Annual Reviews is an independent, non-profit academic publishing company based in San Mateo, California.

As of 2021, it publishes 51 journals of review articles and Knowable Magazine, covering the fields of life, biomedical, physical, and social sciences.

[4] The organizational structure has three levels: a volunteer board of directors, editorial committees of experts for each journal, and paid employees.

[5] Annual Reviews' stated mission is to synthesize and integrate knowledge "for the progress of science and the benefit of society".

[7][8] In designing a course for graduate students in 1930, he saw the need for a resource that condensed the large volume of biochemistry research into review articles.

Luck asked about 50 biochemists in the US, United Kingdom, and Canada if an annual volume of critical reviews on biochemistry research would be useful.

[14][15][16][8] Stanford University Press agreed to publish the journal on a three-year contract, with financial assistance from the Chemical Foundation headed by Francis Garvan.

[8][9][17] Stanford University gave the journal rent-free office space in the Physiology building (Outer Quad) beginning in 1931.

On December 12, 1934, they submitted articles of incorporation with the California Secretary of State to create the Annual Review of Biochemistry, Ltd., which was organized as a nonprofit.

[22] He retired from this position as of 1969, but continued to serve on the board of directors as an emeritus member, as well as on the editorial committee of the Annual Review of Biochemistry.

[37] In the 1950s, titles in medicine,[38] psychology,[39] plant physiology,[40] physical chemistry,[41] nuclear and particle science,[42] and entomology were added.

[43] Stanford University began to have a serious space shortage, which resulted in Annual Reviews constructing a new office building in nearby Palo Alto, California in 1956.

After Santa Clara County used eminent domain to take the property at 231 Grant Avenue, Annual Reviews moved again in 1968, to 4139 El Camino Way, Palo Alto.

[51] In 2021, Annual Reviews moved its physical office to 1875 S Grant St., Suite 700, San Mateo, California, as the organizations's staff increasingly worked from home.

The authors noted that Annual Review articles often focus on emerging fields that may be undergoing structural transformations.

Examining impact on scholarly discourse, they concluded that "formal, invited Annual Review articles provide a distinctly authoritative source".

[62][56][63][64] In this way S2O appealed to the individual subscriber's economic self-interest (receiving a discount instead of paying full price), and avoided reliance on collective behavior or altruism.

[63] As of September 1, 2019, the 2020 pilot program for S2O included two publishers, Annual Reviews and Berghahn Books, both of whom opened part of their content.

[63]: 2 [69] In April 2022, the publisher announced that new content from all of its 51 academic journals would progressively be made openly available over the course of eighteen months under the S2O framework, provided that current subscription support is maintained.

[2][76] The contents of each journal published by Annual Reviews is selected by the lead editor or co-editors and their editorial committees, about ten members total, who are researchers in the discipline.