FrancoAngeli

What FrancoAngeli does

FrancoAngeli s.r.l. is a privately held Italian academic publishing house, founded in 1980 and headquartered in Milan (Viale Monza 106, 20127 Milano). The company specializes in scholarly books and peer-reviewed journals across 16 academic disciplines — spanning anthropology, architecture and design, communication, economics, education, engineering, management, medicine, politics and law, psychology, sociology, and the sciences — and publishes more than 600 new book titles annually from a catalog of over 40,000 authors. All journals undergo double-blind peer review managed through the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, and several titles hold ANVUR Class A rankings that matter for Italian academic career progression.

The company's revenue model rests on five streams: one-time book and e-book sales (print, PDF, and ePub formats), annual journal subscriptions to institutions and individuals (priced €60–€140/year), credit-based individual article downloads (€15–€50 for credit packs of 3, 10, or 20 articles that never expire), institutional e-book licensing through the Casalini Libri / Torrossa aggregator for global library customers, and Open Access publishing under Creative Commons licensing (both Gold digital-only and Green digital-plus-print models). Digital content is protected by LCP DRM (adopted April 2025 in place of Adobe DRM), and the catalog is preserved through membership in CLOCKSS, Portico, and PILA (CrossRef/DOI).

FrancoAngeli serves a distributed customer base: universities and academic researchers (primary), libraries and institutions (primary), students, and working professionals seeking specialized knowledge. Distribution runs through three channels — direct e-commerce on the bilingual francoangeli.it site, institutional sales via Casalini Libri/Torrossa for libraries worldwide, and physical bookshops across Italy — with marketing primarily driven by the website, the "Informatemi" newsletter, organic search (including Google Scholar indexing), and direct institutional relationships with university professors for textbook adoptions. The company is GDPR-compliant, certified WCAG 2.1 accessible under Italian and European accessibility law, and operates as an independent s.r.l. with no disclosed parent company, external investors, or M&A activity.

Name

FrancoAngeli

Legal name

FrancoAngeli s.r.l.

Website

https://francoangeli.it

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

FrancoAngeli s.r.l. is a Milan-based Italian academic publisher (founded 1980) producing 600+ new scholarly books and 30+ peer-reviewed journals annually across 16 disciplines, serving universities, libraries, students, and professionals through direct e-commerce, the Casalini Libri/Torrossa aggregator, and Open Access offerings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic and Scholarly Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (51313), Book Publishers (513130), Periodical Publishers (513120), Periodical Publishers (51312), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAE), Business, Economics & Management Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAF), Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed) (MPAJABAC), Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, Political Science) (EDAGABAD)

Keywords

• Academic book publishing
• Scholarly journal publishing
• Institutional library licensing
• Open access publishing
• Digital content distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

Milano

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Sale of printed and digital books across 16 academic disciplines. Books are sold individually through the e-commerce platform at varying price points.
2. Journal Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions for academic journals in multiple formats (print, online, or both) targeting institutional subscribers (libraries, companies, universities) and personal subscribers.
3. Article Download Credits: Credit-based system allowing download of individual journal articles. Credits can be purchased (3, 10, or 20 articles) and do not expire. Special discounted rates available for subscribers and authors.
4. Institutional E-book Licensing: Institutional access agreements for libraries through Casalini Libri/Torrossa platform, offering single acquisition or collection subscriptions.
5. Open Access Publishing: Gold Open Access (free digital distribution only) and Green Open Access (free digital + print for sale) models with Creative Commons licensing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

FrancoAngeli is an Italian academic publisher that produces and distributes peer-reviewed scholarly books and journals across 16 disciplines including social sciences, humanities, economics, psychology, law, medicine, and management. It sells print and digital editions (PDF and ePub e-books) directly to individuals via its e-commerce website and to institutions via library aggregators (Casalini Libri/Torrossa), and also provides Open Access publications under Creative Commons licensing, a credit-based article download system, and a Multimedia Library for supplementary content.

