Academic Archives - ��Ƶ

New to the ��Ƶ English Dictionary this September

Diana Clough — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:30:27 +0000

�ճ����Ƶ English Dictionary��(OED) is a historical dictionary, containing over 500,000 entries and 3.5 million quotations to capture over 1,000 years of English.

Every quarter, we update the OED by revising versions of existing entries as well as defining new words and senses. These updates subtly broaden our understanding of the English language and its use around the world.

10 highlights from this quarter’s update��

1. We added more than 400 new words, phrases, and senses to the OED this quarter, including , , , and .

2. By happy coincidence this update lands just before International Coffee Day (1 October). Coffee drinks new to the OED include , , , and .

3. This release sees additions from across the world, including contributions from East Africa, Caribbean, Bermuda, New Zealand, Wales, and the Isle of Man. from Executive Editor, Danica Salazar.

4. From to , we welcome several Bermudian English additions, as part of a valuable new collaboration with the Bermuda Spelling Bee. This is an annual spelling competition for 9- to 13-year-olds designed to foster a love of language and learning among young Bermudians.

5. Several new words for supernatural creatures appear in this update. From Welsh folklore we have a , from Caribbean folklore a , and we also have the addition of .

6. An important feature of the OED’s New Words team’s work is its Monitor Lexicography (MonLex) programme. This is our way of monitoring, collecting, and prioritizing contemporary language for inclusion in the OED, looking at sources including trending words on language corpora, social media, material generated by our ��Ƶ programmes, and suggestions made by colleagues on our own internal database. Every other quarter we gather the items collected and assess them for inclusion, prioritizing so that we include the most relevant and important.

Some new words added this quarter from our MonLex programme include: the social media sense of , the sense of meaning very busy or overcome with work, the chiefly North American English word , and lastly, .

7. Craig Leyland, Executive Editor, notes the welcome of two reference related words – thesaural and mountweazel. The latter is defined as ‘an invented or fake entry in a reference work (esp. a dictionary or an encyclopedia), a database, etc., typically used by the publisher to identify plagiarism that constitutes an infringement of copyright’. Does the OED contain any mountweazels? We can’t say, of course. You can read more from Craig about both .

8. More than 700 entries have been revised as part of this update, including ‘’ and ‘’ words. Read more in from Andrew Ball, OED Editor.

9. The words newly revised this quarter show an especially rich variety of etymologies. In the month that the Bayeux Tapestry goes on view in London, it is fitting that we have a healthy crop of Middle English borrowings from French, or more specifically Anglo-Norman (i.e. French as used in medieval Britain), including doubt, equity, fantasy, and garner. from Philip Durkin, OED Deputy Chief Editor.

10. And finally, being asked about ‘scone’ usually raises a groan for pronunciation editors, but it was good to have the opportunity to provide the ‘skoon’ pronunciation appropriate for the in this update. from Catherine Sangster, OED Pronunciation Editor.

Explore the update in more depth .

The post New to the ��Ƶ English Dictionary this September appeared first on ��Ƶ.

��Ƶ Law Pro recognized in the Legal Technology Awards

Diana Clough — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:29:17 +0000

We have been named a finalist in the .

, our knowledge resource for legal professionals and researchers, has been recognized in the Responsible Use of AI in Legal Services category. This recognition follows two recent award wins in the Society for Scholarly Publishing’s EPIC Awards, for both Hosting Platform Features and Branding.

Hosted by Netlaw Media, the Legal Technology Awards recognize leadership, innovation, and technology as well as the individuals, teams, and suppliers transforming the future of legal services.

The Responsible Use of AI in Legal Services category recognizes organizations that demonstrate exemplary governance, robust risk management, and strong leadership in the ethical integration of artificial intelligence.

Mirkka Jokelainen, Product Portfolio Manager, said:

“Having made the list of finalists is such a meaningful recognition of OUP’s work with legal professionals, and means a lot for the whole ��Ƶ Law Pro team. AI is a tool which enables lawyers to benefit from our decades strong work of publishing the best legal commentary and analysis, and from the start, we have wanted to make sure the new capabilities enhance lawyers’ work and are easy to use. Responsible AI is about more than just technology. It’s about helping legal professionals access trusted expertise, realize value quickly, and adopt new capabilities with confidence.”

Winners of the Legal Technology Awards will be announced on 18 November.

About ��Ƶ Law Pro

Launched last year, ��Ƶ Law Pro brings together more than 9,000 journal articles and over 600 award-winning, peer-reviewed books from our portfolio of authoritative and timely legal analysis, all on our ��Ƶ Academic platform.

