Annual Reviews (publisher)
Annual Reviews is an independent, non-profit academic publishing company based in San Mateo, California. As of 2021, it publishes 51 journals of review articles and Knowable Magazine, covering the fields of life, biomedical, physical, and social sciences.[3] Review articles are usually "peer-invited" solicited submissions, often planned one to two years in advance, which go through a peer-review process.[4] The organizational structure has three levels: a volunteer board of directors, editorial committees of experts for each journal, and paid employees.[5]
This article is about the publisher and its journal series. For other uses and similarly named publications, see Annual Review (disambiguation).Founded
1931
United States
- Richard B. Gallagher (president & editor-in-chief)
- Karen S. Cook (board chair)
- Sandra Faber (board vice-chair)
Life, biomedical, physical, and social sciences
Annual Reviews' stated mission is to synthesize and integrate knowledge "for the progress of science and the benefit of society".[6][7] The first Annual Reviews journal, the Annual Review of Biochemistry, was published in 1932 under the editorship of Stanford University chemist J. Murray Luck, who wanted to create a resource that provided critical reviews on contemporary research. The second journal was added in 1939. By 1982, Annual Reviews published 24 titles, and by 2021 it published 51. In 2016, the company piloted the "Subscribe to Open" (S2O) publishing model, under which a journal's newest volume is published open access as long as subscription support is sufficient. As of 2022, all 51 journals are being offered under the S2O model.
History[edit]
Annual Review of Biochemistry[edit]
The Annual Review of Biochemistry was the creation of Stanford University chemist and professor J. Murray Luck.[7][8] In designing a course for graduate students in 1930, he saw the need for a resource that condensed the large volume of biochemistry research into review articles. Luck asked about 50 biochemists in the US, United Kingdom, and Canada if an annual volume of critical reviews on biochemistry research would be useful. Response was positive.[8][9][10]
Luck formed an initial advisory committee which included Carl L. Alsberg at Stanford,[11] and Dennis Robert Hoagland[12][13] and Carl Louis August Schmidt from the University of California, Berkeley.[14][15][16][8] Stanford University Press agreed to publish the journal on a three-year contract, with financial assistance from the Chemical Foundation headed by Francis Garvan.[8][9][17] Stanford University gave the journal rent-free office space in the Physiology building (Outer Quad) beginning in 1931.[10][18]: 6 The first volume of the Annual Review of Biochemistry was published as of May 3, 1932.[19]
Legal identity[edit]
At the completion of the contract with Stanford University Press, the advisory committee of the journal decided to assume a legal identity as the journal's publisher, though keeping Stanford University Press as the printer. On December 12, 1934, they submitted articles of incorporation with the California Secretary of State to create the Annual Review of Biochemistry, Ltd., which was organized as a nonprofit.[18]: 3 In February 1938, the name was changed to Annual Reviews, Inc.[9] On March 28, 2008, the California Secretary of State approved an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation to change the name officially to Annual Reviews.[20]
Leadership[edit]
J. Murray Luck worked for Annual Reviews from 1932 to 1968 and was the founding editor of its first two journals: the Annual Review of Biochemistry (1932-1965) and the Annual Review of Physiology (1939-1946).[21] As further journals were added, each one had its own editorial committee, whose lead editor took the title "Editor" or "Co-editor", and Luck assumed the role of editor-in-chief.[22] He retired from this position as of 1969, but continued to serve on the board of directors as an emeritus member, as well as on the editorial committee of the Annual Review of Biochemistry.[23]
Robert R. Schultz was the organization's official editor-in-chief from 1970 to 1972.[24][25] William Kaufmann became editor-in-chief of the organization from 1973 to 1981,[26][27][28]: 35 followed by Alister Brass from 1981 to 1983.[29][30] Kaufmann returned from 1983 to 1992. Robert Hall Haynes served as editor-in-chief of the organization from 1992[31] to 1995.[28]: 35 He was succeeded by Samuel Gubins, who held the positions of president and editor-in-chief from 1995 to 2015.[32] The current president and editor-in-chief, Richard B. Gallagher, succeeded Gubins in 2015.[33]