Latest News | Wiley Acquires Open Access Publisher Hindawi

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) Global research and education giant John Wiley & Sons has acquired open access publishing major Hindawi Ltd for USD 298 million (over Rs 2,000 crore).

US-listed Wiley, which is present across various countries including India, said the acquisition of Hindawi, one of the world's fastest-growing scientific research publishers, significantly increases its position as a global leader in research by adding quality, scale, and growth to the company's open access publishing program.

Open access is a rapidly growing scholarly publishing model that allows peer-reviewed articles to be read and shared immediately, making important research broadly available.

As a leader in open access publishing, Hindawi has played a critical role in advancing gold open access, an OA model in which validated articles are made immediately available for reading and re-use following the payment of a publication fee, Wiley said in a statement.

Hindawi, privately held and headquartered in London, has a portfolio of over 200 peer-reviewed scientific, technical, and medical journals, a highly efficient publishing platform, and a low-cost infrastructure.

Wiley said its acquisition of Hindawi unlocks significant and profitable new growth by tapping deeper into the fast-growing OA market and by delivering innovative publishing services to researchers, societies, and institutions around the world.

For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, Hindawi is projected to generate approximately USD 40 million in revenue with year over year growth of 50 per cent.

"The acquisition of Hindawi enables Wiley to move farther and faster toward our goal of meeting the world's urgent and escalating need for new knowledge," said Brian Napack, President and CEO, Wiley.

The addition of Hindawi's journals doubles Wiley's gold (pure) open-access journal portfolio and will increase author retention by giving researchers more options to publish within Wiley titles.

Hindawi strengthens Wiley's growing position in the global research industry, particularly in China – the world's fast-growing research market.

"Similar to Wiley, we are driven by a mission to advance openness in research, working with researchers, publishers, institutions, and organizations to build a vibrant ecosystem that helps this global community thrive," said Paul Peters, Hindawi's CEO, who will continue to lead Hindawi as part of Wiley's Research business.

"We have worked hard with our partners to build one of the world's largest fully open access publishing platforms," said Ahmed Hindawi, Hindawi's co-founder.

Wiley's acquisition of Hindawi, along with its recent acquisitions of mThree, zyBooks, Madgex, and Knewton Alta, demonstrates the company's continuing strategy to deliver innovative, tech-enabled products and services that unlock human potential by enabling the success of the world's researchers, learners, and professionals, the group said. PTI

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