��Ƶ Law Pro is powered by a conversational AI research assistant, , making legal research more efficient without compromising on accuracy. Unlike generic AI search tools, ��Ƶ Law Pro employs retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) frameworks specifically tuned for legal content, ensuring responses are grounded exclusively in OUP’s authoritative materials.

The platform equips legal professionals with tools that match the realities of modern practice, and by reducing time spent on initial source identification, the AI assistant allows them to allocate more time to substantive analysis, strategic thinking, and client service.

You can find out more about ��Ƶ Law Pro .

The post ��Ƶ Law Pro recognized in the Legal Technology Awards appeared first on ��Ƶ.

Supporting researchers to disclose AI use with confidence

Benedict Heaton — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0000

We have updated our author and editor guidelines on the responsible, appropriate, and transparent use of AI, including a policy outlining what AI use should be disclosed when preparing manuscripts for our journals.

In a recent global survey of more than 2,600 researchers, nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents revealed they were unclear what AI use they should disclose, despite there being strong support for disclosure.

With 44% of researchers concerned that disclosing their use of AI will negatively impact how others view their work, and only 36% recording their AI use during their research, our survey emphasizes the growing gap between AI use and disclosure in academic research, and recognizes the need for clear disclosure policies.

As efforts continue to develop a , our new guidelines intend to support researchers to record and disclose their AI use with confidence. The updates to our guidelines focus on:

Disclosure of AI use across both books and journal articles, with authors expected to be transparent about any significant use of AI tools
Human oversight and accountability, with authors responsible for reviewing and verifying any AI-generated content
Protection of intellectual property and confidentiality to ensure care is taken when using AI tools with unpublished work, copyrighted material, or sensitive content.

Managing Director, Academic

David Clark

“Our research into AI disclosure follows our 2024 survey, which revealed a wide range of initial perceptions towards AI. Two years on, AI use is more widespread, but there remain major differences in how researchers are adopting, applying, and disclosing these tools.

“At OUP, we’ve developed AI guidelines for authors with the view that the scholarship we publish must remain valued and protected. We regularly review these against industry guidelines and consider any feedback to ensure clear guidance for authors.

“We continue to prioritize working with the research community to develop clear publishing standards that support readers and authors in an AI-enabled world.”

Key findings from our survey:

AI is helping researchers

64% of researchers report AI as beneficial to their research, with over two-thirds (68%) using AI chatbots on the open web for their research, and just under half (49%) using machine translation.
AI tools are most commonly used for discovering existing research (55%), summarizing existing research (46%), and editing the write-up of research (45%). Many (68%) agree that AI tools can reduce accessibility barriers, too.

“It reduces the time to locate arcane material. What might have taken hours/weeks in a library can be found instantaneously.”

However, 35% of those in the arts and humanities never use AI tools in their research, as opposed to 15% and 18% for STM and the social sciences, respectively.

Trust in AI is low

Only 20% trust AI-generated outputs. 37% of researchers who haven’t used AI for their research report concerns about accuracy, bias, and trustworthiness, and only 26% find AI-generated literature summaries to be accurate.

“My trust in AI outputs would increase if the responses consistently included clear and verifiable sources (such as case law, treaties, or academic references), showed transparent reasoning for how conclusions are reached, and accurately distinguished between established legal authority and interpretation or opinion. It would also help if the AI acknowledged uncertainty where appropriate and avoided overgeneralization, especially in complex legal or academic topics.”

However, 83% of those surveyed have established practices for checking citation sources generated by AI, and 80% always cross-check AI outputs for reliability.

Attitudes towards AI vary across disciplines and career stages

Based on respondents’ perceptions and behaviours towards AI, survey analysis identified five different profiles of researcher.
These range from the least trusting of AI—the ‘persistent sceptics’—who are most commonly found in the arts and humanities, to the ‘carefree casuals’, who are less likely to record their own AI use and are more common among later career stage respondents than early career researchers.
Meanwhile, ‘frustrated trailblazers’ have benefited most from AI but are also the most concerned about the administrative burden of disclosing its use. They are more prevalent in the social sciences and STM disciplines, and among early career researchers.

“I am ethically opposed to AI. AI has been built on the stolen work of artists and writers. I am also concerned about the environmental consequences of AI. I grant that in some fields or in some inquiries, AI may be of some genuine use—not in my research (which is about literature). But even when it has genuine use, the ethical and environmental concerns remain. If I were to use AI on my research, it wouldn’t be my research anymore.”

Lack of clarity remains the biggest challenge for researchers

Nearly three-quarters (74%) report uncertainty around AI disclosure requirements, while only 36% actively keep records of their AI use during research. One respondent acknowledged:

“I tend to make sure my AI use is undetectable as I’m not sure what to disclose.”

