s who parent company worldwide branding founded 1899 founder albert nelson marquis country of origin united states headquarters location new providence new jersey 1 distribution worldwide key people fred marks ceo and editor in chief 2 publication types reference work press releases nonfiction topics biographies number of employees 5 official website www.marquiswhoswho.com marquis who s who m rkw s is the american publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies . the books are usually titled who s who in ... followed by some subject such as who s who in america who s who of american women who s who in the world who s who in science and engineering who s who in american politics etc. marquis who s who books are often found in the reference section of local libraries at corporate libraries and are also used for research by universities . 3 4 who s who in america its flagship publication is a registered trademark of marquis who s who ventures llc a subsidiary of vanity publisher worldwide branding also known as cambridge who s who . in 2005 while owned by news communications inc. publishers of the hill the new york times referred to the 60th edition of who s who in america as a librarian s vanity fair . 5 marquis states in the preface that who s who in america endeavors to profile the leaders of american society ; those men and women who are influencing their nation s development . 6 entries in marquis who s who books list career and personal data for each biography including birth date and place names of parents and family members education writings and creative works civic activities awards political affiliation religion and addresses . 7 the content is also provided online to libraries and other paid subscribers . marquis who s who claims to require no publication or processing fees from the persons selected as biographees . 8 contents 1 history 2 publications 2.1 general publications 15 2.2 historical series 3 selection process 4 criticism 5 as a research tool 6 trademarks 12 7 references 8 external links history edit founded in 1899 by albert nelson marquis as an american counterpoint to the uk oriented publication of the same name published by a.c. black since 1849 and notably including substantial biographies since 1897 the first edition of the publication contained concise biographies of more than 8 500 distinguished americans . albert marquis wrote that the book s objective was to chronicle the lives of individuals whose achievements and contributions to society make them subjects of widespread reference interest and inquiry . 6 9 today the company publishes over a dozen different series and offers an online database with information on 1.4 million individuals ; who s who in america contains over 90 000 entries . 10 originally independent it was acquired by the conglomerate itt . macmillan bought itt s publishing division in 1985 . reed publishing bought marquis and national register from macmillan in 1991 . news communications inc. which owns the hill 11 bought marquis in 2003 . in 2016 the company s assets including all trademarks were sold to randy narod who formed a new llc called marquis who s who ventures llc which became a subsidiary of vanity publisher worldwide branding . 12 13 14 publications edit general publications 15 edit who s who in america who s who in the world who s who in american art who s who in american politics who s who in the east who s who in the west who s who in the midwest who s who in the south southwest who s who in medicine and healthcare who s who in asia who s who in american law who s who in corporate america who s who in science and engineering who s who of american women who s who in finance and business historical series edit who was who in america who s who in 20th century america selection process edit marquis who s who states that selection of individuals for listing in its publications is based on reference value . individuals become eligible for listing by virtue of their positions and or noteworthy achievements that have proved to be of significant value to society . an individual s desire to be listed is not sufficient reason for inclusion . similarly wealth or social position are not criteria . purchase of the book is never a factor in the selection of biographees . 6 16 some insight into the selection process can be obtained from william l hamilton s article entitled who are you why are you here that appeared in the new york times in 2005 . he writes about new owners acquiring marquis in 2003 an editorial team of 70 including 12 researchers make the call on who s notable and who s not . marquis calls its selection criteria stringent and says that biographical data on candidates for listing are reviewed by its editors to confirm that its requirements are met . their chief executive gene m. mcgovern told the new york times that the fundamental standards here are position and accomplishment . 5 once selected a biographical draft is sent to biographees for pre publication checking . in cases where notable individuals decline to submit biographical data marquis compiles information itself . 6 criticism edit in 2007 referring to the international biographical centre the american biographical institute as well as the far longer lived marquis who s who jan margosian consumer information coordinator for the oregon department of justice lumped all biographical reference volumes together in a warning to consumers to be wary and called all such companies pretty tacky adding that i don t know why they would put you in there if they weren t hoping to get you to buy the book . you truly have to look at how they are marketing and what the spin is . it s something you might want to watch out for . 17 tucker carlson in an article entitled the hall of lame that appeared in forbes magazine in 1999 alleged that the selection process is neither rigorous nor meaningful and self nominators and thousands of people not particularly notable are included . carlson also claimed that marquis makes money selling addresses to direct mail marketers . 18 as a research tool edit forbes adopted who s who in america as a source for compiling information on post graduate success when it began ranking america s most prestigious colleges in 2007 . 19 however forbes dropped using marquis who s who from 2013 and is currently using various forbes own lists such as power women 30 under 30 ceos on the global 2000 plus nobel and pulitzer winners guggenheim and macarthur fellows those elected to the national academy of sciences and winners of an academy emmy tony or grammy . 20 it is observed that this change of the forbes methodology has slightly affected the changes in the overall ranking . 21 22 researchers who studied entries in who s who in america found that men listed there live longer . 23 trademarks 12 edit biolink co op advertising programs sourcebook marquis marquis biographies online marquis who s who who s who who s who in asia who was who in america who s who in american art who s who in american education who s who in american history who s who in american law who s who in american politics who s who of american women who s who in corporate america who s who in entertainment who s who in finance and business who s who in medicine and healthcare who s who in science and engineering who s who in the east who s who in the midwest who s who in the south and southwest who s who in the west who s who in the world who s who of emerging leaders references edit marquis who s who contact us . marquis who s who . retrieved 2016 07 01 . marquis who s who llc private company information businessweek . bloomberg . retrieved 2016 07 01 . marquis biographies online . bates college library recommended resources a b hamilton william l. who are you why are you here the new york times november 13 2005 available online a b c d marquis who s who . who s who in america 1994 . chicago ill marquis who s who . pp . vi . isbn 0 8379 0151 0 . marquis who s who bluesheet . thomson reuters . 2008 04 21 . retrieved 2008 04 22 . faq marquis who s who leonard john . w. ed . 1900 . who s in america ; a biographical dictionary of living men and women of the united states 1899 1900 1 ed . . chicago a.n. marquis & company . retrieved september 14 2016 via internet archive . about us marquiswhoswho.com marquis who s who launches artists gallery web site news release . pr newswire . 2008 03 19 . retrieved 2008 04 26 . a b trademark assignment cover sheet . uspto . 2016 05 03 . entity filing details . 2016 04 25 . who s who of who s who scams . marquis who s who publications . marquis who s who . 2016 06 30 . retrieved 2016 06 30 . compiling the forbes ccap rankings paying for prestige the cost of recognition . tucker carlson march 8 1999 . the hall of lame . forbes magazine . retrieved 2007 10 17 . center for college affordability and productivity staff 11 august 2010 . methodology . forbes . caroline howard ranking america s top colleges 2013 forbes july 24 2013 news . forbes 2013 rankings are up . college confidential . lawrence k. altman who s who in america linked to longer lives . listed american men are found to outlast others the new york times july 26 1970 p. 60 . external links edit marquis who s who online marquis who s who in american art library journal ereview of marquis biographies online september 15 2011 library journal reference reviews august 2011 new york times we re an easy target taken in by the trump brand june 2016 authority control worldcat identities viaf 153577019 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title marquis who % 27s who & oldid 743183190 categories publishing companies established in 18991899 establishments in the united statesbook publishing companies based in new jerseyunited states biographical dictionarieshidden categories wikipedia articles with viaf identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages norsk bokm l edit links this page was last modified on 8 october 2016 at 10 01 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view