How Academic Publishers Can Build a Targeted Faculty Outreach List

An academic publisher preparing to introduce a new book faces a familiar question: who would find it useful?

“Engineering professors” might describe the general audience, but it is too broad to guide meaningful outreach. A book on environmental engineering could be relevant to someone teaching water treatment, researching sustainable infrastructure, or leading a related graduate program. Other faculty in the same school may have little connection to its subject.

A useful outreach list starts with those distinctions. The goal is to identify people whose teaching or research gives them a reason to consider your resource.

Here is a practical process for building that list, using a hypothetical environmental engineering book as an example.

1. Define the resource and its intended audience

Before searching for faculty, write a short description of what you are introducing and who it serves.

For example:

“We are introducing a graduate-level environmental engineering book covering water treatment and sustainable infrastructure. We want to identify faculty at U.S. research universities whose teaching or research aligns with those subjects.”

This statement gives the search a purpose. It also helps separate different publishing workflows.

A textbook introduction may depend primarily on teaching relevance. A specialized research monograph may require a closer match with someone’s publications. A journal announcement should connect to the journal’s scope and the recipient’s work.

Decide what evidence would make someone a suitable contact before you begin collecting names.

2. Translate the subject into search criteria

Book subjects and university department names rarely match perfectly.

For the environmental engineering example, relevant faculty might sit within departments of environmental engineering, civil engineering, or civil and environmental engineering. Some institutions may organize related work within broader engineering schools or interdisciplinary programs.

Create a short set of search criteria:

• Discipline: the broad academic fields connected to the resource.

• Institution: the universities or institution types you want to include.

• Location: the states relevant to your initial outreach.

• Academic role: the titles appropriate to your purpose.

Treat these criteria as a way to discover possible contacts. They are not proof that every person in the results is relevant.

Academic title also needs context. A title alone does not tell you which courses someone teaches or whether they make textbook adoption decisions.

3. Build an initial shortlist with Faculty Atlas

Faculty Atlas offers two starting points for faculty discovery.

If you know the academic field, begin with the Discipline Builder. Choose a discipline and state, then refine matching results by university or college/school.

If you already have a set of target institutions, use the List Builder to narrow the audience through institutional and academic filters.

For the environmental engineering book, you could begin with an appropriate engineering discipline in one state, then review the universities and academic units represented.

Check the data coverage against your requirements. Faculty Atlas focuses on U.S. R1 and R2 research universities, so confirm that your intended institutions fall within the available coverage.

Preview the matching records before unlocking contact details. Review the institutional context, departments, titles, and available last-checked information to decide whether the selection is worth investigating further.

4. Verify the teaching or research connection

The most valuable step comes after the initial search.

Visit each shortlisted faculty member’s official university profile or laboratory page. Look for evidence connecting their work to your resource, such as:

• Courses related to the book’s subject and level.

• Research descriptions that overlap with its themes.

• Relevant publications or current projects.

• Academic responsibilities that fit the purpose of your message.

For our example, a professor researching water treatment may be a strong candidate for a specialized research book. Someone teaching a graduate environmental engineering course may be a suitable contact for a teaching resource.

Record a brief explanation of the match. “Teaches graduate water treatment” is more useful than “works in engineering.”

If the connection is unclear, investigate further or leave the person out.

5. Organize the list around relevance

Once you have reviewed the selection, unlock and export the records you need.

Keep a working spreadsheet with the faculty member’s name, university, academic unit, contact details, official profile link, review date, and a short relevance note.

When combining searches, remove duplicates and check for overlapping affiliations. Separate contacts by purpose when appropriate: a teaching resource introduction and a research publication announcement may require different messages.

The result should be a list you can explain, with a specific reason for including each person.

6. Make the outreach reflect the research

Use your relevance notes to write a message that connects the resource to the recipient’s work.

For example:

“Your university profile lists water treatment among your research interests. We have published a graduate-level book covering treatment methods and sustainable infrastructure, and I thought its contents might be relevant to your work.”

Keep the message concise. Identify yourself, explain the connection, and offer an appropriate next step without assuming interest.

Check current profile information before sending, respect requests to stop contact, and follow Faculty Atlas’s responsible-use terms. Faculty Atlas helps you discover and organize contacts; it does not send email campaigns.

A smaller list with clear academic relevance can be a more useful starting point than a broad collection of names. Define the audience, review the evidence, and let that work shape the message.

Explore a free sample to see whether Faculty Atlas covers the academic audience you need.