44% are concerned that disclosing AI use could negatively affect perceptions of their work—many of whom are in the arts and humanities—with 35% finding AI disclosure to place an additional administrative burden on researchers.

Disclosure practices are inconsistent

45% of researchers report their institution’s approach to AI use as unclear, while 43% report a somewhat or very enabling approach.
Looking at different research outputs over the last year, many researchers acknowledge that they do not fully disclose their use of AI tools:
- 48% of those writing grant applications had not fully disclosed AI use, particularly in narrative drafting, translating or editing, and plain language summaries.
- 46% of journal authors and 39% of book authors had not fully disclosed their AI use in preparing their manuscript, particularly in narrative drafting in each case. Only a third (30%) of book authors and 42% of journal authors were asked to attest whether AI was used in their manuscript submission.
- 25% of peer reviewers had not fully disclosed AI use, particularly in language editing. 60% felt their AI use and disclosure complied with the reviewer policies, but the views were more mixed as to whether the journal policies on AI use were clear.

“Make the rules clear, coherent, and reasonable. Also, not all AI use should be disclosed (e.g., checking language), the same way that you do not disclose using a calculator. The question in the end is whether the author is the originator of the work in a deep sense. AI will be used.”

AI disclosure policies are unclear

Many authors want future AI disclosure policies to change, with some calling for clearer and more consistent guidelines on AI use and disclosure.
Others suggest policies should support a move towards the normalization of AI as a tool with minimal disclosure.
Looking at future AI disclosure policies to support researchers as readers of others’ work, many want to see standardized and mandatory AI disclosure introduced.

“The policy should protect normal responsible use of AI as a tool without forcing authors into vague or excessive reporting requirements.”

Empowering higher education students with AI

Benedict Heaton — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:00:16 +0000

We’ve launched our AI Study Assistant on��,��, and��, following the successful launch of the tool on��Law Trove in October 2025.

This means that all our Trove platforms now offer students enhanced functionality through AI to increase their efficiency when studying by helping them to find and engage with relevant content.

Troves—in business, law, politics, and science—offer discipline-specific collections of higher education textbooks from across our market-leading lists. Rolling out the AI Study Assistant more widely means that students from these disciplines can generate accurate summaries, authoritative answers, and targeted quizzes to support understanding, revision, and exam preparation. Moreover, responses and quizzes generated by the assistant only draw from our trusted textbook content, guaranteeing that students are accessing reliable source material.

Building on the��Law Trove��AI Study Assistant

To expand the tool across our other Trove platforms, we further developed the assistant to meet user needs for��Science Trove.

It was vital that we included the images and figures featured in our textbooks in generated responses to inputted queries to fully illustrate the information provided. As with all other content, images and figures are only taken from the textbooks available on Science Trove and they are not generated by the assistant itself. They’re also accompanied by the caption used in the textbook to give further context.

As with��Law Trove, we have taken a conscientious approach to embedding AI into��Business,��Politics, and��Science Trove by empowering users to develop the skills they need to apply critical thinking to their use of AI not just academically, but for their future careers through the . The module is available for all Trove users and covers generative AI fundamentals, academic integrity, critical thinking, and effective prompting, so users can use the AI Study Assistant responsibly and with confidence.

Shaped through user testing with lecturers and students, the tool has been designed with real teaching and learning needs at its heart, ensuring that Trove stands at the forefront of combining innovative technology with high-quality educative resources for higher education institutions and students.

We look forward to hearing how students interact with the tool across Trove in the new academic year and beyond. You can learn more about the development of the AI Study Assistant and the positive reception it has had on��Law Trove here.

The post Empowering higher education students with AI appeared first on ��Ƶ.

Celebrating highlights in literacy, digital learning and assessment, and research publishing

Benedict Heaton — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Our Annual Report for 2025/26 is now available

The report shares a number of publishing highlights in research and education, as well as our continued commitment to our global communities and to operating sustainably.

Vice-Chancellor, University of ��Ƶ

Professor Irene Tracey

“I am so incredibly proud of what OUP contributes to ��Ƶ and the world. The dedication of the leadership and staff, board members, and academic delegates is evident in their service to the Press.

“As we collectively balance the human need to create, tell, and share stories as the world around us changes at pace, I am confident that my colleagues at OUP will continue to uphold our long-held traditions while shaping the new.”

CEO and Secretary to the Delegates, ��Ƶ

Nigel Portwood

“This has been a year of investment, innovation, and growth for OUP. Against a changing backdrop in some of our markets, we remained focused on fulfilling our mission by expanding our publishing portfolio, embracing new technologies, and developing tools and services to support learning and research across the world.”

