What is IVP Academic?

We are the academic publishing imprint of InterVarsity Press. We think of ourselves as evangelically rooted and critically engaged, standing in the tradition of scholarship organically connected to the great narrative of Scripture, the classical creeds, and the legacy of thought they have inspired over the centuries. We have found this commitment anchors, sustains, and enlarges scholarship of the highest caliber. It is on this common ground that we seek to publish those who are engaging the great axial and contextual questions of our day.

Conversant across the Great Tradition, we have long lived in an ecclesial neighborhood without staked-out property lines. Historically our publishing has run from the center to the frontiers of evangelical thought. And we are regularly invigorated by the multiethnic and multiperspectival gifts of the global church.

We can view our work from four distinct yet interconnected vantage points:

1) The Perspectives We Engage

We aspire to be honest brokers of ideas in whatever discipline we publish. Our first task is to help authors shape their proposals and books into the most effective vehicles for their thinking and research. Along with our authors, we consider ourselves members of a broader learning community. At IVP Academic we count it among our highest privileges to be working with a rich diversity of friends and fellow travelers who share our basic convictions.

2) The Disciplines We Publish

The breadth of IVP Academic is seen across the rich range of disciplines we publish that go well beyond our commitment to theological and biblical studies. We boast the strongest evangelical publishing programs in psychology, philosophy, and apologetics. In addition, we provide a wealth of resources in church history, business, economics, science, mission, and ministry.

3) The Audiences We Reach

Our primary focus is the university world. We provide a balanced portfolio of publications from introductory works for undergraduate students to frontline monographs for seasoned scholars. We also produce widely appreciated core and supplemental texts for undergraduate and graduate courses. We are actively developing enhanced features such as Instructor Resources in order to make our textbooks as attractive as possible for classroom use.

Yet while we have a rich publishing program for the university world, we are not exclusively focused on that important sphere. Part of our breadth is implied in our publishing mission and identity as a bridge between the church and the academy. Many of our academic books find their way into church and campus ministry, and many of our general books find their way into the classroom. We bring the best the academy has to offer to advance the church while allowing the church to speak prophetically into the academy.

4) The Technology We Employ

IVP Academic has been actively and adaptively engaged in digital publishing since the year 2000. Our goal is to make sure every book is published simultaneously in print and digitally. We partner with a variety of vendors and software platforms to make sure our books are available wherever and in whatever form scholars, libraries, institutions, and students are looking for them.

Embodying a Publishing Culture

We are committed to delivering the best to our authors and our readers. Our tradition of careful manuscript selection and rigorous review, revision and editing, design and printing, positioning and marketing is rooted in a publishing culture that values integrity and is constantly being honed by experience. IVP Academic’s dedication to high scholarly standards throughout our process is reflected in our affiliate membership in the Association of University Presses (see the full press release).

Despite the speed with which books can be printed today (with some publishing models requiring authors to invest a great deal of their own time and energy in logistics), we believe a true team approach to publishing gives the best opportunity for a quality book and for quality marketing. So every IVP Academic title benefits from the coordinated efforts of our editorial, digital, marketing, and design teams in preparing its launch long in advance of publication. Throughout the development of your manuscript, you will always know who your editor is. And once your book is scheduled for publication, you will have a marketing liaison assigned to you. We know that it is hard for books to succeed in the marketplace if the soil is not tilled and cultivated months ahead of the publishing seasons.

Looking Ahead

As we look to the future we see broad horizons of opportunity. We see evangelical scholarship flourishing as never before. We hear conversations being carried out on numerous fronts. We engage with ideas that are being exchanged and weighed with unprecedented speed. We are energized by the expanding opportunities to reach new readers even as reading habits change.

With advanced degrees in our core disciplines, our editorial team has resources that are at a historic high. Charged with fresh energy and vision, we are partnering with authors whose intellectual curiosity and critical engagement ranges across a broad horizon of subjects and pursuits. Weekly we review and evaluate a cascade of proposals and ideas that fill and stretch the spectrum of our publishing reach. Despite our contested times and new challenges in publishing, we sense there has never been a more exciting time to be publishing in witness to the gospel of the kingdom.