IGI Global Scientific Publishing

IGI Global Scientific Publishing, commonly known as IGI Global and originally established as Idea Group Inc., is a privately held American academic publishing company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company develops and distributes scholarly books, reference works, journals, electronic databases, and related research materials for universities, libraries, researchers, educators, and professional audiences. Its strongest historical association is with information science and technology, although its publishing program also covers education, library and information science, healthcare, business, public administration, engineering, computer science, and other interdisciplinary fields. The company was founded in 1988 by a former Pennsylvania State University professor. Its early publishing activity centered on research concerning information systems and the application of technology across multiple academic and professional domains. Rather than focusing solely on conventional monographs, IGI Global built a program around edited reference books, handbooks, encyclopedias, research collections, and specialist journals. This format enabled the company to solicit contributions from large international networks of academics and subject experts. A significant transition occurred in 2002, when IGI Global began offering content in electronic formats. Digital distribution subsequently became central to its business, particularly through the InfoSci platform and database collections supplied to academic libraries. The company also changed its production infrastructure after 2009, moving from manual typesetting to an in-house workflow-management system intended to coordinate editorial, production, and publication processes more efficiently. IGI Global operates a portfolio of imprints that includes Information Science Reference, Medical Information Science Reference, Business Science Reference, Engineering Science Reference, and e-Robotic Press. Its journal list includes titles covering information technology, data warehousing and mining, database management, e-collaboration, global information management, intelligent information technologies, mobile and blended learning, organizational computing, semantic web systems, technoethics, and web-services research. The company states that its books and journals use double-blind peer review. It is also listed as a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics and as a SHERPA/RoMEO blue publisher; its journals use a hybrid open-access model. The company has expanded its digital and bibliographic presence over time. More than 150 IGI Global publications were reported as indexed in Scopus in 2018. A Springer Nature assessment published in 2019 placed IGI Global seventh among the scientific, medical, and technical publishers included in that comparison, based on book and chapter output and citation measures. By 2023, the company's InfoSci Database was described as containing more than 7,300 reference books, handbooks, and encyclopedias, approximately 30,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, and more than one million citation references, with indexing connections to Scopus and Web of Science. The same year, the AI-powered Zendy Research Library entered into a licensing agreement with IGI Global. In April 2024, the company reported that nearly 90 percent of its frontlist books were indexed by Scopus. IGI Global's reputation is mixed. Its scale, international contributor base, specialist coverage, and library distribution have made it a significant supplier of academic content. At the same time, commentators and some scholarly publications have questioned aspects of its editorial and commercial practices, including allegations of predatory or vanity-press behavior and criticism of its handling of plagiarism. These criticisms coexist with the company's formal membership in publication-ethics organizations and its stated peer-review procedures. In 2021, IGI Global marketing executive Nick Newcomer defended the company's small-run monograph model and argued that criticism of its publishing program had included what he characterized as malicious labeling. In 2023, a Lithuanian assessment comparing publishers with the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers placed IGI Global at Level 1, the minimum level recognized as scientific in that framework.

IGI Global was founded in 1988 as Idea Group Inc. by a former professor at Pennsylvania State University. It began as a specialist publisher of research in information science and technology, with an emphasis on how computing and information systems were applied in education, libraries, healthcare, public administration, business, and other fields. Its publishing model relied heavily on edited scholarly volumes, reference works, and contributions from academics working across national and disciplinary boundaries. The company entered digital publishing in 2002. This shift allowed it to distribute electronic books, journal articles, and other research content to institutional customers and ultimately supported the development of its InfoSci database products. After 2009, IGI Global also modernized its production operations. Publications that had previously been manually typeset were produced through an internally developed workflow-management system, reflecting the broader movement of academic publishing toward integrated digital editorial and production processes. During the 2010s, IGI Global expanded its subject coverage and library distribution. Its output included research books, handbooks, encyclopedias, and journals in information technology, data management, intelligent systems, education technology, healthcare information systems, business, engineering, and related areas. In 2018, more than 150 of its publications were reported as indexed by Scopus. A 2019 Springer Nature white paper ranked IGI Global seventh in a comparison of scientific, medical, and technical publishers, citing 116 books, 2,286 chapters, 2,339 citations, and an average of 20 citations per book in the assessed dataset. The company has promoted formal editorial safeguards, including double-blind peer review for books and journals. It is listed as a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics and as a SHERPA/RoMEO blue publisher. Its journal program uses a hybrid open-access structure, combining subscription content with options for open publication. These affiliations and policies have been part of the company's effort to establish credibility within the scholarly communications ecosystem. IGI Global has nevertheless faced sustained criticism. In 2007 and 2008, blog commentary by Debora Weber-Wulff and Ian Bogost questioned whether some of its books reflected a form of low-selectivity or “write-only” publishing; the comments were later discussed in academic literature. The publisher has also been accused of predatory publishing and has been criticized for its response to plagiarism concerns. In 2021, an editorial in the journal Interpreting addressed alleged weaknesses in the company's handling of plagiarism. Beall's List described IGI Global as a vanity press while also noting its membership in COPE. These criticisms remain allegations and assessments by external commentators rather than a single definitive regulatory finding. In 2021, IGI Global marketing and sales executive Nick Newcomer publicly defended the company's small-run monographs, arguing that they supported diversity, equity, and inclusion among authors and that the company had been subjected to malicious mislabeling. In 2023, a Lithuanian assessment comparing academic publishers with the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers placed IGI Global at Level 1, the minimum category treated as scientific in that framework. By 2023, IGI Global described its InfoSci Database as containing more than 7,300 reference books, handbooks, and encyclopedias, approximately 30,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, and more than one million citation references. The collection was described as spanning 11 core subject areas and drawing on contributions from more than 100,000 researchers and experts, with indexing in Scopus and Web of Science. In July 2023, Zendy Research Library entered into a licensing agreement with the publisher. In April 2024, nearly 90 percent of IGI Global's frontlist books were reported as indexed by Scopus. The company continues to operate as an active international academic publisher.

