Global value chains (GVCs) emerged as the paradigm for the international organization of production. For most goods and services production is nowadays vertically fragmented across different countries and this reality gave rise to a significant new strand of research in international trade. This article starts by discussing the major driving forces of GVCs in recent decades. Next, it surveys the main measures of GVCs, accounting for their different scopes and required data sets. The article highlights the timing of the contributions to the literature, signalling their sequential nature and the trend toward more accurate and data‐demanding indicators.