Sale of the Amsterdam University Press film, media and communication list to Taylor & Francis

July 9, 2025

Sale of the Amsterdam University Press (AUP) film, media and communication list to Taylor & Francis – Resignation of series editors and editorial board members

It is with great dismay that we, the undersigned, learned that the film, media and communication list of Amsterdam University Press (AUP) has been taken over by Taylor & Francis, a subsidiary of Informa LTD. We as series editors were notified of this transaction per e-mail on Friday, June 6, 2025. 

AUP had ceased to operate as a university press in 2019 when the press became the property of a private individual. However, for the last six years AUP continued to operate like a university press, i.e. a publishing venture committed to fostering research and exchange in a global scholarly community rather than motivated by profit. 

With the takeover by Taylor & Francis we are now supposed to work for a for-profit academic publishing conglomerate, Informa LTD. 

Informa LTD is registered in Jersey, a tax haven. As per the company’s annual report last year Informa posted a profit of GBP 995 million on GBP 3.535 million of revenue. The profit margin is 28%. Taylor & Francis, Informa’s subsidiary to which AUP’s film, media and communication list has been transferred, posted a profit of GBP 255 million on GBP 698 million of revenue. The profit margin is 36%. 

The profit of Taylor & Francis is rent extracted from taxpayer funded research. In addition to the uncompensated work of authors and series editors, much of that profit is made through the collection of fees, in particular open access fees, which also come out of taxpayer-funded university or research budgets.

Neither the taxpayers as the original investors nor the researchers who created the intellectual property that made Informa LTD’s rent-extraction possible participate in the company’s profits. Royalties on academic publications are notoriously negligible. 

None of the authors or series editors, who have been creating value for AUP through unpaid labor, were consulted about the deal between AUP and Informa LTD. The expertise necessary to create the book lists sold to Informa LTD is obviously considered to be without value. This lack of valuation also comes as a surprise to our employers, in particular the universities which have supported the creation of the AUP film, media and communication list by allowing us to contribute our time and labor without remuneration.

We resign herewith from our positions as editors and editorial board members for the book series listed here below. 

We confirm that we will honor existing contractual agreements and protect to the utmost of our ability the interests of authors who have contributed to our book series or have projects currently in development, under contract or in production.

Signatories:

Prof. Anna Backman Rogers, Cultural Sciences Department, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, series editor The Key Debates: Mutations and Appropriations in European Film Studies

Dr. Nicholas Baer, Associate Professor of German, University of California, Berkeley, series editor The Key Debates: Mutations and Appropriations in European Film Studies

Prof. Weihong Bao, Associate Professor of Film and Media; Pamela P. Fong and Family Distinguished Chair in China Studies, University of California, Berkeley, series editor Film Theory in Media History

Prof. Dr. Anne Beaulieu, Aletta Jacobs Chair of Knowledge Infrastructures, University of Groningen, series editor Liveable Futures

Prof. Marta Boni, Département d’histoire de l’art, de cinéma et des médias audiovisuels, Université de Montréal, editorial board member Cinema and Technology

Prof. Francesco Casetti, Sterling Professor in Humanities and Film and Media, Yale University, editorial board member Film Theory in Media History

Prof. Dominique Chateau, Emeritus Professor at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, series editor The Key Debates: Mutations and Appropriations in European Film Studies

Prof. Ian Christie FBA, Anniversary Professor of Film and Media History, Birkbeck University of London, founding member of the editorial board of The Key Debates: Mutations and Appropriations in European Film Studies

Dr. Greg de Cuir Jr, Independent Researcher, Managing Editor of NECSUS, series editor Eastern European Screen Cultures

Dr. Daniel Fairfax, Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, series editor Film Theory in Media History

Prof. André Gaudreault, Canada Research Chair in Cinema and Media Studies, Université de Montréal, editorial board member Film Theory in Media History

Prof. Dr. Malte Hagener, Professor of Media Studies, Philipps Universität Marburg, series editor Film Culture in Transition

Dr. Dan Hassler-Forrest, Assistant Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, Utrecht University, series editor Transmedia

Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger, Professor of Cinema Studies, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, series editor Film Theory in Media History, editorial board member Framing Film

Prof. Santiago Hidalgo, Arts and Science Department, Université de Montréal, series editor Cinema and Technology

Prof. Matt Hills, Professor of Media and Film, University of Huddersfield, series editor Transmedia

Prof. Dr. Frank Kessler, Emeritus Professor of Media History, Utrecht University, series editor Framing Film

Prof. Dr. Gertrud Koch, Emerita Professor of Cinema Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, editorial board member Film Theory in Media History

Dr. Katharina Loew, Associate Professor of German and Cinema Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, series editor Cinema and Technology

Prof. John MacKay, Henry S. McNeil Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Professor of Film and Media Studies, Yale University, editorial board member Film Theory in Media History

Prof. José Moure, Professor of Cinema Studies, Université Paris 1 – Sorbonne Panthéon, series editor The Key Debates: Mutations and Appropriations in European Film Studies

Prof. Markus Nornes, Professor of Asian Cinema, University of Michigan, editorial board member Film Theory in Media History

Prof. Jennifer Lynn Peterson, Filmmaking Program, Woodbury University, series editor Media Matters

Prof. Dr. Patricia Pisters, Professor of Media and Film Studies, University of Amsterdam, series editor Film Culture in Transition and Framing Film

Prof. Francesco Pitassio, Professor in Film Studies, Università degli Studi di Udine, series editor Eastern European Screen Cultures

Prof. Leonardo Quaresima, Emeritus Professor of Cinema, Università degli Studi di Udine, editorial board member Film Theory in Media History

Prof. David N. Rodowick, Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the College and Division of Humanities, The University of Chicago, editorial board member Film Theory in Media History

Dr. Dan Streible, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies, Associate Chair, Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, series editor Framing Film

Prof. Wanda Strauven, Adjunct Professor of Film and Media Studies, Columbia University, series editor Film Culture in Transition

Prof. Dr. Annie van den Oever, Professor of Arts, Culture and Media Studies, University of Groningen | University of Johannesburg, series editor The Key Debates: Mutations and Appropriations in European Film Studies