Best publisher user experience award 2023

Users needed to visit many resources for OUP’s academic content: Books and journals were separate, and users could not search across them. Now, users can access all this content on a modern mobile-first platform. Journals launched on Oxford Academic in 2017 followed by research books in 2022. With this content aggregated, we are further optimizing UX. Insights feed into the roadmap through ongoing research, including qualitative interviews with users interacting with prototypes or the platform. We validate these through surveys, usage, and behavioural data. This informs how the platform addresses market problems, meeting the needs of users, customers, and partners.

Built upon SAGE’s reputation in social research methods and our belief that good scholarship is at the heart of a healthy society, SAGE Research Methods first launched in 2011 to serve a growing need for comprehensive research methodology support for a range of researchers. Today, the platform hosts over 7,000 resources, from traditional books and reference works to streaming video and innovative research tools.

In 2022 we worked with users to overhaul the site and deliver a clearer, more intuitive interface as well as a renewed focus on their current needs, including performance, accessibility, access and better navigation.

The A&AePortal is an authoritative eBook resource that features important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, visual culture, and design. With innovative image search functionality and extensive metadata, the site offers students and scholars an engaging experience that encourages critical thinking skills and rigorous academic research. The platform was developed with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and launched in July 2019. Yale University Press has worked closely with art librarians in the US and UK, as well as faculty and graduate students, to define the platform requirements and provide continual improvements.