About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. operates as a scientific research and career-connected education company worldwide. The company’s high-impact content, platforms, and services help researchers, learners, institutions, and corporations achieve their goals. The company’s operations are primarily located in the United States (U.S.), the United Kingdom (U.K.), India, Sri Lanka, and Germany. Segments The company operates through three segments: Research, Academic, and Talent. Research segment This segment provides scientific, technical, medical (STM), and scholarly journals, as well as related content and services, to academic, corporate, and government libraries, learned societies, and individual researchers and other professionals. Journal publishing categories include the physical sciences and engineering, health sciences, social sciences and humanities, and life sciences. Research also includes Atypon Systems, Inc. (Atypon), a publishing software and service provider that enables scholarly and professional societies and publishers to deliver, host, enhance, market, and manage their content on the web through the Literatum platform. Research customers include academic, corporate, government, and public libraries, funders of research, researchers, scientists, clinicians, engineers and technologists, scholarly and professional societies, and students and professors. Research products are sold and distributed globally through multiple channels, including research libraries and library consortia, independent subscription agents, direct sales to professional society members, and other customers. Publishing centers include Australia, China, Germany, India, the U.K., and the U.S. Key growth strategies for the Research segment include evolving and developing new licensing models for the company’s institutional customers (pay to read and publish), developing new open access journals and revenue streams (pay to publish), focusing resources on high-growth and emerging markets, and developing new digital products, services, and workflow solutions to meet the needs of researchers, authors, societies, and corporate customers. Research Publishing Research Publishing generates the majority of its revenue from contracts with its customers in the following revenue streams: Journal Subscriptions (pay to read), Open Access (pay to publish), and Transformational Models (pay to read and publish); and Licensing, Backfiles, and Other. Journal Subscriptions, Open Access, and Transformational Models As of April 30, 2023, the company publishes over 1,900 academic research journals. The company sells journal subscriptions directly to thousands of research institutions worldwide through its sales representatives, indirectly through independent subscription agents, through promotional campaigns, and through memberships in professional societies for those journals that are sponsored by societies. Journal subscriptions are primarily licensed through contracts for digital content available online through the company’s Wiley Online Library platform. The company also enters into agreements with outside independent editors of journals that define their editorial duties and the fees and expenses for their services. Contributors of articles to the company’s journal portfolio transfer publication rights to it or a professional society, as applicable. The company publishes the journals of many prestigious societies, including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Anthropological Association, the American Geophysical Union, and the German Chemical Society. Wiley Online Library, which is delivered through the company’s Literatum platform, provides the user with intuitive navigation, enhanced discoverability, expanded functionality, and a range of personalization options. Access to abstracts is free and full content is accessible through licensing agreements or as individual article purchases. Large portions of the content are provided free or at nominal cost to developing nations through partnerships with certain nonprofit organizations. The company’s online publishing platforms provide revenue growth opportunities through new applications and business models, online advertising, deeper market penetration, and individual sales and pay-per-view options. Open Access offers authors choices in how to share and disseminate their work, and it serves the needs of researchers who may be required by their research funder to make articles freely accessible without embargo. APCs are typically paid by the individual author or by the author’s funder, and payments are often mediated by the author’s institution. The company provides specific workflows and infrastructure to authors, funders, and institutions to support the requirements of Open Access. The company offers two Open Access publishing models. The first of these is Hybrid Open Access where authors publishing in the majority of its paid subscription journals, after article acceptance, are offered the opportunity to make their individual research article openly available online. The second offering of the Open Access model is a growing portfolio of fully open access journals, also known as Gold Open Access Journals. All Open Access articles are subject to the same rigorous peer-review process applied to the company’s subscription-based journals. As with the company’s subscription portfolio, a number of the Gold Open Access Journals are published under contract for, or in partnership with, prestigious societies, including the American Geophysical Union, the American Heart Association, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and