Highlights from 2025/26

We acquired

Karger Publishers, a highly regarded medicine and health sciences publisher based in Switzerland.

1.3 million people

visited the ��Ƶ English Hub, the home of our digital content for teaching and learning English.

We launched

Green Sparks, a strand of the ��Ƶ Reading Tree which comprises 42 books that provide age-appropriate environmental education linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

We met

our target of 100% certified sustainable paper for our print publications.

We donated

more than 154,000 books to readers worldwide.

The post Celebrating highlights in literacy, digital learning and assessment, and research publishing appeared first on ��Ƶ.

��Ƶ sheet music now available on Simply Piano

Diana Clough — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:45:32 +0000

We’ve signed an agreement with Simply, the leading digital platform for creative hobbies, bringing select content from our acclaimed piano method to millions of Simply Piano learners worldwide.

What OUP content is available in Simply Piano?

Simply Piano users now have access to an expanded library of high-quality, curated sheet music spanning our works including Piano Time and Tunes for Ten Fingers, all within the app’s interactive learning environment.

Piano Time is one of our well-established beginner piano methods, widely appreciated for its natural progression and musical, engaging pieces. It helps students build ��Ƶ, rhythm, coordination, and technique in a way that feels enjoyable rather than mechanical—which is why it has remained a trusted teaching resource for years.

Tunes for Ten Fingers is an introductory book for absolute beginners, encouraging security at every step and making learning fun.

These titles form part of our wider music publishing programme. We have long been a leader in classical music publishing, with a catalogue spanning centuries of repertoire and serving musicians from beginners to professionals. Through this collaboration, our music will now reach millions of Simply Piano hobbyists and lifelong learners worldwide.

OUP bringing sheet music content to Simply

Robin Barry, Director of Music at OUP, shared: “We are delighted to bring content from OUP’s piano method—trusted by teachers for generations—to the Simply Piano community, a platform that shares our commitment to quality and progression for aspiring musicians around the world.”

“Access to songs people love is one of the strongest drivers of learning,” said Yuval Kaminka, CEO and co-founder of Simply. “Working with OUP allows us to bring our learners and casual players sheet music of the highest editorial standard. It’s an important step in building a platform that supports learners at every stage and a proud moment for Simply.”

“What stands out in OUP’s early piano materials is the pedagogical clarity of the arrangements and pieces,” added Danny Fine, Simply Piano’s Music Pedagogy Lead. “They introduce new skills in a very structured and approachable way, which makes them especially effective for helping learners build confidence and gradually master core musical skills.”

As interest in creative hobbies grows globally, the addition of OUP’s portfolio strengthens Simply Piano’s library, giving users access to music they can both learn and enjoy.

Find out more about OUP’s sheet music .

The post ��Ƶ sheet music now available on Simply Piano appeared first on ��Ƶ.

Publishing our 500th open access book

Benedict Heaton — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:33:04 +0000

We have published the 500th open access monograph on our platform—a landmark achievement that reflects our ongoing commitment to making high-quality research widely accessible to readers around the world.

This milestone underscores the dedication of our authors and editors in advancing open scholarship to support a more inclusive, collaborative community.

We have supported open access options for books since 2012, both by publishing open access frontlist titles and through converting selected backlist titles to open access. This work means we’re able to broaden the visibility, impact, and longevity of academic research across disciplines.��

We continue to explore the growth of our open access publishing programme: for example, last year we launched the where ten winning early career researchers have their books published open access; and through our pilot with , we’re making approximately 100 backlist books open access at no cost to authors.

But what does open access look like in practice, once a book is out in the world? Some of the authors behind ��Ƶ Academic open access books describe a common theme: reach. Publishing open access removes barriers and expands the audiences that scholarship can serve.

J. Timmons Roberts, Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University, highlights what that global reach can mean:

“Open access allowed us to publicize our two assessment volumes on obstruction of climate action broadly and quickly, and to make it available all over the world at once.”

For Yujin Nagasawa, Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma, open access connects directly to being read and engaged with worldwide:

“Publishing my books with OUP as open access titles has, in many ways, made that dream a reality.”

Editors also point to how open access can shape the longer arc of scholarship. Steven C. van den Heuvel, Professor of Systematic Theology at Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, shared an early sign of impact for The ��Ƶ Compendium of Hope.

“Quantitatively, we can see that, despite it has been out only for a few months, it was already downloaded close to 8,000 times.”

