It was established in 1946 by a decree of the USSR Council of Ministers and has been headquartered in Moscow since then.

It was completely state funded, which was the reason for the low prices of the books it published.

Its scope was domestic and translated special and tutorial literature in various domains of science and engineering: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, transport, energy, etc.

[1][2][3] The publishing house survived after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and was eventually privatised and later expanded its scope by incorporating a number of state publishing houses: Kolos (Колос), Transport (Транспорт), Khimiya (Химия), Metallurgiya (Металлургия), Legprombitizdat (Легпромбытиздат), and Energoatomizdat (Энергоатомиздат).

[4] The case was closed by the Moscow Arbitral Court on June 2, 2009[5] because the publishing house had paid completely the debt to the creditors.