What’s in a name? Celebrating 25 years of Palgrave Macmillan

Author: Christina M. Brian

Vice President, Business, Economics, Politics, Law Books

2025 marks 25 years since Palgrave Macmillan, now part of Springer Nature, revived the Palgrave name, continuing a long Macmillan tradition of publishing leading thinkers in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Business. With celebrations kicking off at the London Book Fair (LBF) earlier this month, we caught up with Christina M Brian, Vice President Business, Economics, Politics, Law Books, to discuss LBF and the anniversary year. 

This year’s London Book Fair coincided with Palgrave Macmillan 25, what made it particularly memorable? 

LBF was extra special for us as it marked our first public event to celebrate 25 years of Palgrave Macmillan. With around 30,000 attendees at the fair, it was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the impactful research that we have published in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Business over the years.   

Palgrave is deeply rooted in the much older Macmillan legacy, dating back to 1843 when Daniel and Alexander Macmillan founded the publishing house. Today we publish around 2,500 books under the Palgrave Macmillan imprint, covering fields from Literature, History, Media and Culture Studies, Sociology and Criminology, to Business, Economics and Politics.  We remain the leading brand in Springer Nature's Humanities and Social Science portfolio, and our purpose of publishing high-impact interdisciplinary research that makes a difference is as true today as it was back in 1843. 

At our LBF stand, I was struck by the blend of legacy and contemporary works. I was greeted by a family of imprints, as Springer Nature is home to Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, Apress and many more book brands. Some of our Palgrave Macmillans books were published as far back as the American Civil War. The Statesman’s Yearbook, one of our oldest reference works, originally published in 1864. The predecessor of our Dictionary of Economics, the Dictionary of Political Economy, was first published in 1894. I admire the much-loved Golden Treasury of English songs and lyrics (1861) which also has a space in my personal bookshelf at home!   

Meanwhile, more recent publications like Thinking Through Climate Change demonstrate the importance of HSS in climate change research and the UN Sustainable Development Goals more broadly. And History, Disrupted, is a key title that shows us how social media and the internet can change our understanding of the past. Many of our authors publish both books and journals with Palgrave Macmillan. And so right alongside our books, we had journals such as Higher Education Policy, Journal of International Business Studies, and International Politics.  

The stand was busy with past and present colleagues, what do you think people find most noteworthy about Palgrave Macmillan and its community? 

When you ask colleagues what they love most about Palgrave Macmillan, it is not just the content that we publish but it is also the people. This includes our committed colleagues as well as our authors, series editors, readers and reviewers. There is a lovely sense of camaraderie and commitment to this brand and the community around it.  You could really see this when we held the ‘PM25 Cupcake Event’ - my favourite part of the day - which featured pink cupcakes to match our Palgrave Macmillan colours. For this special occasion, many colleagues (and even some customers!) went the extra mile and dressed up in Palgrave pink. Past and present colleagues and people from our community turned up to celebrate and share stories. A former colleague summed it all up perfectly by remarking that, whilst the brand has evolved to meet the needs of researchers, our core values stay unchanged. 

What are Palgrave’s Macmillan’s plans for 2025 and beyond?  

Palgrave Macmillan has always been recognised for its progressive roots. We were one of the first publishers to offer an Open Access (OA) option for HSS and have always sought to explore different book formats for our authors, such as the much-loved Palgrave Pivots. LBF is one of three major annual international book fairs, together with Bejing and Frankfurt, that provide us with a chance to catch up with peers across the industry, to share best practices, and to explore the evolving landscape of scholarly research. 

As Palgrave Macmillan we uphold a long tradition of publishing research that engages with global challenges and which champions interdisciplinary research. We combine a sense of pride in our legacy with curiosity and innovative publishing. This is supported by people who are truly passionate about the content we publish and the communities we work with. As part of Springer Nature, we head into the future, leading the industry with innovative formats and tools, empowering our authors to shape conversations and push the boundaries of knowledge.  

With offices in Europe, the US and the Asia-Pacific, we look forward to celebrating this milestone with our colleagues around the world.  We love to connect with our community and hope to see as many people as possible at book fairs and conferences this year. Watch this space for 25 Palgrave Macmillan Stories brought to you by our editorial team and our authors – and onto the next 25 years of Palgrave Macmillan!  

Join us in celebrating 25 years of Palgrave Macmillan! Follow our activities on social via #PalgraveMacmillan25 and meet us at book fairs and conferences.