It was founded in 1893[2] to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868.

A Board consisting of senior officers of the University of California, holds responsibility for the operations of the press, and authorizes and approves all manuscripts for publication.

[5][6][7][8] University of California Press joined The Association of American Publishers trade organization in the Hachette v. Internet Archive lawsuit which resulted in the removal of access to over 500,000 books from global readers.

[11] Luminos is University of California Press's open access response to the challenged monograph landscape.

With the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as its traditional book publishing program, Luminos is a transformative model, built as a partnership where costs and benefits are shared.