The mission of Annual Reviews
Annual Reviews is a501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to synthesizing and integrating knowledge for the progress ofscience and the benefit of society.
What we do
We serve interconnected communities within scholarly communications: researchers, informed citizens, and librarians, publishers, and vendors.
Complementary expert information resources include the Annual Reviews Journals,Knowable Magazine, the Charleston Library Conference Series,Katina Magazine,
and Knowledge Unlatched. 
Annual Reviews journals
Charleston Library Conference Series
Learn more about how we make an impact across several priorities in our2025Impact Report:
- Equity in Open Access:Annual Reviews journals
- Serving the Public Interest:Knowable Magazine
- Supporting Academic Librarians: Charleston Hub andKatina Magazine
Annual Reviews journals: Equity in Open Access
TheAnnual Review of Biochemistry, our first journal, was published in 1932. Currently, we publishjournals covering 51 disciplines in the biomedical, life, physical and social sciences. More than 1000 reviewarticles are published across all titles each year. Each article synthesizes knowledge from the expandingscientific corpus and provides a measured approach to understanding emerging research.
The reviews:
- Capture current understanding of a topic, including what is well supported and what is controversial;
- Set the work in historical context;
- Highlight the major questions that remain to be addressed and the likely course of research in upcomingyears; and
- Outline the practical applications and general significance of research to society.
To create this impactful content, we bring together expert Editorial Committees in each covered discipline andfacilitate meetings where members can discuss trends in each field and select relevant topics for review.Expert authors are then invited to submit reviews, and they readily accept the challenge to help shapeand define their field as a service to scholars and society.
Who reads reviews?
- Researchers who want to keep abreast of their field and integrate this information with their ownactivities;
- Researchers who want an introduction to new fields, with a view to developing an interface between differentareas of research;
- Students at all levels who want to gain a thorough understanding of a topic; and
- Business people, journalists, policy makers, practitioners, patients and patient advocates, and others whowish to be informed about developments in research.
Subscribe to Open (S2O): Making content available to a global audience
In 2023, we converted all new journal volumes to Open Access (OA) using the model that we developed calledSubscribe to Open (S2O).
We measure the success of Subscribe to Open through increased readership:
- In 2024, our reviews were downloaded more than 25 million times
- 15 journals are ranked first in their category byjournal impact factor (JIF)
- The journals were cited more than 400K times in 2023, a 25% increase from 2019 when all journals werepaywalled
Knowable Magazine: Serving the Public Interests
Launched in 2017, the goal ofKnowable Magazine and the Spanish language version,Knowable en espanol, is to make scientific knowledge accessible to all.
The magazine engages and informs a broadaudience through high-quality science journalism that explores new understanding of the natural world, practical
applications, and evidence-based solutions to pressing problems.
Charleston Library Conference Series andKatina Magazine: Supporting Academic Librarians
Charleston Hub and Library Conference Series
The Charleston Conference was founded in 1980 with 25 participants and has sincethen grown steadily in attendance and prominence.
In 2024, more than 2000 attendees participated from 33 countries and 6 continents.
In 2026, theconference is expanding to Asia as a three-day gathering taking place January 26-28 at the RoyalOrchid Sheraton Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
Katina Magazine
Named after Katina Strauch, Charleston Conference founder, this digital publication was launched in 2024 and aims to elevate the value of librarianship worldwide.
It is organized into three sections:
- Resource Reviews: Reviews of products to help librarians make appropriate purchases onbehalf of their patrons
- Open Knowledge: Success stories and lessons learned about the open transition across theworld
- The Future of Work: Offers practical insight into the technologies, skills, and strategies shaping library practice in a rapidly changing world
Knowledge Unlatched (KU): Connecting Communities, Expanding Open Access, Advancing Knowledge
Founded in 2012 by publishing innovator Frances Pinter, Knowledge Unlatched pioneered a crowdfunding model thatenables libraries worldwide to support the open access publication of scholarly books, journals, and othercontent. Its programs have made thousands of titles freely available to readers everywhere, demonstrating thepower of collective action to advance open scholarship.
Now, as part of the Annual Reviews organization, KU will remain at the forefront of open access publishing,helping more publishers adopt the Subscribe to Open model, and taking an active role in coordinating andamplifying Diamond Open Access efforts worldwide.