the British Ecological Society. The Open Access portfolio spans life, physical, medical, and social sciences and includes a choice of high impact journals and broad-scope titles that offer a responsive, author-centered service. Licensing, Backfiles, and Other Licensing, Backfiles, and Other includes backfile sales, the licensing of publishing rights, and individual article sales. A backfile license provides access to a historical collection of Wiley journals, generally for a one-time fee. The company also engages with international publishers and receive licensing revenue from reproductions, translations, and other digital uses of its content. Through the Article Select and PayPerView programs, the company provides fee-based access to non-subscribed journal articles, content, book chapters, and major reference work articles. The Research Publishing business is also a provider of content and services in evidence-based medicine (EBM). Through its alliance with The Cochrane Collaboration, the company publishes The Cochrane Library, a premier source of high-quality independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. EBM facilitates the effective management of patients through clinical expertise informed by best practice evidence that is derived from medical literature. Research Solutions Research Solutions is principally consisted of the company’s Atypon platforms business and its corporate and society services offerings, including advertising, career-centers, knowledge hubs, databases, consulting, and reprints. Atypon Platforms and Services Literatum, the company’s online publishing platform for societies and other research publishers, delivers integrated access to more than 10 million articles from approximately 2,100 publishers and societies, as well as over 27,000 online books and hundreds of multivolume reference works, laboratory protocols and databases. Corporate and Society Service Offerings Corporate and society service offerings include advertising, spectroscopy software and spectral databases, and job board software and career center services, which includes the products and services from the company’s acquisition of Madgex Holdings Limited (Madgex) and Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.’s Informatics products (Informatics). In addition, it includes product and service offerings related to recent acquisitions, such as J&J Editorial Services, LLC. (J&J) and the eJournalPress business (EJP). J&J is a publishing services company providing expert offerings in editorial operations, production, copyediting, system support and consulting. EJP is a technology platform company with an established journal submission and peer-review management system. The company generate advertising revenue from print and online journal subscription and controlled circulation products, its online publishing platform, Literatum, online events, such as webinars and virtual conferences, community interest websites, such as analyticalscience.wiley.com, and other websites. Journal and article reprints are primarily used by pharmaceutical companies and other industries for marketing and promotional purposes. Academic segment This segment includes Academic Publishing and University Services, whose products and services include scientific, professional, and education print and digital books, and digital courseware to support libraries, corporations, students, professionals, and researchers, as well as online program management or OPM services for higher education institutions. Communities served include business, finance, accounting, management, leadership, computer science, data science, technology, behavioral health, engineering and architecture, mathematics, science and medicine, and education. Products are developed for worldwide distribution through multiple channels, including brick-and-mortar and online retailers, libraries, colleges and universities, corporations, direct-to-consumer, distributor networks, and through other channels. Publishing centers include Australia, Germany, India, the U.K., and the U.S. The key strategies for the Academic business include developing high-impact, career-aligned courseware, products, brands, franchises, and solutions to meet the evolving needs of global learners and university partners while expanding global discoverability and distribution. The company continues to implement strategies to efficiently and effectively manage print revenue declines while driving growth in its digital lines of business. The company continues to add new titles, revise existing titles, and discontinues the sale of others in the normal course of its business. The company also creates adaptations of original content for specific markets based on customer demand. The company’s general practice is to revise its textbooks every 3-5 years, as warranted, and to revise other titles as appropriate. Subscription-based products are updated on a more frequent basis. The company generally contracts independent printers and binderies globally for their services, using a variety of suppliers and materials to support its range of needs. The company has an agreement to outsource its U.S. based book distribution operations to Cengage Learning, with the continued aim of improving efficiency in its distribution activities. As of April 30, 2023, the company had one global warehousing and distribution facility remaining, which is in the U.K. Academic Publishing Academic Publishing generates the majority of its revenue from contracts with its customers in the following revenue streams, such as print and digital