Rebecca Lane

Senior Publisher

“It’s critically important that we offer a clear and easy route to open access publication for books and it’s fantastic to see more and more authors taking up the opportunity to make their work publicly available. We’re proud to celebrate this moment and look forward to publishing our next 500 open access books.”

Learn more about publishing your book open access with us .

The post Publishing our 500th open access book appeared first on ��Ƶ.

��Ƶ Law Pro wins Gold for two SSP EPIC Awards

Zach Normington — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:06:53 +0000

We have been recognized with two awards at the 2026 Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) EPIC Awards Celebration, held on 28 May in California.

, our knowledge resource for legal professionals and researchers, has won Gold in two categories: Hosting Platform Features and Branding.

The celebrate the remarkable achievements of individuals and teams who are advancing scholarly publishing through creativity, collaboration, and innovation. The Hosting Platform Features category highlights technical innovations that improve how scholarly content is hosted, accessed, and experienced, while the Branding category recognizes outstanding efforts to build and maintain a strong brand identity in scholarly publishing.

Mirkka Jokelainen, Product Portfolio Manager, said:

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see ��Ƶ Law Pro recognised across both platform innovation and branding. These awards reflect the collaboration and commitment of colleagues across OUP and our work with Silverchair and Baxter & Bailey. Our shared focus was to deliver real value to legal researchers and professionals.From the AI Research Assistant through to the product’s identity and positioning, the goal was to create something that is both highly functional and clearly signals what is unique about what OUP can offer. The SSP EPIC Gold Awards celebrate this work.”

About the platform

Launched last year, ��Ƶ Law Pro��brings together more than 9,000 journal articles and over 600 award-winning, peer-reviewed books from our portfolio of authoritative and timely legal analysis, all on our ��Ƶ Academic platform.��

��Ƶ Law Pro��is powered by a conversational AI research assistant,��, making legal research more efficient without compromising on accuracy. Unlike generic AI search tools,����Ƶ Law Pro��employs retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) frameworks specifically tuned for legal content, ensuring responses are grounded exclusively in OUP’s authoritative materials.

For many years, we have served the academic market with legal research materials, developing a reputation for publishing the highest quality research from globally respected authors.��. Backed by our research and workshops, a process supported by legal technology expert Jenifer Swallow, we developed product branding and messaging to both reflect our established reputation and resonate with practitioners who may not have encountered OUP before.��

We worked with design agency Baxter & Bailey to develop a strong, modern visual identity, messaging, and a suite of imagery to bring ��Ƶ Law Pro��alive. Congratulations to all involved for this industry recognition.

Find out more about��.

The post ��Ƶ Law Pro wins Gold for two SSP EPIC Awards appeared first on ��Ƶ.

��Ƶ Law Pro recognized for two 2026 EPIC Awards

Benedict Heaton — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:34:48 +0000

We have been named a finalist for two 2026 EPIC Awards, presented by the .��

, our knowledge resource for legal professionals and researchers, has been nominated for consideration in two categories: Hosting Platform Features and Branding.

The Hosting Platform Features category highlights technical innovations that improve how scholarly content is hosted, accessed, and experienced, while the Branding category recognizes outstanding efforts to build and maintain a strong brand identity in scholarly publishing.

About the platform

Launched less that one year ago,����Ƶ Law Pro brings together more than 9,000 journal articles and over 600 award-winning, peer-reviewed books from our portfolio of authoritative and timely legal analysis, all on our ��Ƶ Academic platform.��

��Ƶ Law Pro is powered by a conversational AI research assistant, , making legal research more efficient without compromising on accuracy. Unlike generic AI search tools,����Ƶ Law Pro employs retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) frameworks specifically tuned for legal content, ensuring responses are grounded exclusively in OUP’s authoritative materials.

The branding

We worked with design agency Baxter & Bailey to develop a strong, modern logo and colour palette, bold and confident messaging, and a suite of imagery to bring ��Ƶ Law Pro��alive.

“The breadth and quality of content on����Ƶ Law Pro��is impressive and highly valuable for legal research.��Expert Essentials��stands out as a truly unique offering—I haven’t seen anything quite like it.”

Barrister, Hong Kong

Mirkka Jokelainen, Product Portfolio Manager, said:��

“These nominations recognize and reward the combined efforts of colleagues working with ��Ƶ Law Pro over time. It reflects strong execution underpinned by clear direction, a deep understanding of our users and customers, and the ability to carry that insight through to high-quality delivery enriched by OUP expertise at every step.”

The EPIC Awards celebrate teams and individuals in the publishing, information technology, and communications sectors for their significant contributions to scholarly communication through innovation, creativity, and dedication. Winners of the will be announced on 28 May.��