Verlagsjahres

Verlagsjahres is a term used in the German publishing industry to describe the annual cycle of a publishing house—the year in which it plans, produces and reports on its program. It is not a strictly defined legal term; its exact meaning can vary between companies. In everyday practice, the Verlagsjahr often corresponds to either the calendar year (1 January to 31 December) or the publisher’s fiscal year, and it is used in planning documents, trade catalogs and corporate reporting.

Within this framework, the publisher’s annual program and the titles released in a given year are attributed to that Verlagsjahr. The term also appears in expressions such as Verlagsjahresbericht (annual report of a publisher) or Verlagsjahresumsatz (annual sales of the publisher). For bibliographic purposes, the specific publication year of an individual title is usually recorded as Erscheinungsjahr rather than as a property of the Verlagsjahr, though both concepts relate to time.

Differences with related terms: Erscheinungsjahr is the release year of a specific work; Verlagsjahr refers to the publisher’s annual cycle; Jahresbericht is the annual report of a company. Some publishers align their Verlagsjahr with the calendar year to simplify planning and reporting; others use a different period.

See also: Erscheinungsjahr, Verlagsprogramm, Jahresbericht, Bibliografische Metadata.