publishing; digital courseware; test preparation and certification; and licensing and other. Print and Digital Publishing Education textbooks, related supplementary material, and digital products are sold primarily to bookstores and online retailers serving both for-profit and nonprofit educational institutions (primarily colleges and universities), and direct-to-students. The company employs sales representatives who call on faculty responsible for selecting books to be used in courses and on the bookstores that serve such institutions and their students. The textbook business is seasonal, with the majority of textbook sales occurring during the July-through-October and December-through-February periods. There are various channels to drive affordability for print and digital materials within the higher education market, including used, rental, and inclusive access. STM books (Reference) are sold and distributed globally in digital and print formats through multiple channels, including research libraries and library consortia, independent subscription agents, direct sales to professional society members, bookstores, online booksellers, and other customers. Professional books, which include business and finance, technology, professional development for educators, and other professional categories, as well as the For Dummies brand, are sold to brick-and-mortar and online retailers, wholesalers who supply such bookstores, college bookstores, individual practitioners, corporations, and government agencies. The company employs sales representatives who call upon independent bookstores, national and regional chain bookstores, wholesalers, and corporations globally. Sales of professional books also result from direct marketing outreach, conferences, and other industry-relevant outreach. The company also promotes active and growing custom professional and education publishing programs. Professional organizations use its custom professional publications for marketing outreach. This outreach includes customized digital and print books written for a specific customer and includes custom cover art, such as imprints, messages, and slogans. More specific are customized For Dummies publications, which leverage the power of this well-known brand to meet the specific information needs of a wide range of organizations around the world. The company develops content in a digital format that can be used for both digital and print products, resulting in productivity and efficiency savings and enabling print-on-demand delivery. Book content is available online through Wiley Online Library (delivered through the company’s Literatum platform), WileyPLUS, zyBooks, alta, and other proprietary platforms. Digital books are delivered to intermediaries, including Amazon, Apple, and Google, for sale to individuals in various industry-standard formats. These are the preferred deliverable for licensees of all types, including foreign language publishers. Digital books are also licensed to libraries through aggregators. Specialized formats for digital textbooks go to distributors servicing the academic market, and digital book collections are sold by subscription through independent third-party aggregators servicing distinct communities. Custom deliverables are provided to corporations, institutions, and associations to educate their employees, generate leads for their products, and extend their brands. Digital content is also used to create online articles, mobile apps, newsletters, and promotional collateral. Continually reusing content improves margins, speeds delivery, and helps satisfy a wide range of evolving customer needs. The company’s online presence not only enables it to deliver content online, but also to sell more books. The growth of online booksellers benefits the company because they provide unlimited virtual ‘shelf space’ for its entire backlist. Publishing alliances and franchise products are important to the company’s strategy. Education and STM publishing alliance partners include IEEE, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and many others. The ability to join Wiley’s product development, sales, marketing, distribution, and technology with a partner’s content, technology, and/or brand name has contributed to the company’s success. Digital Courseware The company offers high-quality online learning solutions, including WileyPLUS, a research-based online environment for effective teaching and learning that is integrated with a complete digital textbook. WileyPLUS improves student learning through instant feedback, personalized learning plans, and self-evaluation tools, as well as a full range of course-oriented activities, including online planning, presentations, study, homework, and testing. In selected courses, WileyPLUS includes a personalized adaptive learning component. The highly interactive zyBooks platform enables learners to learn by doing while allowing professors to be more efficient and devote more time to teaching. The platform maximizes learner engagement and retention through demonstration and hands-on learning experiences using interactive question sets, animations, tools, and embedded labs. The zyBooks platform will become an essential component of Wiley’s differentiated digital learning experience and, when combined with alta’s adaptive learning technology and WileyPLUS, powers high-impact education across Wiley’s Academic segment. Test Preparation and Certification The Test Preparation and Certification business represents learning solutions, training activities, and print and digital formats that are delivered to customers directly