[3] The Review aims to raise awareness of the public domain by promoting public domain works from across the web, including from Europeana, the Internet Archive, and Wikimedia Commons.

[6] It regularly contributes collections to The New Inquiry,[7] and collections are frequently highlighted by diverse publications including The Huffington Post,[8] The Paris Review,[9] and The New York Times.

[10] Contributors of articles have included Julian Barnes,[11] Frank Delaney[12] Jack Zipes,[13] Richard Hamblyn,[14] Philipp Blom,[15] and Arika Okrent.

[19] A second volume in The Public Domain: Selected Essays print series was published in 2015.

It was originally launched with seed funding from the Open Knowledge Foundation and the Shuttleworth Foundation before becoming an independent Community interest company supported by its readers.