Subject Areas

We publish manuscripts in both English and German that relate to Namibia and Southern Africa. We specialise in academic works in the humanities and social sciences but also publish popular science books and biographies. Our academic subjects include historical, sociological, anthropological, political, cultural, and linguistic studies. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches.

Publication Formats

We publish books in both print and e-book formats to maximise accessibility. To further expand our reach, we partner with third-party platforms that cater to the academic community. Our catalogue features well-respected series, monographs, bibliographies, and reference works, all designed to meet the diverse needs of scholars and libraries.

Open Access

We are committed to ensuring our content reaches the widest possible audience, meeting research-funding compliance, and being actively involved in initiatives that promote Open Access in the humanities and social sciences.

We publish our Open Access publications as "Golden" Open Access. This means the digital version is freely accessible to all interested readers immediately upon publication, with no delay to the print edition and as an alternative to a commercially purchased e-book.

While we are convinced of the future of Open Access publishing, we currently make decisions on a case-by-case basis to determine the best approach for each title, author, and our business model. You can find more information about Open Access at the BAB Publishing House here.

Peer Review Process

All academic titles are peer-reviewed. The review process for non-academic titles is more flexible but still involves some form of both internal and external review. 

Academic Titles

Since 2024, we have fully revised the requirements for the peer review process. We encourage reviewers to consider an 'open' review. The process for academic titles is based on the requirements of the SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) to guarantee a high academic standard.

• An independent, external, and meaningful peer review is obtained for each publication, covering the entire text.
• For dissertations and habilitations, we utilise the examiners' reports provided by the higher education institution.
• For edited volumes, the review evaluates both the academic quality of the entire volume and each individual contribution.

Funding and Sponsorship

Publishing an academic work involves significant costs and represents an economic risk for the publisher. Each publication incurs individual production costs and expenses for services such as author advising, peer review, editorial support, professional typesetting, printing, marketing and distribution, presentation at specialist conferences, and more. This is in addition to our wide range of Open Access services.

To publish a manuscript with us, a publication processing charge is required. This fee is based on your book's length and the total costs of the publishing process; we'll provide an individually tailored estimate once your proposal is accepted. These costs are typically covered by the author(s) or their sponsors. We are also available to assist you in securing funding.

However, to ensure high-quality titles are published regardless of funding availability, the BAB Publishing House may cover part of or the full costs in certain cases where funding is not accessible.

Sustainability and Support

As a non-profit publisher, we pursue the goal of financial sustainability: we ensure that our revenue covers our expenses. Any surplus is reinvested to publish further books or to support authors who lack their own funding.

We encourage authors with access to institutional funding to apply for grants to cover the full publication fee. By doing so, you help us support authors who do not have similar funding opportunities. This allows us to publish excellent research regardless of financial resources.

To ensure that high-quality titles do not fail due to financial hurdles, BAB Publishing House can, in certain cases, cover part or all of the costs.