Vable defines a publisher as any organization producing content which we are picking up and adding to the platform. This could be a traditional publisher, such as a newspaper, newswire or subscription journal. We also include feeds from non-traditional news sources, such as companies, trade bodies, and governments.

For example, a company which is producing press releases and other information regarding their business. We currently categorize publishers in two main ways: their location and their type.

The publisher location relates to the place where the publisher is based, rather than a place about which they produce content. For example, the New York Times would be tagged as United States, because this is where the newspaper is based, despite publishing content relating to countries around the world.

If a publisher has offices globally, we generally tag them under International, unless the publisher has a much greater and well-known presence in one country.

For example, we have tagged Mercedes-Benz under Germany, despite doing business, and having a presence in multiple countries. This is because the main company is based in Germany and the companies in other countries have different names and websites. For example in the USA, the company representing the brand is Mercedes-Benz USA.

However, Amazon operates out of multiple countries but they are tagged as International, because they use the same name and branding in all instances, in terms of the content they publish.

The Publisher Type taxonomy groups organizations based on their function. Please note that it is possible a publisher could fall into more than one category. The types we currently have include:

Academic Institution

This type includes universities, schools, and other organizations which provide education.

Examples: Harvard University, BPP, University of Oxford*

*Note that University of Oxford is tagged as an Academic Institution, however Oxford University Press is not. This is because, despite having a strong connection with the university, OUP itself is a publisher of books and journals and is not an institution which provides education.

Academic Publisher

This type includes publishers and bibliographic databases which focus exclusively or predominantly on peer-reviewed research, journals, theses and other academic publications.
Examples: Springer, Social Science Research Network (SSRN), Oxford University Press

Aggregator

This type includes websites and portals which collect and display other organizations’ news or content. Please note that legal portals such as JD Supra or Lexology which bring together content from firms and vendors are classed as Legal Publishers.

Examples: Google News, LexisNexis Newsdesk, Apple News

Barristers Chambers

This type includes barristers chambers only.

Examples: 4 Pump Court, 5RB Barristers

Central Bank

This type includes central banks for individual countries, as well as supranational banking unions.

Examples: European Central Bank (ECB), Bank of England, Federal Reserve (USA)

Company

This type includes commercial entities, which provide goods or which provide services not within the professional services firm capacity. It also includes holding companies, extractive companies and most banks.
Examples: Apple Inc, NatWest Group, Whirpool Corporation

Court

This type includes judicial branches, courts, and tribunals.

Examples: Supreme Court of Western Australia, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (USA), Courts and Tribunals Service (Northern Ireland)

Government

This type includes local, regional, and national governments, and the wider public - or state - sector. It can also be used for individual governmental departments.

Examples: Ministry of Finance Japan, The Land Registry (UK), State of Connecticut, UK National Health Service (NHS)

Law Firm

This type includes national and international law firms.

Examples: Allen & Overy LLP, DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins LLP

Legal Publisher

This type includes professional publications for the legal industry, and organizations publishing legal content.

Examples: Westlaw, Wolters Kluwer, The Lawyer, Law360

Local and Regional Press

This type includes print and online news publications which are printed in, and are specific to, a given locale or region. This also includes local and regional television and radio channels and broadcasters.

Examples: The Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS Miami, Manchester Evening News

Membership Organization

This type includes organizations which are composed of members. Members could be countries, companies, or individuals. Examples include Trade Unions, Professional Associations, Law Societies, networks of companies or public bodies, or lobby groups for given industry sectors and similar.

Examples: Lex Mundi, Australian Bar Association, World Federation of Exchanges, Association of British Insurers, BIALL, European Free Trade Association, UKHospitality

National Press

This type includes print and online news publications which are published in a given country, including general news, business, and economy-specific publications. We include national television and radio broadcasters as well as international publishers who produce national news within multiple countries or have country-specific editions, like the International Business Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Examples: New York Times, Financial Times, National Public Radio (NPR)

Newswire

This type includes news agencies, wire services, and commercial newswire services, press release distribution.

Examples: PR Newswire, CNW Group, Reuters, Agence France-Presse

Nonprofit Organization

This type includes charities, not-for-profit, nonprofit, NGOs, and certain membership organizations.

Examples: International Capital Markets Association, Cancer Research Institute, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), The Conversation Trust

Other

This type includes publications which information professionals will use and distribute with care. Examples include social media, user-created content platforms, special interest websites not otherwise adhering to one of the above categories.

Examples: Facebook, Bleacher Nation, Medium, many Wordpress sites

Professional Services Firm

This type includes businesses providing specialist, knowledge-based services to other businesses (excluding law firms and barristers chambers). These could be professional services networks, accountancy firms, consultancies of any size and in any industry or investment managers, for example.
Examples: EY, Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton, Edgewise Insurance Brokers

Regulatory and Statutory Body

This type includes public authorities or government agencies which regulate a specific activity and are established by an Act of Parliament or other type of legislation. Examples include competition authorities, sector regulators, consumer protection authorities, financial regulators, etc.

Examples: OFCOM, Product Safety Australia, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (USA), Human Tissue Authority

Stock Exchange

This type includes stock exchanges, futures exchanges, securities exchanges, and bourses.

Examples: Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX), Eurex, London Stock Exchange

Trade and Professional

This type includes trade publications and other industry-specific online or print publications which are marketed to professionals (excluding legal publishers).

Examples: Insurance Age, Airfinance Journal, Construction Enquirer

If you have questions about the categorization of a specific publisher or the Vable taxonomies in general, please contact us via support@vable.com or the chat icon within the Vable platform.