Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

Cover of the first volume of Phil. Trans., covering the years 1665 and 1666

The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, or Phil. Trans., is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society.

Begun in 1665, it is the oldest scientific journal printed in the English-speaking world and the second oldest in the world, after the French Journal des sçavans. It has remained in continuous publication ever since 1665, making it the world's longest running scientific journal. The use of the word "philosophical" in the title derives from the phrase "natural philosophy", which was the equivalent of what we would now generically call "science".

History

The first issue, dated 6 March 1665, was edited and published by the society's secretary, Henry Oldenburg, some six years after the Royal Society had been founded.^[1] Over the centuries, many important scientific discoveries have been published in the Philosophical Transactions. Famous contributing authors include Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Charles Darwin. 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 (Nos 167 to 178) and Robert Plot (Nos 144 to 178).^[2]

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 and the other focusing on the life sciences: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Both journals now publish themed issues and issues resulting from papers presented at the Discussion Meetings of the Royal Society. Primary research articles are published in the sister journals Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biology Letters and Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Free issues now available

All content older than 12 months for Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences or 24 months for Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences is available free online (back to 2000).

Philosophical Transactions A, cited as Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A :
All theme issues can be accessed here.

Philosophical Transactions B, cited as Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B :
All theme issues can be accessed here.

Footnotes

1. ^ History of the journal. Royal Society Publishing. Accessed 2008-12-10.
2. ^ A. J. Turner, ‘Plot, Robert (bap. 1640, d. 1696)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

See also

• Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A
• Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B
• Proceedings of the Royal Society
• Journal of the Royal Society Interface
• Biology Letters

External links

• Henry Oldenburg's copy of vol I & II of Philosophical Transactions, manuscript note on a flyleaf, a receipt signed by the Royal Society’s printer: “Rec. October 18th 1669 from Mr Oldenburgh Eighteen shillings for this voll: of Transactions by me John Martyn”.
• Philosophical Transactions (1665-1886) homepage
• Philosophical Transactions A homepage
• Philosophical Transactions B homepage
• Royal Society Publishing

Archive journals

• JSTOR ISSN 03650855 (1800-1843)
• JSTOR ISSN 03701662 (1854-1905)
• JSTOR ISSN 00804630 (1905-1934)
• JSTOR ISSN 09501193 (1905-1934)
• JSTOR ISSN 00804649 (1934-1990)
• Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 50-67 (1757-77) at the Bodleian Internet Library of Early Journals

• A visualization of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (A & B) from 1665 to 2005