The Burlington Magazine

What The Burlington Magazine does

The Burlington Magazine is a London-based charitable publishing enterprise founded in 1903 that operates as the world's leading monthly journal of art and its history. It is constituted as The Burlington Magazine Publications Limited, a private company limited by guarantee and a registered UK charity (No. 295020), with Desmond Shawe-Taylor as Chairman, Christopher Baker as Editor, and Andrew Dunn as Managing Director. The organization publishes a peer-reviewed monthly journal presenting new art-historical discoveries, exhibition reviews, and scholarly commentary, accompanied by a digital archive spanning all 1,480+ issues from 1903 to the present, with advanced search capabilities including Getty ULAN Thesaurus integration. It also operates two wholly-owned sub-brands: Burlington Contemporary, a free online platform launched in 2018 for peer-reviewed writing on international contemporary art, and Burlington Press, a book publishing imprint distributed worldwide by Yale University Press.

The company's offerings are built on a content-first, multi-revenue architecture rather than proprietary technology. Revenue is generated through five distinct streams: recurring print and digital subscriptions (with individual digital access priced at £24/month), one-time sales of individual print and PDF issues, print and digital advertising, commercial catalogue design and production services (operated for over 25 years for museums and galleries), and Burlington Press book sales. The distribution model is primarily direct-to-consumer through its own web store (shop.burlington.org.uk), supplemented by global e-commerce reach. Its target customer segments span individual art historians, scholars, and students; major museums and cultural institutions (including the National Gallery, V&A, Metropolitan Museum, Rijksmuseum, and Frick Collection as catalogue clients); and collectors and dealers seeking authoritative authentication and attribution scholarship. The organization maintains a global readership across more than 40 countries and is governed by a board of directors that includes several major museum leaders, which reinforces its institutional credibility.

The business model is structurally that of a niche, mission-driven scholarly publisher with limited unit economics scalability. The magazine reinvests all surplus into supporting new research, operating scholarships, and writing prizes (funded in part by external sponsors such as the Rick Mather David Scrase Foundation, Richard Mansell-Jones, and Stuart Lochhead Sculpture). It pursues a partnership-led ecosystem strategy, including academic alliances (University of Cambridge's Faculty of History), institutional co-programming (Institute of Historical Research's "Objects in Context" lecture series), and global book distribution (Yale University Press). The organization is GDPR-compliant as a data controller and has a small staff of 11-50 employees, indicating a lean operating model relative to its 120+ year publishing output.

Name

The Burlington Magazine

Legal name

The Burlington Magazine Publications Limited

Website

https://burlington.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1903

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Burlington Magazine is a 120+ year old UK-registered charity and scholarly monthly journal of art history serving scholars, museums, collectors, and students across 40+ countries, generating revenue through subscriptions, advertising, catalogue design services, and book publishing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art History Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312), Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines (MPAJAEAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAE)

Keywords

• Art history journal
• Scholarly publishing
• Academic art journal
• Art criticism publication
• Fine arts publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Subscriptions: Print and digital subscriptions providing recurring revenue. Individual digital access available for £24/month.
2. Individual Issues: Sale of individual printed and PDF issues of the magazine.
3. Advertising: Print and digital advertising across the magazine and Burlington Contemporary platform. As a registered charity, advertising revenue is reinvested into academic publishing.
4. Catalogue Design Services: Commercial catalogue design and production services for museums and galleries. The magazine has over 25 years of experience producing art catalogues, museum supplements and journals.
5. Burlington Press Books: Books published under the Burlington Press imprint, distributed worldwide by Yale University Press.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Burlington Magazine is a London-based registered charity that publishes a monthly scholarly journal on art and its history. Its activities extend to Burlington Contemporary, an online platform for contemporary art launched in 2018; Burlington Press, a book imprint; and a catalogue design service that produces publications for museums, galleries, and exhibitions.

