By this time, Annual Reviews published over forty journal titles covering different disciplines; while more than half of the existing journal titles contained review articles relevant to virology, developments in the field were not routinely covered.

Published articles on the study of viruses were not easy for readers to locate, as they were decentralized in the other discipline-specific journals.

[6] It defines its scope as covering significant developments in the study of all viruses, including those of animals, plants, bacteria, archaea, fungi, and protozoa.

All other members of the editorial committee are appointed by the Annual Reviews board of directors and serve five-year terms.

The editorial committee determines which topics should be included in each volume and solicits reviews from qualified authors.