It is published six times a year and covers all areas of and approaches to philosophy.

It started as a publication of Academic Printing and Publishing in 1981 by its first editor and publisher, Roger Shiner, and changed its name 1997.

In 2006 editorship of Philosophy in Review passed to Jeffrey Foss of the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada, who was succeeded in 2007 by David Scott, also of the University of Victoria.

The formal association of Philosophy in Review with the Philosophy Department at the University of Victoria ended when Taneli Kukkonen, then of the University of Otago, became editor.

Issues back to Volume 1, Number 1 (1981) are accessible online and can be searched by issue, author of review, and title or author of the book.