Product overview

FrancoAngeli is an Italian academic publisher offering a comprehensive portfolio of scholarly publications. The core offerings include Books (Volumi) across 16 disciplines with over 600 annual new releases, Journals (Riviste) with rigorous peer review processes, and eBook versions of both. The company provides Open Access eBooks under Creative Commons licenses, a Download Credit system for purchasing individual journal articles, and a Multimedia Library. All digital content is protected with LCP DRM (from April 2025) and integrates with platforms like Casalini Libri/Torrossa for library distribution, OJS for peer review management, and CLOCKSS/Portico for digital preservation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Academic Books (Volumi) Peer-reviewed and scholarly academic books published across 16 disciplines including Anthropology, Economics, Philosophy, IT/Engineering, Management, Medicine, Psychology, Sociology, and Law, with over 600 new releases per year and a catalog spanning more than 40,000 authors.
• Academic Journals (Riviste) Peer-reviewed academic journals published in Italian, English, French, and Spanish covering Business and Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Politics, Law, History, Philosophy, Educational Studies, and Management, available in print, online, or combined subscriptions with institutional and personal tiers.
• eBooks Digital versions of books and journals in PDF and ePub formats with LCP DRM protection, enabling multi-device reading (up to 6 devices per license) and institutional multi-user access through aggregators.
• Open Access eBooks Freely downloadable e-books in PDF and/or EPUB distributed at no cost under Creative Commons licensing, including Gold Open Access (digital only) and Green Open Access (digital available alongside print for sale) options.
• Download Credits Credit-based system allowing purchase of individual journal articles in PDF format; credits are offered in pay-as-you-go tiers (standard: 3, 10, 20 articles for €15/€35/€50) and discounted tiers for existing subscribers and authors (6, 15, 30 articles for the same prices), with credits never expiring.
• Series (Collane) Organized curated collections of books grouped by subject area, enabling users to navigate publications by thematic series.
• Multimedia Library Digital multimedia content repository providing supplementary materials for academic publications hosted on the FrancoAngeli website.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 600 new book releases per year
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Casalini Libri / TorrossacoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCasalini Libri serves as the institutional distributor for FrancoAngeli's e-book collection, making them available through the Torrossa platform for libraries worldwide. Offers both single acquisition and collection subscription models.
• CLOCKSScoreOthersCLOCKSS is an international association of publishers and libraries that ensures digital preservation of electronic academic publications for long-term access.
• PorticocoreOthersPortico is a digital preservation service ensuring future access to electronic academic publications if conditions for accessing content through other forms fail.
• Banca Sella Group (AXERVE)minorOthersAXERVE payment system by Banca Sella Group provides secure e-commerce payment processing for credit cards, PayPal, and other payment methods.
• Publishers International Linking Association (PILA)minorOthersFrancoAngeli is a member of PILA, which runs the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content with DOI assignments.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Zanichelli: Italian publisher specializing in academic textbooks and educational content for secondary and higher education, with comparable university adoption and institutional sales motions.
• Laterza: Italian academic and intellectual publisher covering humanities, social sciences, and professional titles, with overlapping institutional and library channels via Italian bookshops and university adoptions.
• Il Mulino: Italian academic and scholarly publisher (books and journals) with a comparable social sciences and humanities focus, deeply embedded in Italian university curricula and ANVUR evaluation — a near-direct competitor to FrancoAngeli.
• Carocci Editore: Italian academic publisher focused on humanities and social sciences, with peer-reviewed journals and university-oriented books overlapping FrancoAngeli's core catalog.
• Donzelli: Italian independent academic and intellectual publisher with strong humanities and social sciences coverage, competing for the same Italian academic authors and library budgets.
• Bollati Boringhieri: Italian academic publisher with a strong interdisciplinary catalog (sciences, humanities, social sciences), competing for the same academic readers and institutional customers in Italy.

Broad incumbents

• Springer Nature: World-leading academic publisher with extensive journal and book portfolios across social sciences and humanities, providing global competition for author submissions and library subscriptions.
• Elsevier: Global academic publisher with a massive journal portfolio and institutional licensing footprint; competes for the same institutional budgets and academic authors, and is a major force in the Open Access transition.
• Taylor & Francis (Routledge): Large global academic publisher operating the Routledge imprint; competes with FrancoAngeli in social sciences and humanities journals and books across institutional and individual channels worldwide.
• Einaudi: Major Italian publisher with a broad trade and academic portfolio; overlaps with FrancoAngeli in Italian academic and intellectual titles but operates at significantly larger scale under the Mondadori group.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AngeliEdizioni

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 FrancoAngeli