UCR is home to the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection, the world's largest open-to-the-public collection of science fiction, fantasy magazines, comic books, graphic novels, and fanzines.

Faculty in Comparative Literatures and Foreign Languages with research interests in Science Fiction and the History of Science include Lisa Raphals (history of technology and medicine in ancient China and Greece) Sabine Doran (synesthesia and perception in 20th Century Germany and European Film), Margherita Long (theories of apocalypse and "post-humanity" in Japanese anime).