The API Owner (often synonymous with API Product Manager) is the role responsible for the business and lifecycle management of an API. This role's key responsibilities include defining the API as a product by bundling it into plans, specifying business-level policies such as access control and rate limits, and deciding when to publish the API to the developer portal for consumption by Application Developers. While the API Developer writes the code, the API Owner is responsible for its strategic packaging, governance, and release, as depicted by the flow from the API Owner to the API Management component in the diagram.

IBM API Connect v10 Documentation: Administering user access. The documentation defines roles within an API management platform. The "Product Manager" role is explicitly granted permissions to "manage and publish Products," which encompasses creating plans, setting visibility, and controlling subscriptions. The API Owner of an organization holds these responsibilities.

Stolte, A., & Pautasso, C. (2021). From APIs to Composable Ecosystems: A Process Model for API Management. In Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing (pp. 3-19). Springer, Cham. Section 3, "API Management Process Model," outlines the API lifecycle. It distinguishes the development phase from the "Publication" and "Management" phases, where decisions about API productization, access policies, and visibility in a portal are made. These tasks are attributed to a product management or ownership role. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88219-5_1

Ameller, D., & Franch, X. (2020). A framework for API development and management. Information and Software Technology, 127, 106367. Section 4.2, "API Management," discusses the activities involved in managing APIs, including "defining access rights" and "API publication." The paper's framework assigns these governance and publication activities to a role distinct from the technical developer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2020.106367