Edited by the faculty of the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University, The Philosophical Review has been in continuous publication since 1892. Volume I, edited by Jacob Gould Schurman (President of Cornell from 1892 to 1920), contained articles by William James and John Dewey. A "Prefatory Note" in the first issue expressed editorial policy that continues to rule: "the Review will combine an impartiality and catholicity of tone and spirit. It will not be the organ of any institution, of any sect, or of any interest...it must be...an absolutely free organ, national and international, of general Philosophy."

Duke University Press publishes approximately one hundred books per year and thirty journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, though it does also publish two journals of advanced mathematics and a few publications for primarily professional audiences (e.g., in law or medicine). The relative magnitude of the journals program within the Press is unique among American university presses. In recent years, it has developed its strongest reputation in the broad and interdisciplinary area of "theory and history of cultural production," and is known in general as a publisher willing to take chances with nontraditional and interdisciplinary publications, both books and journals.