• 2024

  High frontlist Scopus coverage reported

  [1]IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org

  IGI Global reported that nearly 90 percent of its frontlist books were indexed by Scopus.

• 2023

  Zendy licensing agreement

  [1]IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org

  Zendy Research Library signed an agreement to license IGI Global content.

• 2019

  Ranked seventh in a Springer Nature STM comparison

  [1]IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org

  A Springer Nature white paper placed IGI Global seventh among the publishers included in its scientific, medical, and technical comparison.

• 2018

  Scopus-indexed publication count exceeds 150

  [1]IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org

  More than 150 IGI Global publications were reported as indexed in Scopus.

• 2009

  In-house production workflow introduced

  [1]IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org

  The company moved from manual typesetting to an internally developed workflow-management system.

• 2002

  Electronic publishing begins

  [1]IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org

  IGI Global began offering scholarly content in electronic formats.

• 1988

  Idea Group Inc. is founded

  [1]IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org

  The company that later became IGI Global was established in the United States as Idea Group Inc.

An international specialist academic publisher serving libraries and research communities with interdisciplinary technology-focused books, journals, reference works, and digital databases.

• Academic research database

  InfoSci Database

  IGI Global's InfoSci Database aggregates the company's electronic research content for institutional and library access. The collection has been described as containing more than 7,300 reference books, handbooks, and encyclopedias, approximately 30,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, and more than one million citation references. It covers 11 core subject areas and is designed to support research discovery, full-text access, and scholarly information management.

• Scholarly publishing · 1988

  Academic books, handbooks, and encyclopedias

  IGI Global publishes edited research books, specialist monographs, handbooks, and encyclopedias. The list is particularly strong in information science and technology, while also covering education, healthcare, business, public administration, engineering, library science, and interdisciplinary applications of computing. These works commonly assemble chapters from multiple international contributors and are marketed to academic libraries and research communities.

• Academic journals

  IGI Global journals

  The journal portfolio includes titles such as Journal of Cases on Information Technology, International Journal of Data Warehousing and Mining, Journal of Database Management, Journal of Global Information Management, Information Resources Management Journal, International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies, International Journal of Technoethics, and International Journal of Web Services Research. The company states that its journals use double-blind peer review and a hybrid open-access model.

• Publishing imprint

  Information Science Reference

  Information Science Reference is an IGI Global imprint focused on information science, information systems, computing, data management, digital technologies, and related interdisciplinary research.

• Publishing imprint

  Medical Information Science Reference

  Medical Information Science Reference publishes research addressing the intersection of healthcare, medicine, information systems, health informatics, and emerging technologies.

• Publishing imprint

  Business Science Reference

  Business Science Reference is an imprint for books and research collections covering business, management, organizational studies, economics, entrepreneurship, and technology-enabled business practice.

• Publishing imprint

  Engineering Science Reference

  Engineering Science Reference publishes scholarly material in engineering, applied technology, computing, intelligent systems, and related technical disciplines.

• Publishing imprint · 2026

  e-Robotic Press

  e-Robotic Press is an imprint described as focusing on books for children aged six to twelve that combine city-based factual content with introductory ideas about artificial intelligence and robotics. Its reported first project was The Journey of Jason the Frog, AI Robot.

• 2021

  Criticism concerning plagiarism handling

  An editorial in the journal Interpreting criticized aspects of IGI Global's handling of plagiarism. The company has also been described by external commentators as engaging in predatory or vanity-press publishing, allegations that contrast with its stated peer-review procedures and COPE membership.

  Source

• 2007

  Criticism of alleged low-selectivity book publishing

  Blog commentary by Debora Weber-Wulff and Ian Bogost questioned whether some IGI Global books represented a form of “write-only” publishing. The criticism was later discussed in academic literature.

  Source

Read more

• 2026

  Launch of e-Robotic PressProduct launch

  Background

  IGI Global expanded beyond conventional academic publishing into children's educational content focused on artificial intelligence and city-based learning.

  Action taken

  The company launched the e-Robotic Press imprint and introduced The Journey of Jason the Frog, AI Robot as its reported first project.

  Aftermath

  The imprint broadened the company's stated audience to include children aged six to twelve.

  Source

• 2023

  License content to Zendy Research LibraryM&A

  Background

  Digital research platforms were expanding their collections through agreements with specialist academic publishers.

  Action taken

  IGI Global entered into a licensing agreement with the AI-powered Zendy Research Library.

  Aftermath

  The agreement extended the availability of IGI Global content through Zendy's research-library platform.

  Source

• 2009

  Modernize publication productionStrategy

  Background

  The company had previously relied on manual typesetting for its publications.

  Action taken

  IGI Global built an in-house workflow-management system for publication production.

  Aftermath

  The new system became part of the company's post-2009 editorial and production process.

  Source

• 2002

  Move into electronic publishingStrategy

  Background

  Academic information distribution was increasingly shifting from print products toward electronic access and library databases.

  Action taken

  IGI Global began offering its research content in electronic formats.

  Aftermath

  The move supported the later development of the company's digital collections and InfoSci database business.

  Source

1. 1IGI Globalen.wikipedia.org
2. 2IGI Global official websiteigi-global.com