The announcement follows the reorganisation of the company's publishing divisions from five to three, catering for mass-market and upmarket women, and men, earlier this year.

A spokesman for the company said that "we're not naming names or quantifying numbers ... the review is genuinely open-ended and the end result could be that the status quo remains".

He added that this was not a print review. "There are very few of our brands that don't exist on more than one platform, and online titles such as Goodtoknow have also spawned magazines," he said. The review will be conducted over the next few months.

Chief executive Evelyn Webster said: "We are increasingly focusing on accelerating the development of our multi-platform offerings to our consumers.

"As a result, we need to review whether it is desirable for IPC to continue to publish the full range of brands that we currently own. This review may lead us to conclude that we sell some of our smaller titles to publishers where they would have a stronger strategic fit and will therefore benefit from a greater focus."

Alongside IPC's heavyweight mainstream magazines, such as Marie Claire and TV Times, the group also publishes smaller titles such as VolksWorld, Railway Magazine and other specialist titles.

IPC recently awarded the print work for its magazine publishing to Wyndeham Press Group, picking up 45 monthly and weekly magazines at the expense of rival web offset printer St Ives.