Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Phil. Trans.) is a scientific journal

Scientific journal

In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...

published by the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

of London. It was established in 1665, making it the first journal in the world exclusively devoted to science, and it has remained in continuous publication ever since, making it the world's longest-running scientific journal. The slightly earlier Journal des sçavans
Journal des sçavans
The Journal des sçavans , founded by Denis de Sallo, was the earliest academic journal published in Europe, that from the beginning also carried a proportion of material that would not now be considered scientific, such as obituaries of famous men, church history, and legal reports...

can also lay claim to be the world's first science journal, although it contained a wide variety of non-scientific material as well. The use of the word "philosophical" in the title derives from the phrase "natural philosophy

Natural philosophy

Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...

", which was the equivalent of what would now be generically called "science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

History

The first issue, dated 6 March 1665, was edited and published by the society's first secretary, Henry Oldenburg

Henry Oldenburg

Henry Oldenburg was a German theologian known as a diplomat and a natural philosopher. He was one of the foremost intelligencers of Europe of the seventeenth century, with a network of correspondents to rival those of Fabri de Peiresc, Marin Mersenne and Ismaël Boulliau...

, some six years after the Royal Society

Royal Society

had been founded. Oldenburg published the journal at his own personal expense and seems to have entered into an agreement with the Council of the Royal Society

Royal Society

allowing him to keep any resulting profits. He was to be disappointed, however, since the journal performed poorly from a financial point of view during Oldenburg's lifetime. Over the centuries, many important scientific discoveries have been published in the Philosophical Transactions. Famous contributing authors include Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

, James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...

, Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....

, and Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

. In 1672, the journal published Newton's first paper New Theory about Light and Colours, which can be seen as the beginning of his public scientific career. The position of editor was sometimes held jointly and included William Musgrave

William Musgrave

William Musgrave , physician and antiquary. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he was a fellow from 1677 to 1692. In 1680 he spent a brief period at the University of Leiden....

(Nos 167 to 178) and Robert Plot

Robert Plot

Robert Plot was an English naturalist, first Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum....

(Nos 144 to 178).

Current publication

In 1887 the journal expanded and divided into two separate publications, one serving the Physical Sciences (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Society. It was originally published as Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, but was split into two journals in 1887. Phil....

) and the other focusing on the life sciences (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Society. The ISO abbreviation for the journal is Phil. Trans. R. Soc...

). Both journals now publish themed issues and issues resulting from papers presented at the Discussion Meetings of the Royal Society

Royal Society

. Primary research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

articles are published in the sister journals Proceedings of the Royal Society
Proceedings of the Royal Society
Proceedings of the Royal Society is the parent title of two scientific journals published by the Royal Society, whereas its initial journal, Philosophical Transactions, is now devoted to special thematic issues...

, Biology Letters
Biology Letters
Biology Letters is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It was split off as a separate journal from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences in 2005 after having been published as a supplement. Originally it was published quarterly, but from 2007 it has been...

, Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Journal of the Royal Society Interface
The Journal of the Royal Society Interface is an international scientific journal publishing reviews, research articles, and short reports from the interface between the physical sciences, including mathematics, and the life sciences...

, and Interface Focus.

External links

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