• 1998 PKP was founded by John Willinsky in the Faculty of Education at UBC, with Pacific Press Professorship endowment, dedicated to improving the scholarly and public quality of research.
• 2000 Open Conference Systems was released as open source software.
• 2001 Open Journals Systems released as open source software.
• 2002 Open Harvester Systems released as open source software.
• 2002 OJS listed as “Landmark Event” on the Timeline of the Open Access Movement.
• 2005 Partnership with the Faculty of Education at UBC, the SFU Library, and the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at SFU established.
• 2005 Open Journals Systems 2.0 released.
• 2006 PKP receives Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
• 2007 Synergies funding ensures PKP development for four years.
• 2007 First international PKP conference in Vancouver.
• 2007 Open Conference Systems 2.0 released.
• 2008 PKP sets up a research home at Stanford University, as well as a general home at SFU.
• 2010 John Willinsky receives Frederick G. Kilgour Award, American Library Association.
• 2011 PKP launches sustainability initiative to ensure ongoing financial resources and community participation.
• 2012 PKP Development Partnerships established.
• 2013 Open Monograph Press 1.0 released.
• 2014 PKP identified as a High-Impact Open Access Organization for Infrastructure, Accelerating Science Awards Program (ASAP), Major sponsors – Google, PLOS, Wellcome Foundation.
• 2015 PKP launches MacArthur-funded Open Access Scholarly Publishing Cooperative Study.
• 2016 PKP PLN launched.
• 2016 PKP Index launched.
• 2016 OJS Version 3.0 launched.

You can find more information on the history of the Public Knowledge Project in “The Public Knowledge Project and Open Journal Systems: open source options for small publishers“, “Open Journal Systems: An Example of Open Source Software for Journal Management and Publishing”. and other publications listed in our bibliography.