A History of Scientific Journals

Modern scientific research has changed so much since Isaac Newton’s day: it is more professional, collaborative and international, with more complicated equipment and a more diverse community of researchers. Yet the use of scientific journals to report, share and store results is a thread that runs through the history of science from Newton’s day to ours. Scientific journals are now central to academic research and careers. Their editorial and peer-review processes act as a check on new claims and findings, and researchers build their careers on the list of journal articles they have published. The journal that reported Newton’s optical experiments still exists. First published in 1665, and now fully digital, the Philosophical Transactions has carried papers by Charles Darwin, Dorothy Hodgkin and Stephen Hawking. It is now one of eleven journals published by the Royal Society of London.

Unrivalled insights from the Royal Society’s comprehensive archives have enabled the authors to investigate more than 350 years of scientific journal publishing. The editorial management, business practices and financial difficulties of the Philosophical Transactions and its sibling Proceedings reveal the meaning and purpose of journals in a changing scientific community. At a time when we are surrounded by calls to reform the academic publishing system, it has never been more urgent that we understand its history.

Praise for A History of Scientific Journals

'A major piece of scholarship. The centuries covered, depth of archival research, use of oral histories, and production quality are excellent.'
Metascience

'In this study, four historians recount and analyse the society’s publishing history up to 2015 — including the journal Proceedings, launched in 1831 — with erudition and acuteness.'
Nature

'This book is important as it captures the history of the first ever science journals and their subsequent evolution'
Journal of Applied Crystallography

'A tour de force of a book that will provide much for historians of science, of the early modern period, of publishing, of materials science, of social interactions and gentlemanly behaviours, of peer review and of the finances of the Royal Society. And much more besides.'
British Journal for the History of Science

'This impressive piece of historical scholarship not only makes a significant contribution to the history of scientific publishing but also illustrates the remarkable possibilities of historical collaboration and open- access publication.'
Physics Today

'A History of the Scientific Journals is a model work of scholarship: coherent, detailed, making extensive use of citation, and featuring a massive bibliography.'
Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication