Vinson Institute publications continued to bring relevant research and educational and other helpful information to a wide audience. In 2004, the Office of Publications and Communications processed more than 25,000 orders from all 50 states and various foreign countries. The quarterly electronic newsletter, Newsworthy, along with the Institute Web site, updated clients and partners about the Institute's activities.

New editions of several publications were produced in 2004, including the Handbook for Georgia Mayors and Councilmembers and both the civil and criminal volumes of the Suggested Pattern Jury Instructions (done in a continuing collaboration with the Council of Superior Court Judges of Georgia). New editions of two textbooks, The Georgia Studies Book: Our State and the Nation and An Introduction to Law in Georgia, were published. Both books were extensively revised to incorporate the new Georgia Performance Standards state curriculum and were again included on the state textbook adoption list for Georgia public schools. New publications included Essays on the Supreme Court of Georgia by renowned Georgia legal scholar R. Perry Sentell Jr.

In its 36th year as a national journal, State and Local Government Review published timely articles for scholars and practitioners on a range of state, local, regional, and intergovernmental topics.