[2][4] Feeling as though the crystal growth community should not remain at the "discretion of other disciplines for which crystal growth has a secondary importance", he spoke about the idea with a colleague, Kenneth Button, who informed an editor at the North-Holland Publishing Company (now Elsevier).

[2] The journal launched in 1967, with an editorial board consisting of Schieber as editor-in-chief and co-editors Charles Frank and Nicolás Cabrera.

[4] As of 2015, the journal has continued to serve as the "major venue for papers on crystal growth theory, practice and characterization" and proceedings of various conferences in the field.

[5] According to Tony Stankus, the journal has historically emphasised research contribution on crystals grown from wet solutions and later strongly emphasised research on crystals grown from molten materials or those produced through other processes relevant to the semiconductor industry.

[6] The American Chemical Society and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition partnered to develop Crystal Growth and Design as a lower-cost alternative to the Journal of Crystal Growth;[7] its first issue was published in 2001.