through online digital delivery platforms, bookstores, online booksellers, and other customers. Products include CPAExcel, a modular, digital platform consisted of online self-study, videos, mobile apps, and sophisticated planning tools to help professionals prepare for the CPA exam, and test preparation products for the GMAT, ACT, CFA, CMA, CIA, CMT, FRM, FINRA, Banking, and PMP exams. In the last quarter of year ended April 30, 2023, the company sold a portion of its test preparation and certification products referred to as Wiley's Efficient Learning test prep portfolio which focused on test prep for finance, accounting and business certifications. Licensing and Other Licensing and distribution services are made available to other publishers under agency arrangements. The company also engages in co-publishing titles with international publishers and receive licensing revenue from photocopies, reproductions, translations, and digital uses of its content and use of the Knewton adaptive engine. Wiley also realizes advertising revenue from branded websites (e.g., Dummies.com) and online applications. University Services The company’s University Services business offers institutions and their students a rich portfolio of education technology and student and faculty support services, allowing the institutions to reach more students online with their own quality academic programs. Many of Wiley’s client institutions are regional state universities or small liberal arts colleges. The company’s resources, expertise and innovations meaningfully impact their ability to increase access to their programs online, as many students seek these types of flexible offerings. University Services provides institutions with a bespoke suite of services that each institution has determined it needs to serve students, including market research, marketing and recruitment, program development, online platform technology, student retention support, instructional design, faculty development and support, and access to the Engage Learning Management System, which facilitates the online education experience. Graduate degree programs include Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Healthcare, Engineering, Communications, and others. Revenue is derived from pre-negotiated contracts with institutions that provide for a share of revenue generated after students have enrolled and demonstrated initial persistence. While the majority of its contracts are revenue-share arrangements, the company also offers the opportunity to contract on a fee-for-service basis. As of April 30, 2023, the University Services business had 64 university partners under contract. Talent segment This segment services include sourcing, training, and preparing aspiring students and professionals to meet the skill needs of technology careers and placing them with large companies and government agencies. It also includes assessments (corporate training) and corporate learning offerings. This segment consists of talent development (Wiley Edge, formerly mthree) for professionals and businesses, assessments (corporate training) and corporate learning offerings. The company’s key growth strategy includes bridging the information technology (IT) skills gap through talent development for corporations around the world. In May 2022, Wiley renamed mthree as Wiley Edge. Wiley Edge sources, trains, and prepares aspiring students and professionals to meet the skill needs of t technology and banking services careers, and then places them with some of the world’s largest financial institutions, technology companies, and government agencies. Wiley Edge also works with its clients to retrain and retain existing employees so they can continue to meet the changing demands of technology landscape. For the year ended April 30, 2023, Wiley Edge signed 15 new corporate clients and expanded into new industry verticals beyond financial services, such as technology and consumer goods. The company’s assessments (corporate training) offerings include high-demand soft-skills training solutions that are delivered to organizational clients through online digital delivery platforms, either directly or through an authorized distributor network of independent consultants, trainers, and coaches. Wiley’s branded assessment solutions include Everything DiSC, The Five Behaviors based on Patrick Lencioni’s perennial bestseller The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and Leadership Practices Inventory from Kouzes and Posner’s bestselling The Leadership Challenge, as well as PXT Select, a pre-hire selection tool. The company also offers online learning and training solutions for global corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises, which are sold on a subscription or fee basis. Learning experiences, formats and modules on topics, such as leadership development, value creation, client orientation, change management, and corporate strategy are delivered on a cloud-based CrossKnowledge Learning Management System (LMS) platform that hosts more than 20,000 content assets (videos, digital learning modules, written files, etc.) in 18 languages. Its offering includes a collaborative e-learning publishing and program creation system. In addition, learning experiences, content, and LMS offerings are continuously refreshed and expanded to serve a wider variety of customer needs. These digital learning solutions are either sold directly to corporate customers or through the company’s global partners’ network. History John Wiley & Sons, Inc. was founded in 1807. The company was incorporated in the state of New York in 1904.