We urge you to look carefully at such solicitations, as these companies may be vanity presses or be known as predatory publishers.
 
Presses such as Lambert Academic Publishing, Scholars’ Press, and VDM Publishing use a print-on-demand model to market student theses and dissertations through large online booksellers. There have been multiple reports about a lack of peer review and other questionable practices from these publishing outlets; furthermore, these publishers request exclusive distribution rights which may negatively impact your rights to your own work.
 
If you have received such a solicitation and have questions about it, please do not hesitate to contact our Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing at oscp@mail.pitt.edu.
 
We encourage students who are interested in publishing their theses or dissertations to instead choose a publisher in their field with a good reputation for peer review and editorial practices. For help finding a publisher, get in touch with your subject specialist.