Publication Guide
Annual Reviews is not a typical journal publisher, and it helps to understand that before you plan around it. It is an independent nonprofit, founded in 1932 when Stanford biochemist J. Murray Luck created the Annual Review of Biochemistry to help researchers keep up with a growing literature. Nearly a century later it publishes 51 review journals - typically one definitive title per field, from the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics to the Annual Review of Sociology - and its articles are among the most cited in their disciplines.
Two things make Annual Reviews unusual. First, articles are invited: editorial committees of leading researchers commission reviews from recognized experts, so you cannot submit an unsolicited manuscript. Second, it pioneered Subscribe to Open (S2O), a collective-funding open-access model that has opened the whole portfolio to readers at no cost to authors. This guide explains how the model works, how invitations happen, and how to read and cite Annual Reviews content effectively.
Which way will you use Annual Reviews?
Because you cannot cold-submit, the practical question is how Annual Reviews fits your workflow.
| You want to... | Here's how it works |
|---|---|
| Get oriented in a new field or topic | Read the relevant Annual Review title - each article is a commissioned synthesis of the state of a field, ideal for literature reviews and qualifying exams. |
| Cite authoritative background in your paper | Annual Reviews articles are standard citations for foundational claims; use the Annual Reviews author-year style or your target journal's style via SciSpace templates. |
| Publish a review with Annual Reviews | Get invited. Editorial committees select authors; you can raise your visibility by publishing strong primary work, or a senior colleague who is invited may propose you as a co-author. |
| Suggest a topic or author | Many journals accept topic and author suggestions to the editors via the journal's editorial contact - this is the closest thing to a submission route. |
| Read without a subscription | Since the 2023 volumes, journals funded through Subscribe to Open are free to read; older volumes are progressively opened as the program succeeds. |
What Annual Reviews actually publishes
51 review journals spanning biomedical, life, physical, and social sciences, including flagship titles such as the Annual Review of Biochemistry (the original, 1932), Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Annual Review of Medicine, Annual Review of Immunology, Annual Review of Psychology, and Annual Review of Neuroscience. Each journal publishes one volume per year of long-form, commissioned review articles - no primary research papers.
Beyond the journals, Annual Reviews publishes Knowable Magazine (launched 2017; Spanish edition 2022), a free science-journalism magazine built on the journals' content. The nonprofit has also expanded its stewardship role: it acquired Knowledge Unlatched from Wiley in 2025 and the conference platform Underline Science in July 2026.
Open access: the Subscribe to Open model
Annual Reviews developed Subscribe to Open with consultant Raym Crow, piloted it in 2020, and moved the entire portfolio to it starting with the 2023 volumes. The mechanics:
- Libraries keep subscribing at their normal rate. Nothing changes in the purchasing workflow.
- If enough libraries renew, that year's volume is published open access for everyone; newly opened volumes typically carry a CC BY-NC-ND license (check the article page for the exact license).
- If participation falls short, the volume stays gated to subscribers - the mutual-assurance fallback that keeps the model sustainable.
- Authors pay nothing. There are no APCs anywhere in the portfolio, so there are no waivers, no transformative agreements, and no hybrid pricing to navigate.
The model has been influential: by 2023, more than a dozen publishers had adopted S2O for 150+ journals, and Annual Reviews reports substantially increased global readership since opening.
| Cost item | Amount |
|---|---|
| APC for authors | $0 - all articles are commissioned and free to publish |
| Reader cost (S2O-opened volumes) | $0 - free to read |
| Institutional support | Standard library subscription, which powers S2O |
Peer review and editorial process
Annual Reviews uses an editorially driven model rather than open submission. Each journal has an editorial committee of leading researchers that plans volumes one to two years in advance, selects topics, and invites authors. Invited manuscripts are then reviewed and revised under the direction of the editors and committee before acceptance. The result is slower and more curated than a research journal, and articles are expected to be balanced syntheses rather than position pieces.
How to publish with Annual Reviews
- Build the profile that gets invited. Committees look for researchers with recognized expertise and a publication record in the topic area.
- Signal availability. Suggest topics (and yourself or others as authors) to a journal's production editor or editorial committee - contact details are on each journal's page.
- Co-author with an invitee. Invited senior authors frequently bring on collaborators or early-career co-authors; this is the most common entry point.
- Follow the author guidelines. Accepted invitees prepare manuscripts per the journal's instructions at annualreviews.org (author-year citation format; length and figure specs vary by title).
- Use SciSpace templates. SciSpace hosts Annual Reviews formatting and citation-style support for writing and referencing.
Citing Annual Reviews
Annual Reviews journals use an author-year citation style with standardized abbreviations (e.g., Annu. Rev. Biochem., Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys.). When citing an Annual Reviews article elsewhere, treat it as a journal article with volume and page/eLocator numbers; DOIs resolve at annualreviews.org.
Ethics and integrity
Annual Reviews is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM. Because content is commissioned, integrity work centers on conflict-of-interest disclosure, balanced coverage, and correction/retraction handling per COPE guidance. The nonprofit's mission - synthesizing research for the benefit of the scientific community - also drives its OA program and Knowable Magazine.
