Cell Press was founded and is currently based in Cambridge, MA, and has offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia under its parent company Elsevier.

The company spun off new journals as follows: Neuron in March 1988; Immunity in April 1994; and Molecular Cell in December 1997.

Benjamin Lewin left in October 1999, after having sold Cell Press to Elsevier the previous April.

[1] Meanwhile, three additional Elsevier journals have joined the Cell Press group: Current Biology launched in January 1996, which became part of Cell Press in early 2001; Structure launched in 1993, which merged with the journal Folding & Design in early 1999.

[3] In January 2021, all Cell Press journals began offering open access publishing options.