Library for Staff: Publishing at Wintec

Legal Requirements when you publish a book

Anyone who publishes a book is required by law to supply 2 copies to the National Library.  Electronic productions are included in this requirement.

You can find details of what is involved on the National Library website, Legal Deposit page.

Students who produce books or films as part of their course requirements should check whether their publication comes under the provisions for legal deposit. Generally, if their published item is available to the public they need to send the National Library 2 copies in the case of physical items or provide digital versions.

The kinds of items covered is wide-ranging. Publications covered by Legal Depository. This page also tells you what is not included, e.g. they don't want internal teaching manuals and course notes.

Publication numbers

If you are publishing books, journals or music, you will need an international standards book number (ISBN), international standard serial number (ISSN) or international standard music number (ISMN). You can request an ISBN for a book from the Wintec Library, but for an ISSN or ISMN you will need to request one from the National Library. Apply before publication, because the number ought to appear on the item.

This counts for anyone who is distributing copies publicly. If what students produce is only for the purposes of assessment, then they don't need one. 

Research Archive

Don't forget to record your publication in the Research Archive as a Research Output. 

Selecting a quality publisher

The guide, Selecting a quality publisher: Assessing the quality of publishing venues, and key issues in academic publishing, produced by Royal Society Te Apārangi, provides the researcher with information on the world of publishing and questions to ask potential publishers to assist them navigate the publishing environment.

Getting published in academic journals