Wiley (publisher)
Charles Wiley opened a print shop in Manhattan in 1807. The small business published works by James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving during the nineteenth century. Edgar Allan Poe also appeared in their early catalog alongside legal and religious texts. John Wiley, born on the 4th of October 1808 in Flatbush, took over operations after his father died in 1826. The firm changed names several times before settling on John Wiley & Sons in 1876. William H. Wiley joined his brother Charles to solidify the company identity that year. By the twentieth century, the organization shifted focus away from literature toward scientific and technical subjects.
Wiley acquired Blackwell Publishing in February 2007 for an undisclosed sum. This merger created Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly publishing under one roof. The combined entity now manages 1,600 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and thousands of books. In 2012, the company purchased Inscape Holdings Inc. to offer DISC assessments for interpersonal skills. A month later, they announced plans to sell travel assets including the Frommer's brand. Google Inc. bought all interests in the Frommer's brand on the 13th of August 2012. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired cookbooks and dictionaries in November 2012. Turner Publishing Company received pets and crafts lines while Fernhurst Books took nautical titles in 2013. HarperCollins merged parts of Wiley Canada into U.S. operations that same year.
Wiley Interscience launched in 1997 to provide online access to journals and reference works. The platform integrated Blackwell Synergy content on the 30th of June 2008 before being replaced by Wiley Online Library. That new library debuted on the 7th of August 2010 with over four million articles from 1,600 journals. It includes more than 22,000 books and hundreds of databases from imprints like Jossey-Bass. The system runs on the Literatum platform developed by Atypon after Wiley acquired them in 2016. In December 2007, technical titles began distribution through Safari Books Online e-reference service. By April 2024, the company receives about 10,000 monthly manuscript submissions across its digital platforms. Over 8,000 pages of journal backfiles dating to 1799 became available through a 2007 initiative.
In 2021, Wiley purchased Hindawi for $298 million in cash. The acquisition brought numerous open access journals under the parent brand. By 2023, over 8,000 articles from paper mills were retracted from these journals. More than 11,300 compromised studies disappeared from the portfolio over two years. The CEO who initiated the deal stepped down following the scandal. As of April 2024, approximately 10 percent of all submissions are flagged as fictitious. International Publisher Ltd., run by Ksenia Badziun, operated a website where academics could purchase authorships. At least 419 articles matched manuscripts appearing in dozens of different journals including those from Wiley-Blackwell. Wiley closed 19 of the roughly 250 journals acquired in the Hindawi deal during 2024. Scopus disconnected all affected papers from their database shortly after the retractions began.
John Wiley & Sons filed suit against Supap Kirtsaeng in 2008 regarding textbook imports from Thailand. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6, 3 in 2013 that the first-sale doctrine applied to copies sold abroad at lower prices. A Southern District of New York court upheld an award of over $39 million to Wiley in 2018 against Book Dog Books for distributing counterfeit copies. In 2014, the District Court found Wiley infringed on photographer Tom Bean's copyright beyond the scope of a purchased license. Another photo agency successfully sued Wiley in 2015 for similar unauthorized usage claims. Wiley joined other publishers suing the Internet Archive in June 2020 over e-book collections. Lucina Uddin, a neuroscience professor at UCLA, filed an antitrust lawsuit in September 2024 alleging collusion among academic journal publishers. The case claims scholars receive no payment for peer review services while publishers agree not to compete for manuscripts.
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Common questions
When did Charles Wiley open his print shop in Manhattan?
Charles Wiley opened a print shop in Manhattan in 1807. The small business published works by James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving during the nineteenth century.
What year did John Wiley & Sons settle on its current name?
The firm changed names several times before settling on John Wiley & Sons in 1876. William H. Wiley joined his brother Charles to solidify the company identity that year.
How many scholarly peer-reviewed journals does Wiley manage today?
Wiley manages 1,600 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and thousands of books. The combined entity now operates Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly publishing under one roof after acquiring Blackwell Publishing in February 2007.
Why did Wiley close 19 journals acquired from Hindawi in 2024?
Wiley closed 19 of the roughly 250 journals acquired in the Hindawi deal during 2024 due to retracted articles from paper mills. Over 11,300 compromised studies disappeared from the portfolio over two years following the scandal.
When did the U.S. Supreme Court rule on the Wiley v. Kirtsaeng textbook case?
John Wiley & Sons filed suit against Supap Kirtsaeng in 2008 regarding textbook imports from Thailand. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6, 3 in 2013 that the first-sale doctrine applied to copies sold abroad at lower prices.