Edinburgh University Press (EUP), Scotland's leading academic publisher, has signed a distribution deal with Oxford University Press (OUP) to promote its growth in North and South America.

EUP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Edinburgh University and the third-largest academic publisher in the UK, has appointed OUP as its exclusive agent in the region with effect from August 1, 2013. The agreement includes sales, marketing and distribution of all EUP's printed books and. from August 2014, its growing online publishing or "ebook" business in the Americas and Canada.

EUP chief executive Timothy Wright said: 'We have had a number of approaches from potential partners in the US and have decided that Oxford University Press is best suited to growing our business in a strategically vital market. We are investing significantly in our publishing – mirroring Edinburgh University's objectives of excellence in scholarship, research and education – and are confident that Oxford's global reach and marketing strength in print and digital publishing will drive our business forward. The agreement is a logical extension of our partnership with Oxford through University Press Scholarship Online – the vast and rapidly expanding online research library."

Currently represented by Columbia University Press, EUP makes about £450,000 of its £2.5 million annual sales in North America, and has been seeking to renew its distribution network in the world's largest English-language market.

"We are moving to Oxford to do sales marketing and physical distribution of books and in 2014 will move our growing e-sales to them as well. There is a lot of crossover in what we do, and OUP is the world's biggest academic publisher."

Niko Pfund, president of OUP USA said: 'We are very excited to have a publisher of EUP's international reputation join our family of distributed presses. We share a mission: to provide the best scholarship to the widest possible audience. The synergies between our editorial programmes are quite striking, and should make our new relationship a mutually beneficial one."