Publication date: 3 October 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800082328
Number of illustrations: 78
A History of Scientific Journals
Publishing at the Royal Society, 1665-2015
Aileen Fyfe (Author), Noah Moxham (Author), Julie McDougall-Waters (Author), Camilla Mørk Røstvik (Author)
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
‘Essential reading to anyone interested in the present and future of scholarly publishing.’
Isis
‘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. Recommended.’
British Journal for the History of Science
‘This is a history of science, in the sense that it allows us to understand the types of scientific topics and how they were dealt with over the years, but also a history of technology, with the authors addressing the technologies used in Philosophical Transactions from 1665 to 2015, such as printing on paper or digital archiving.’
Centaurus
List of figures
List of tables
List of abbreviations
Contributor roles
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Origins Myths
Part I Invention, 1665-1750
1 The first Philosophical Transactions, 1665-1677
2 Repeated Reinventions, 1677-1696
3 Stabilising the Transactions, 1696-1752
4 The Transactions and the wider world, c.1700-1750
Part II Maturity and Institutionalisation, 1750-1820
5 For the Use and Benefit of the Society, 1750-1770
6 Sociability and Gatekeeping, 1770-1800
7 Circulating Knowledge, c.1780-1820
Part III The Professionalization of Science, 1820-1890
8 Reforms, Referees and the Proceedings, 1820-1850
9 Editing the Journals, 1850s-1870s
10 Scientific Publishing as Patronage, c.1860-1890
Part IV The Growth of Science, 1890-1950
11 The Rise of the Proceedings, 1890-1920s
12 Keeping the Publications Afloat, 1895-1930
13 Why do we Publish? 1932-1950
Part V The Business of Publishing, 1950-2015
14 Selling the Journals in the 1950s and 1960s
15 Survival in a Shrinking, Competitive Market, c.1970-1990
16 Money and Mission in the Digital Age, 1990-2015
Reflections: Learning from 350 years
Bibliography
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781800082328
Number of illustrations: 78
Publication date: 03 October 2022
PDF ISBN: 9781800082328
EPUB ISBN: 9781800082359
Hardback ISBN: 9781800082342
Paperback ISBN: 9781800082335
Aileen Fyfe (Author) 
Aileen Fyfe is Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, UK. She is a social and cultural historian of science and technology, who researches the publication and popularisation of the sciences. She is the author many articles and books, including Science and Salvation (2004), Steam-Powered Knowledge (2012), and the briefing paper Untangling Academic Publishing (2017). She is currently writing about the history of peer review and research evaluation, and the economic models underlying journal publishing.
Noah Moxham (Author)
Noah Moxham is a specialist in the histories of early modern science and communication. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in History at the University of St Andrews from 2013-17. He then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in History at the University of Kent. He is the author of several articles on the relationship between scientific publishing and scientific institutions in the seventeenth century, and co-editor of News Networks in Early Modern Europe 1450-1750 (Brill, 2016).
Julie McDougall-Waters (Author)
Julie McDougall-Waters was a postdoctoral research fellow in History at the University of St Andrews from 2013-17, working on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century book trade and intellectual history.
Camilla Mørk Røstvik (Author)
Camilla Mørk Røstvik is Associate Professor in History at University of Agder, Norway. Until Summer 2022, she was a Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Art History at the University of Aberdeen, UK. She previously held research fellowships in History and Art History at the University of St Andrews; and at the University of Leeds. Her research interests lie in the intersection of the histories of science/medicine, the history of art, and gender studies, particularly in the mid-late twentieth century. She is the author of Cash Flow: The Businesses of Menstruation (2022), and is the founder of the Wellcome Trust-funded Menstruation Network UK, and of the Scottish Government-funded project ‘The Arctic Period: Menstruation and Knowledge across Borders’.
‘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
‘A major piece of scholarship. The centuries covered, depth of archival research, use of oral histories, and production quality are excellent.’
Metascience
‘Essential reading to anyone interested in the present and future of scholarly publishing.’
Isis
‘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. Recommended.’
British Journal for the History of Science
‘This is a history of science, in the sense that it allows us to understand the types of scientific topics and how they were dealt with over the years, but also a history of technology, with the authors addressing the technologies used in Philosophical Transactions from 1665 to 2015, such as printing on paper or digital archiving.’
Centaurus
Awards for A History of Scientific Journals
Shortlisted for the 2024 BSHS Pickstone Prize. Read the announcement.
Extra resources for A History of Scientific Journals
Explore the project website (project website (including supplementary data)
https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/philosophicaltransactions/
Read an article about A History of Scientific Journals by Camilla Mørk Røstvik on the LSE Impact Blog
Read an article about A History of Scientific Journals by Aileen Fyfe on the LSE Impact Blog
Do journals need societies, and do societies need journals?
Read an article about A History of Scientific Journals by Aileen Fyfe in Recenti Progressi i Medicina
Le società scientifiche hanno bisogno delle riviste e viceversa?
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