[1] The publication was originally launched in November 2017 as the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology, a collaboration between Felix Stein and the University of Cambridge's Department of Social Anthropology.

It was relaunched as an inter-departmental publication under the name Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology in January 2023 by the Germany-based NGO Verlag Offenes Wissen (Open Knowledge Press).

[2][3][4][5][6] The encyclopedia is listed in both the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources (ROAD).

[2][7] The encyclopedia was initially funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and a Economic and Social Research Council "Impact Acceleration" grant.

[4] In 2023, the encyclopedia signed an agreement with the German open access service provider Knowledge Unlatched, whereby Knowledge Unlatched will support the publication of 18 articles per year for three years.