EKW-Verlag is part of the Tübingen Association for Empirical Cultural Studies (TVEKW), which was founded in 1963 as the Tübingen Association for Folklore Studies (TVV). The association and publishing house were originally established to publish doctoral theses at the Ludwig Uhland Institute (LUI). Today, EKW-Verlag is one of the few academic publishers that is independently run by an institute.