Brepols Publishing operates from a site in the 17th-century béguinage of Turnhout, Belgium. Image: Brepols Publishing
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Matthew Dickie-Cross: ‘Proud to Partner With Them’
In London this morning (December 16), Ingram Publisher Services UK has announced that it will take on distribution in the United Kingdom for Belgium’s Brepols Publishers.
Brepols, based in Turnhout, is one of the continent’s long-lived companies, founded in 1796. It’s an independent academic publisher that distributes not only into the UK and its Belgian home-market but also into France and the United States with offices also in Thessaloniki, and editorial presence in locations including Australia.
Specialized in the humanities, this interesting company—independent throughout its long history—maintains in Turnhout a research center that includes the Centre ‘Traditio Litterarum Occidentalium, a human sciences computer laboratory for the study of Latin texts, flanked by the company’s Corpus Christianorum Knowledge Centre.
The company’s mission statement reads, “We commit ourselves to producing high-quality, distinguished publications that will have a lasting scholarly impact, and whether we are producing traditional printed volumes or open-access ebooks or e-journals, we guarantee that all our publications will share the same stamp of quality.”
Alexander Sterkens: ‘Important We Select the Best Partners’
Ingram in London notes that Brepols’ output includes Medieval studies, Renaissance studies, musicology, art history, archaeology, and religious studies.
Matthew Dickie-Cross
In a comment for the announcement on behalf of Ingram, Matthew Dickie-Cross, senior manager at Ingram Publisher Services UK, says, “Over the past few years, we’ve worked hard to ensure that Ingram Publisher Services UK is the natural choice of distributor for academic publishers, with a specific focus on raising the profile of scholarly publishing within the wider industry.
“Brepols has a long and outstanding reputation for publishing high-quality scholarship, and we are proud to partner with them to make their publications even more widely available.
“The whole direction of our business is in creating operational efficiencies while simultaneously raising quality,” Dickie-Cross says. “Over the next year, we’ll be announcing new ways of working with publishers that we’re certain will make a positive impact on future sales.”
Alexander Sterkens
In Turnhout, Brepols’ managing director, speaks for the publisher, saying, “We’re confident that Ingram’s expertise, technology, and distribution network will be invaluable in helping us to expand our current reach in the UK.
“It’s important to us that we select the best partners to ensure our first-rate titles reach readers in the finest condition, and we feel that with a background in servicing several high-profile clients, Ingram Publisher Services UK will excel in that.”
Ingram’s announcement points out that in addition to having the company’s metadata and reporting services, which include CoreSource and Ingram IQ, Brepols will also be able to utilize Ingram’s “brand-new, self-service publisher portal.”
That portal, Ingram in London says, is expected to “streamline operations and provide Brepols with greater control and efficiency in managing its titles.”
The new contract between Ingram Publisher Services UK and Brepols is to begin on February 1.
More from Publishing Perspectives on academic and scholarly publishing is here, more on independent publishing is here, more on the UK market is here, and more on the Belgian market is here.
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