Rowman & Littlefield

Name

Rowman & Littlefield

Website

https://rowman.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Book Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Business, Economics, Accounting & Management (EDAGABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Education Research & Pedagogy Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAH), Politics, Current Affairs & Social Commentary Publishing (MPAJAAAM)

Keywords

• Academic book publishing
• Scholarly nonfiction books
• University press imprints
• Reference book publishing
• Humanities research titles

Headquarters

HQ city

Lanham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Rowman & Littlefield generates revenue through sale of academic books, textbooks, and nonfiction titles across disciplines including education, history, politics, music, and library science. Revenue is generated through one-time book purchases via wholesale and direct retail channels.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Rowman & Littlefield is an independent academic publishing house producing scholarly and general nonfiction books across disciplines including education, history, politics, international relations, music studies, library science, and business. Following its 2025 acquisition by Bloomsbury Publishing, the imprint's backlist and frontlist titles are sold and distributed through Bloomsbury's academic e-commerce platform serving libraries, universities, and individual scholars.

Product overview

Rowman & Littlefield is an academic publishing company now operating under Bloomsbury Publishing following its acquisition. The company offers a portfolio of trusted nonfiction titles and imprints spanning multiple academic disciplines including Education, Music & Sound Studies, Library & Information Science, Politics & International Relations, and History. The acquisition, completed in 2024, brought R&L titles into Bloomsbury's catalog platform, with titles becoming available on the Bloomsbury website starting June 2nd.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Rowman & Littlefield Academic Imprint

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Bloomsbury PublishingflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Bloomsbury acquired Rowman & Littlefield's academic business and assets, integrating R&L's catalog of nonfiction titles into Bloomsbury's growing academic catalog. This acquisition positions Bloomsbury as the new home for Rowman & Littlefield content, with R&L titles becoming available on the Bloomsbury platform on June 2nd.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Springer Nature: One of the largest academic and scholarly publishers globally, publishing journals, books, and reference works across disciplines. Direct overlap with R&L's higher education and scholarly monograph business, but at much greater scale and with stronger digital platform infrastructure.
• Wiley: Major academic, scientific, and professional publisher with extensive higher education textbook and scholarly book lists. Overlaps with R&L in humanities, social sciences, and education publishing, with comparable institutional buyer base.
• Taylor & Francis (Informa): Global academic publisher within Informa, producing scholarly books and journals across the humanities and social sciences — categories where R&L has significant depth. Comparable in serving university and library buyers with academic monographs and reference works.
• Oxford University Press: University-press academic publisher with strong humanities, social science, and education lists. Shares R&L's positioning around rigorous scholarly monographs and textbook adoption in higher education institutions.
• Cambridge University Press: University press publishing academic books and journals across disciplines including politics, history, and education. Comparable to R&L in scholarly monograph focus and institutional library sales channels.
• Bloomsbury Academic: The acquiring parent company's academic division. R&L titles now live within Bloomsbury's academic platform; Bloomsbury Academic itself is the most natural comparator as the integrating platform and increasingly overlapping academic list.

Direct peers

• SAGE Publications: Independent academic publisher focused on social sciences, education, and library science — directly overlapping with R&L's strongest disciplines. Closely comparable in target market (universities and libraries), product type (scholarly books and textbooks), and business model.
• Edward Elgar Publishing: Independent academic publisher specializing in social sciences, politics, international relations, and economics scholarly books and textbooks. Closely comparable mid-size independent academic publisher with similar discipline mix and library/adoption channels.
• Brill Publishers: Academic publisher with strong humanities and social science scholarly book programs. Comparable to R&L in serving academic and library customers with monographs across disciplines including politics, history, and international studies.
• De Gruyter: International academic publisher with a multi-discipline scholarly book list in humanities and social sciences. Comparable in business model, institutional buyer base, and content category to R&L's academic publishing operations.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rlpgbooks
• Facebookfacebook.com/the-rowman-littlefield-publishing-group-192949817246

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rowman & Littlefield