PubPub
PubPub is a free, open-source, end-to-end publishing platform operated by the nonprofit Knowledge Futures, Inc., serving academic journals, scholarly publishers, universities, libraries, conferences, and student publications with collaborative authoring, peer review, CrossRef DOI minting, multimedia embedding, and custom-domain publishing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersCambridge, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What PubPub does
PubPub is an open-source, community-led publishing platform operated by Knowledge Futures, Inc., a Massachusetts-registered nonprofit organization. The platform provides end-to-end publishing infrastructure for knowledge communities — academic journals, book and literary projects, conference proceedings, course materials, case studies, and cultural exhibits — with features spanning real-time collaborative authoring, multi-format document import/export (Word, XML, LaTeX, Markdown, JATS XML), multimedia embedding (data visualizations, images, video, math, code, interactives), DOI generation via CrossRef, peer review and submission management, public/private discussions and annotations, access control, privacy-respecting analytics, and customizable community layouts with custom-domain publishing.
The platform is architected around a self-serve product-led growth model delivered through pubpub.org. Individuals and institutions can create a community at no cost; thousands of communities use the platform, including Harvard Data Science Review, MIT Press Open Architecture, CrimRxiv, Rapid Reviews / Infectious Diseases, British Library's Collective Wisdom, Maastricht University Press, iPRES 2024, NIME, IMPULSE, and DFIR Review. The open-source codebase (github.com/pubpub/pubpub) and a GitHub Discussions forum support developer- and contributor-led ecosystem engagement.
PubPub is explicitly positioned as a free, always-available product under a sustainable non-profit business model, with no paid pricing tiers or revenue mechanics disclosed in the source data. Revenue generation is implicit rather than direct: the platform relies on Knowledge Futures' nonprofit funding structure (donations, grants, institutional support) and may receive nominal consideration for enterprise custom-domain deployments, but no pricing, contract value, or ARR figure is provided. Target customers span academic journals, scholarly publishers, universities, conferences, libraries, museums, and student publications, with compliance posture covering GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, PIPEDA, and COPAA.
PubPub firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- PubPub
- Legal name
- Knowledge Futures, Inc.
- Website
- https://pubpub.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- PubPub is a free, open-source, end-to-end publishing platform operated by the nonprofit Knowledge Futures, Inc., serving academic journals, scholarly publishers, universities, libraries, conferences, and student publications with collaborative authoring, peer review, CrossRef DOI minting, multimedia embedding, and custom-domain publishing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
PubPub industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Access Publishing Platform
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Community-Integrated Publishing Platforms (MPACAIAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Publishing Networks & Multi-Author Publications (MPACAIAG), Digital Archives, Libraries & Institutional Access Platforms (MPAJAMAJ)
Keywords
Where PubPub is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
PubPub business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Free Platform Access: PubPub maintains a free, robust version of its platform available to all users. The platform operates under a non-profit, sustainable business model as a product of Knowledge Futures. Revenue generation mechanisms are not explicitly detailed in available sources but appear to rely on institutional support and grants rather than direct platform monetization.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
PubPub product offering
Product offeringCore offering
PubPub is an open-source, community-led publishing platform for knowledge communities that enables real-time collaborative authoring, document import/export across Word, XML, LaTeX, and Markdown, multimedia embedding, peer review workflow management, and one-click DOI generation through CrossRef integration. It allows organizations and individuals to create customizable community sites for journals, books, conferences, course materials, and exhibits at no cost, with the platform operated as a non-profit product of Knowledge Futures.
Product overview
PubPub is a single, unified open-source publishing platform for knowledge communities, operated by Knowledge Futures as a non-profit. The platform consists of the core PubPub product and its integrated features including real-time collaborative editing, multi-format document import/export (Word, XML, LaTeX, Markdown), multimedia embedding, peer review workflows, DOI generation via CrossRef, discussion and annotation tools, customizable layouts, collection metadata, access control, impact analytics, and content relationship management. Communities can be created for journals, books, resources, conferences, student publications, and exhibits.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- PubPub An open-source, community-led, end-to-end publishing platform for knowledge communities. Enables real-time collaborative authoring, document import/export, multimedia embedding, peer review workflows, and DOI generation through CrossRef integration. Designed for academic journals, book publishers, conferences, educational institutions, and cultural organizations.
