FGV Press’ 50th anniversary: A legacy of shared knowledge
In a special interview with FGV News, Professor Marieta Ferreira recounts the publisher’s trajectory and shares some insights into its success.
This year, FGV Press is celebrating its 50th anniversary, marking five decades of dedication to publishing and disseminating works in various fields of knowledge, with the goal of helping improve Brazilian education. The publisher was set up to meet FGV’s internal needs, but over the years it has gained a prominent place in Brazil’s academic and publishing world.
In a special interview with FGV News, the publisher’s director, Professor Marieta Ferreira, explains how it came about. “In 1945, a year after FGV was founded, it created a Publications Department, which published reports, course materials and magazines. At that time, it wasn’t a publishing house of the kind it is today, as it only published FGV’s own materials. In 1974, the department was expanded, revamped and renamed FGV Press. In 1996, there was a major restructuring within FGV, and the publishing house became an independent unit headed by a director and it was given more autonomy,” she says.
FGV Management collection
One of the key moments in the history of FGV Press was the launch of the FGV Management collection in 2003, led by Professor Alzira Alves de Abreu. The collection emerged as a response to the lack of organized teaching materials for the courses run by the Institute for Educational Development (FGV IDE).
“In the past, research involved heavy binders in which pages were organized. Studies were based on books recommended by professors, and there was no standardized or organized teaching material,” recalls Professor Ferreira.
The FGV Management collection was distributed free of charge to FGV’s MBA students and became a milestone for both FGV Press and FGV as a whole. To date, more than 4 million physical and digital copies of FGV Management works have been handed out, becoming a hallmark of FGV Executive Education.
The age of e-books
Under the leadership of Marieta Ferreira since 2008, FGV Press has adapted quickly to technological changes. In 2009, she proposed the production of digital books, anticipating trends that would gain prominence and widespread adoption in the years to come.
“It was something that was emerging, and we were discussing how to proceed. At the time, FGV’s president, Professor Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, advised us to develop this process internally, saying it would be important for FGV to have experience in the digital book production process. Our unit teamed up with FGV’s Information Technology Division and we studied step by step how the formatted materials would be distributed and sold on our website, ensuring that they were protected with digital rights management to prevent piracy,” Ferreira explains.
At the time, few Brazilian publishers had their own platforms for producing and distributing e-books, which made FGV Press one of the pioneers in this area.
Recognition
The quality of FGV Press’ publications is widely recognized. In 2024, two books stood out: “Volatility Models for Derivatives,” by Professor Yuri Saporito, a finalist for the Jabuti Prize in the Mathematics, Probability and Statistics category; and “Rule of Law and Authoritarian Populism: Institutional Erosion and Resistance in Brazil (2018-22),” by Professor Oscar Vilhena Vieira, winner of the 10th ABEU Prize in the Applied Social Sciences category.
In addition, FGV Press maintains a rigorous curatorship and continually seeks partnerships with renowned authors from both FGV and other institutions. “FGV also publishes books by professors from other universities, research centers and other types of institutions, which have been very successful. Our standard of academic quality is recognized, including by Brazil’s main public sector research funding agencies, which is why we have been very successful in obtaining resources from agencies such as FAPERJ, CAPES and CNPq, which support our publications,” Ferreira points out.
Looking to the future: Audiobooks and digital subscriptions
FGV Press continues to develop strategies to meet the demands of the future. Projects under development include audiobooks, which will be launched selectively, given that many works contain graphs and tables, making adaptation difficult. Another highlight is a book loan module, whereby users will be able to subscribe to digital book packages and have access for a set period.
Mission to spread knowledge
According to Professor Ferreira, FGV Press has remained committed to sharing knowledge as its content distribution channels have changed over the years. “In the past, it was difficult for some people to buy books, but today you can buy any of our books on platforms such as Amazon, Google and Apple. It's impressive how efficiently FGV disseminates both its own research and external publications,” she says.
In conclusion, the professor says that FGV’s in-house publisher underscores the strength of the institution’s output and the work of its researchers.
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