Frequently asked questions about purchasing and accessing eBooks on Routledge.com

An ePub is an eBook file format, also known as an electronic publication. ePub is supported by most eBook readers, making it the preferred eBook format for most of our titles. ePub is a reflowable format which means that you can resize the text to suit you and the device you use to access the eBook. You can also highlight text and even make notes on some eBook readers.

Routledge is committed to providing the best reading experience to users by creating ePub files developed with accessibility in mind.

• Adaptable and Accessible: Reflowable ePub documents allow you to change the font size, ensuring the text is available on your device in large print. In addition, ePub can enable text to speech functionality, allowing reading and hearing simultaneously to support those with a visual impairment or print disability. 
• Improved Readability: ePub enables the content to reshape according to the device you read it on. Unlike PDF, which is a static file format, the reflowable nature of ePub adapts itself to different displays and sizes of various devices, including mobile devices and tablets.
• Better Navigation:  ePub navigation is intuitive and easy to use; its features include spine navigation, table of contents, in-text links, and direct page access.
• Engagement and Interactivity: ePub allows for the integration of interactive features, such as video and quizzes. You can find Taylor & Francis content that includes these features in our eBook+ program. 
• Download and Delivery: Our eBooks are delivered via the VitalSource, Bookshelf App. Available on Android and iOS. The application allows you to download your book(s) to your device, giving you lifetime access to books you have purchased outright. You can also rent the book, a cheaper alternative if you only want the book for a brief time, but your offline access will be limited to the period of the rental.

Routledge.com eBooks include many accessibility features such as text to speech (read aloud) and the ability to set reader preferences, including font size, font color, and page color. 

We can provide larger quantities of our books and journals in an accessible, electronic format to students or customers with a visual impairment or disability through our Alternate Format Request program. Taylor & Francis provides accessible content for our eBook products in PDF, Word, and ePub formats to make reading just as accessible for people with visual impairment or print disability as it is for people without. 

Taylor & Francis eBooks are primarily produced in ePub, the most accessible file format. However, we can also provide PDF formats if necessary. ePub offers a host of accessibility features and is the most recommended format. PDF files are fixed format and allow you to zoom in and out without the page changing orientation. While ePubs are reflowable and enable you to change the number of words and sentences on a page as you zoom in and out.

You can learn more about our accessibility initiatives and plans surrounding eBook content on our ASPIRE-accredited Accessibility Statement. If your eBook doesn’t meet your accessibility requirements, please contact our Academic VIP-Requests team at [email protected]

After completing your eBook rental or purchase on Routledge.com, you will receive a confirmation email from us containing an access code that provides access to your eBook via VitalSource’s Bookshelf. Create an account or log in to Bookshelf at https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com. 

When logged in, click on the Tools menu at the top right of the screen and select Redeem Codes. Enter the access code from your confirmation email in the box and click Redeem. The book will then become available to read on Bookshelf online within your internet browser. You can also access your ebook(s) offline if you have downloaded the Bookshelf app onto your device.

Your eBook will be available via the Bookshelf application created by our partner VitalSource. Bookshelf can be accessed via the internet on a browser or downloaded as an app on most devices. Please check here to find out if Bookshelf is compatible with your device or browser.

PDF is a fixed file format that shows the eBook’s content precisely as it appears in print. We use this format for multi-volume titles where an ePub file would be too large or pedagogic content means that the reflowable format is unsuitable. Some older titles are currently only available in this format. 

Our PDFs are made available to you via a third-party application called Bookshelf. Bookshelf allows you to read your purchased or rented eBook online or offline by downloading the application to your device.

If the reflowable format of the book is inaccessible or it is compromising the content within the book, please get in touch with our team, who can help at [email protected].

We do not offer the option to email PDFs to customers because delivering eBooks in this way does not protect the author’s material from piracy. PDF files sent outside of an eBook reader can be shared, copied, and stored, which means they do not protect the work of our expert community of Authors, Contributors, Editors, and Reviewers.  We value the books that our experts create and offer eBooks via VitalSource’s Bookshelf, ensuring customers can access them on multiple platforms, both online and offline while protecting our authors' intellectual property.

Yes, on the Bookshelf app, you can find a citation feature within the table of contents. Just select the More Options icon (…) at the top right of the screen. Unfortunately, some of our older titles don’t show page numbers to enable you to complete your citation. If your book is missing page numbers, please contact our team, who can help at [email protected]

Routledge.com provides eBooks via VitalSource, which offers lifetime access to the eBook. From the 15th of June 2021, books with a perpetual eBook license have five years of online access. During this time, you will have unlimited access to the book through Bookshelf online. However, this may change after the online perpetual license has expired. Any direct downloads you’ve made throughout that time to your device via the Bookshelf app will still be available, even after the online perpetual license has expired. For more information on lifetime access, please click here: What is Lifetime Access? – VitalSource Support

After completing your eBook rental or purchase on Routledge.com, you will receive a confirmation email from us containing an access code that provides access to your eBook via VitalSource’s Bookshelf. 

Create an account or log in to Bookshelf at https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/.  
When logged in, click on the Tools menu at the top right of the screen and select Redeem Codes. Enter the access code from your confirmation email in the box and click Redeem. The book will then become available to read on Bookshelf online within your internet browser. Or offline if you have downloaded the Bookshelf app onto your device.

Once the rental period you purchased expires, the book will no longer be available online or within your Bookshelf app. To renew your eBook rental, please log in to your account on Routledge.com and purchase the book again for another 6 or 12 months.

No, eBooks are sold as one single copy on our site. This is because the access code is sent to the email address used to purchase the book and only one access code can be sent per eBook purchased. If you would like to make a bulk order for multiple access codes for a particular eBook, please contact our sales team in your region, Routledge & CRC Press. Contact Us - Sales Contacts.

VitalSource is an academic technology provider that we work with to supply our books to global universities and book shops. We have partnered with VitalSource to offer eBooks on the Routeledge.com website. You receive an access code from Routledge.com after making an ebook purchase or rental. This code allows you to access your book via an ebook reader provided by VitalSource, called Bookshelf. Bookshelf is available online via your internet browser, or it can be downloaded as an application on your device (including Android and iOS) so that you can access your books both online and offline. Bookshelf allows you to highlight text and even make notes. For more information on the Bookshelf app, please click here: Bookshelf – VitalSource Support.

Go to bookshelf.vitalsource.com, provide your name, and email address, and set up a password. Once you confirm that you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, click Create.

Bookshelf is compatible with most devices, including Android and iOS. Please check if your device is compatible here: Bookshelf – VitalSource Support.

Your Bookshelf redemption code will be sent to you in a confirmation email after purchasing from Routlege.com. The redemption code will appear in the email underneath the title of your book and will be a twenty-digit alphanumeric code.

Sign into Bookshelf Online at https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com using your email address and password. If you don't have an account, you can create one here.

Click on Tools, then Redeem Codes in the menu icon at the top of the page. Then, type your redemption code in the code box and click Redeem. Please allow up to a few minutes for your library to refresh with your new books. Note: If you are signing in with an iOS device, you must redeem the code through Bookshelf Online before accessing it in the app.

If you cannot access your eBook on Bookshelf, please check that you have created an account on VitalSource Bookshelf using the same email address that your access code was sent to. If you have redeemed your code and still cannot access your book, please contact the Bookshelf support team here: Submit a request – VitalSource Support, and quote your access code and the email address you used to purchase the eBook.

We use MathML to render maths and equations in our ePub files, but if the maths or other content does not look as you would expect, please get in touch with our team who can help: [email protected]