Product overview

The Burlington Magazine operates as a multi-platform art publishing enterprise consisting of: the core monthly journal (The Burlington Magazine), an online contemporary art platform (Burlington Contemporary), a book publishing imprint (Burlington Press), and commercial catalogue design services. The core magazine is supplemented by a comprehensive digital archive with advanced search capabilities, while writing prizes and scholarships support emerging scholars in the field.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Burlington Magazine (monthly journal) A monthly print and digital scholarly journal covering the history of Western art, with peer-reviewed articles, reviews of exhibitions and books, and notes on new research. It serves art historians, curators, collectors, students, and informed enthusiasts worldwide.
• Burlington Contemporary An online platform dedicated to contemporary art, publishing essays, interviews, and reviews on current exhibitions and artistic practice. It serves readers interested in contemporary visual culture beyond the scope of the print journal's historical focus.
• Burlington Press (book imprint) A book imprint publishing scholarly and art-related titles. It serves academics, libraries, collectors, and general readers interested in deeper treatments of art-historical subjects.
• Exhibition Catalogue Design Service A professional design and production service that produces exhibition catalogues and related publications for museums, galleries, and cultural institutions. It serves curators, exhibition organizers, and arts institutions requiring high-quality scholarly print collateral.

Quantifiable outcome

• Subscribers in over 40 countries

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Burlington ContemporarycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Launched in 2018 as an online platform for writing and research on international contemporary art. Free to access, publishes weekly reviews and articles. Twice yearly open-access peer-reviewed online journal presents cutting-edge research on art made after 1960.
• Yale University PresscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributes Burlington Press books worldwide. Previously published titles share the ethos of the Magazine and are authoritative, rigorous and provide inspiration for future research.
• University of CambridgecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the University's Faculty of History for the South Netherlandish Prize, encouraging innovative object-based scholarship in Northern European art.
• Institute of Historical ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint organiser of the 'Objects in Context' annual lecture series, the first lecture delivered by Tim Knox, Director of the Royal Collection.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Direct peers

• Apollo Magazine: Apollo is a long-running monthly magazine covering visual arts, antiquities, and cultural heritage with a similar subscriber-funded model. It targets the same audience of collectors, curators, and scholars and competes directly with Burlington for advertising and institutional subscriptions.
• Frieze: Frieze publishes magazines and operates art fairs with a contemporary art focus. It overlaps with Burlington Contemporary on contemporary art audiences and competes for sponsorships and advertising from galleries and museums.
• The Art Bulletin (College Art Association): Published by the College Art Association, The Art Bulletin is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal of art history. It targets the same scholarly audience as Burlington and competes for high-quality art-historical research submissions.
• The Art Newspaper: The Art Newspaper is a leading monthly publication covering the global art world with news, exhibition reviews, and market intelligence. It overlaps substantially with Burlington's institutional readership and competes for museum and gallery advertising budgets.
• Oxford Art Journal: Oxford Art Journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering art history. It overlaps with Burlington's scholarly subscriber base and competes for institutional library subscriptions in art history departments.
• American Alliance of Museums (Museum Magazine): Museum Magazine is the flagship publication of the American Alliance of Museums and serves museum professionals with articles on collections, exhibitions, and practice. It overlaps with Burlington's museum-institution subscriber base.
• Art History (journal, Association of Art Historians): Art History is the journal of the Association of Art Historians and a leading peer-reviewed art history publication. It directly competes for scholarly readers, contributors, and institutional subscriptions in the same niche.
• Artforum: Artforum is a major monthly art publication focused on contemporary art criticism and reviews. While more contemporary-leaning, it overlaps with Burlington Contemporary for advertising, contributors, and audience.

Broad incumbents

• Yale University Press: Yale University Press is one of the largest academic publishers in art history and is also Burlington Press's distribution partner. It is a broad incumbent in art book publishing that overlaps with Burlington's book and catalogue ambitions at scale.
• The Times Literary Supplement: TLS is a long-running weekly literary and cultural review that covers art history among other humanities fields. It competes for intellectually engaged readers and institutional subscriptions in adjacent humanities niches.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/burlingtonmag
• Instagraminstagram.com/theburlingtonmagazine
• Xx.com/burlingtonmag

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles23 records

Subsidiaries2 records

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 The Burlington Magazine