The AIDS Memorandum was published in one volume of nine issues between August 1983 and December 1984 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Dr. Ruth Levy Guyer, an immunologist on the staff of the NIAID Scientific Director, was editor of the publication.

The AIDS Memorandum was modeled on other scientific memoranda that had helped to "fast-track" information on other puzzling diseases, leprosy and hepatitis, and on developments in interferon research. Publication in peer reviewed scientific journals meant considerable delay between the time of a discovery and awareness by others in the field. The AIDS Memorandum, like the other memoranda, printed non-peer reviewed material, preliminary data, negative observations, single-case reports, and other types of material not usually accepted in peer-reviewed publications.

Users of the AIDS Memorandum agreed to treat all material as privileged and subject to change before submission to a refereed journal. Users also agreed not to cite material without first obtaining the consent of the author(s) and to share material in the Memorandum only with other individuals willing to honor these ground rules.

By 1985, many peer reviewed journals recognized the AIDS epidemic as a crisis and began expediting publication of AIDS articles. At that point, NIAID judged that the AIDS Memorandum had served its purpose, and publication was discontinued.