Each member university press maintained its own imprint and editorial control over their published titles, while book production and distribution (both national and international) was the responsibility of AUP.

Over 4000 individual titles were issued by AUP under the imprints of the constituent presses, representing a cross-section of academic and scholarly fields.

He devised a unique operating model whereby the central AUP office retained responsibility for business operations, distribution, printing and publishing costs, while the member presses each exercised their own control over editorial decisions, selections and title acquisitions.

Thomas died on 24 December 2007 aged 94, after a career in publishing that spanned six decades.

AUP published titles almost exclusively in the humanities research fields, with the bulk of its titles, some three-quarters of its accumulated publication backlist, in the sectors of literature, literary theory and literary criticism.