a broad readership through open access technologies, we cultivate the areas of open-, distance-, and e-learning. We promote neglected forms such as diary, memoir, and oral history. AU Press also publishes websites (under its imprint) with content that has scholarly parameters and standards, especially grey literature on distance learning; and primary sources in labour studies, Métis and Aboriginal Studies, gender studies, and the environment.