Companies that use PubPub
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
PubPub technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
PubPub partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Knowledge FuturescoreKnowledge Futures is the nonprofit organization that developed and operates PubPub. As stated in the mission, PubPub is a product of Knowledge Futures, which is committed to developing open tools, infrastructure, and transparent business models for research-intensive institutions. The relationship is fundamental to PubPub's nonprofit status and open-access mission.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
PubPub competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Open Journal Systems (PKP): Open Journal Systems is the dominant open-source scholarly publishing platform, used by tens of thousands of journals globally. It directly overlaps with PubPub's journal-publishing use case and serves the same academic and library customers.
- Open Science Framework (OSF): OSF is an open-source platform from the Center for Open Science for managing research workflows, preprints, and publications. It competes with PubPub for the same scholarly community and institutional customers seeking open infrastructure.
- Authorea: Authorea is a collaborative writing and publishing platform for researchers, with overlapping features in collaborative editing, multi-format import/export, and preprint/journal workflows. It targets the same academic author base as PubPub.
- Manifold Scholarship: Manifold is an open-source publishing platform for monographs and multimedia scholarly books, with similar readership-annotation and remix features. It directly competes with PubPub's book-publishing use case (e.g., Frankenbook).
- Fulcrum (University of Michigan Press): Fulcrum is a publishing platform from University of Michigan Press for open-access monographs and multimedia scholarly works. It competes for institutional book-publishing customers similar to PubPub's MIT Press Open Architecture community.
Emerging players
- Janeway: Janeway is an open-source publishing platform from Open Library of Humanities for journal and monograph workflows. It overlaps in the open-access journal and book publishing segment where PubPub operates.
- Hypothesis: Hypothesis provides open-source annotation and discussion tools for scholarly content. It overlaps with PubPub's discussions and annotations features and serves the same academic readership engagement use case.
Broad incumbents
- arXiv: arXiv is the dominant open-access preprint repository in many scientific fields. While not a full publishing platform, it sets expectations for free, open scholarly dissemination that PubPub's model aligns with.
- ScholarOne (Clarivate): ScholarOne is a leading commercial peer-review and journal management system used by major publishers. It represents the incumbent workflow tool that PubPub's integrated submissions and review features aim to disintermediate.
- Overleaf: Overleaf is a widely used collaborative LaTeX editor for scientific writing. While focused on authoring rather than full publication workflows, it competes for the same academic author audience and overlaps on real-time collaborative editing of scholarly documents.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
PubPub social profiles
Digital presencePubPub compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
PubPub financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
PubPub leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
PubPub funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
PubPub M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about PubPub
What does PubPub do?
PubPub is an open-source, community-led publishing platform for knowledge communities that enables real-time collaborative authoring, document import/export across Word, XML, LaTeX, and Markdown, multimedia embedding, peer review workflow management, and one-click DOI generation through CrossRef integration. It allows organizations and individuals to create customizable community sites for journals, books, conferences, course materials, and exhibits at no cost, with the platform operated as a non-profit product of Knowledge Futures.
Is PubPub a public or private company?
PubPub is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was PubPub founded?
PubPub was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is PubPub based?
PubPub is headquartered in Cambridge, United States, in the North America region.
How does PubPub make money?
One revenue line is on record: free Platform Access.
Who are PubPub's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Open Journal Systems (PKP), Open Science Framework (OSF), Authorea, Manifold Scholarship and Fulcrum (University of Michigan Press). Emerging players are Janeway and Hypothesis. Broad incumbents are arXiv, ScholarOne (Clarivate) and Overleaf.
Does PubPub have an API?
No public API is recorded for PubPub.
What industry is PubPub in?
PubPub's product category is Open Access Publishing Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAIAI, Community-Integrated Publishing Platforms, with a secondary code of MPACAIAG, Publishing Networks & Multi-Author Publications. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 2741.