Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international
academic publisher of books,
academic journal
An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...
s, and
databases
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and ana ...
founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. Founded in the
South Holland
South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...
city of
Leiden
Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
, it maintains its headquarters there, while also operating offices in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Paderborn,
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, and
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
. Since 1896, Brill has been a
public limited company
A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a limited liability co ...
().
Brill is especially known for its work in subject areas such as
Oriental studies,
classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
,
religious studies
Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...
,
Jewish studies,
Islamic studies
Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...
,
Asian studies,
international law
International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
, and
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
. The publisher offers traditional print books, academic journals,
primary source
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...
materials online, and publications on microform. In recent decades, Brill has expanded to
digital publishing with
ebook
An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...
s and online resources including databases and specialty collections varying by discipline.
History
Founding by Luchtmans, 1683–1848

On 17 May 1683, the Leiden booksellers'
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
registered Jordaan Luchtmans (1683–1708) as a bookseller, who combined his
bookselling
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.
People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen.
History
The foundi ...
business with
publishing
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
, primarily in
biblical studies
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...
,
theology
Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
,
Asian languages, and
ethnography
Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
. He established close ties with the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...
, then a major center of study in those areas of research in the Netherlands. The business would stay in the Luchtmans family until 1848, when the last surviving heir preferred academia to academic publishing.
From Luchtmans to Brill, 1848–1896
In 1848, the business transferred ownership from the Luchtmans family to former employee E.J. (Evert Jan) Brill. Brill's father, Johannes, had been the steward of the company for several decades after the founder's last direct descendant died. In order to cover the financial obligations that he inherited, Brill liquidated the entirety of the Luchtmans' book inventory in a series of auctions that took place between 1848 and 1850. Brill continued to publish in the traditional core areas of the company, with occasional excursions into other fields. Thus, in 1882, the firm brought out a two-volume ' ("Handbook of Steam Engineering"). More programmatically, however, in 1855 ' ("The Lord's Prayer in Fourteen Languages") was meant to publicize Brill's ability to typeset non-Latin alphabets, including Hebrew, Aramaic, Samaritan, Sanskrit, Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic, among others.
Public limited company and World War II, 1896–1945
In 1896, Brill became a public limited company, when E.J. Brill's successors, A. P. M. van Oordt and Frans de Stoppelaar, both businessmen with some academic background and interest, died. A series of directors followed, until Theunis Folkers took over the reins in 1934. At the time, the annual turnover was 132,000 guilders. His directorship marked a period of unprecedented growth in the history of the company, due to a large extent to Folkers' cooperation with the German occupying forces during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. For the Germans, Brill printed foreign-language textbooks so that they could manage the territories they occupied, but also military manuals, such as "a manual which trained German officers to distinguish the insignias of the Russian army". By 1943, the company's turnover had reached 579,000 guilders.
Post-war Brill, 1945–present

After the war, the Dutch
denazification committee determined the presence of "enemy money" in Brill's accounts. Folkers was arrested in September 1946, and deprived of the right to hold a managerial post. The company itself, however, escaped the aftermath of the war relatively unscathed; after some negotiation its fines were fixed at 57,000 guilders.
Brill's path in the post-war years was again marked by ups and downs, though the company remained faithful in its commitment to scholarly publishing. The late 1980s saw an acute crisis due to over-expansion, poor management, as well as general changes in the publishing industry. Thus, in 1988–1991 under new management the company underwent a major restructuring, in the course of which it closed some of its foreign offices, including Cologne. Its London branch was already closed by then. Brill, moreover, sold its printing business, which amounted "to amputat
ngits own limb". This was considered painful, but necessary to save the company as a whole. No jobs were lost in the process. The reorganization saved the company, which has since expanded. As of 2008, Brill was publishing around 600 books and 100 journals each year, with a turnover of 26 million euros.
In October 2023, it was announced that the German publisher
De Gruyter
Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature.
History
The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...
would acquire Brill for €51.1 million, forming the new company De Gruyter Brill, by the second quarter of 2024.
Areas of publication
Brill publishes in the following subject areas:
* Humanities
:* African Studies
:* American Studies
:* Ancient Near East and Egypt Studies
:* Archaeology, Art & Architecture
:* Asian Studies (Hotei Publishing and Global Oriental imprints)
:* Classical Studies
:* Education
:* Jewish Studies
:* Literature and Cultural Studies (under the
Brill–Rodopi imprint)
:* Media Studies
:* Middle East and Islamic Studies
:* Philosophy
:* Religious Studies
:* Slavic and Eurasian Studies
* Law
:(under the
Brill–Nijhoff imprint)
:* Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
:* International Law
:* International Relations
* Sciences
:* Biology
* Social Sciences
:* Anthropology
:* Cartography
:* History
:* Language and Linguistics
:* Political Science
:* Sociology
* Ecclesiology
:* Biblical Studies and Early Christianity
:*Theology and World Christianity
Imprints
Brill-Nijhoff
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers was founded in 1853 by Martinus Nijhoff, grandfather of the Dutch poet
of the same name and a seller of rare books. In the 1970s and 1980s, Nijhoff established itself as an independent
international law
International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
publisher and was acquired by
Wolters Kluwer
Wolters Kluwer N.V. is a Dutch information services company. The company serves legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and healthcare markets.
Wolters Kluwer in its current form was founded in 1987 with a merger bet ...
in 1970
Brill Publishers acquired Nijhoff in 2003.
The name was changed to Brill–Nijhoff in 2013,
and it is now an imprint of Brill Publishers. Nijhoff's portfolio focuses on areas in
public international law
International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
,
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
, on
humanitarian law and increasingly on
international relations
International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...
. Its annual publication program consists of over 20
academic journal
An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...
s, 20 annuals, and some 120 new book titles. Its back-list comprises over 2,000 titles.
Rodopi
Rodopi, founded in 1966 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, was an academic publishing company with offices in the Netherlands and the United States. It takes its name from
a mountain range in Bulgaria which forms the border with northern Greece.
Rodopi publishes over 150 titles per year in around 70
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
book series and journals. Rodopi publications are available in print and electronic formats. Although the main language of publication is English, the multilingual list includes German, French, and Spanish..
On 1 January 2014, Rodopi was taken over by Brill and acquired around 3,000 book titles at the time of the sale.
Wageningen Academic
In April 2022 Brill acquired full ownership of
Wageningen Academic Publishers.
Open access
Brill publishes several
open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...
journals and is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the
Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach to funding
open access books.
In 2013, Brill created the IFLA/Brill Open Access Award for initiatives in the area of open access monograph publishing together with the
.
Brill is a member of the
Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association.
Brill typeface
Brill has developed a commercial font, free for personal use, that supports most of the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic character ranges, including IPA and historical forms. It has better diacritic rendering than most pre-packaged computer fonts, though not complete IPA coverage.
Brill Typeface
/ref>
See also
* List of Brill academic journals
* Books in the Netherlands
* ''Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...
'' – reference work published by Brill
Notes
Sources
*
Further reading
* Ophuijsen, J.M. van. (1994). ''E. J. Brill, three centuries of scholarly publishing, since 1683.'' Leiden: Brill Publishers.
*
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1683 establishments in the Dutch Republic
Brill
Book publishing companies of the Netherlands
Companies established in 1683
Companies formerly listed on Euronext Amsterdam
Companies based in Leiden
Mass media in Leiden
Publishing companies established in the 17th century