I am reading the book EMF: Eclipse Modeling Framework where its stated:
The EMF programming model strongly encourages, but doesn’t require, the use of factories for creating objects. Instead of simply using the new operator to create [an object]...
Why is the use of factories encouraged over new?
Your answer does not have to be EMF specific, as long as it has to do with Java.
You can read Effective Java Item 1: Consider static factory methods instead of constructors. It describes advantages of using factory methods in detail:
One advantage of static factory methods is that, unlike constructors, they have names
A second advantage of static factory methods is that, unlike constructors, they are not required to create a new object each time they’re invoked.
A third advantage of static factory methods is that, unlike constructors, they can return an object of any subtype of their return type.
A fourth advantage of static factory methods is that they reduce the verbosity of creating parameterized type instances (seems to be outdated since Java 7)