Year: Day to Day Men: March 6
Embossed in Every Song
The sixth of March in 1665 marks the publishing of the first journal in the world exclusively devoted to science. Published under the name “Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society”, this journal of natural philosophy, the equivalent of what is today science, is also the world’s longest published scientific journal.
The first issue of “Transactions”, printed in London, was edited and published by the Royal Society’s first secretary Henry Oldenberg. The Society had resolved that the council’s minutes be composed by the secretary and printed on the first Monday of every month; any tracts published were to be revised before publication and became the property of the Royal Society. Oldenberg printed the journal at his own personal expense and was allowed by the society to retain any resulting profits. He published one hundred-thirty six issues of the “Transactions” with no financial gain except the cost of rent on his house.
The “Transactions” was a well-regulated scientific journal. At its inception, regulation in the form of registering the author and date, peer review, dissemination and archiving published articles were all implemented. Oldenberg envisioned the published journal as a collective notebook between scientists to examine new ideas and discoveries. Issue number one contained articles on the improvement of optic glasses, the first report on Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, new whale fishing in the Bermudas, and chemist Robert Boyle’s article “Experimental History of Cold”.
Although many readers saw the journal as the official periodical of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenberg always claimed that “Transactions” was entirely his sole enterprise. From this understanding, Oldenberg retained the prospect of financial gain and credibility by association, and the Royal Society enjoyed communicating advances in science without being directly responsible for its content. It should be understood that at this time in England, publications were heavily regulated and the idea of a free press did not exist. The first English newspaper, The London Gazette, at its appearance in November of 1665 was still an official organ of the government.
In 1752, the Royal Society took control of the “Philosophical Transactions” and, as such, published it for the sole use and benefit of the society. The journal was financed through membership’s subscriptions and was edited by the society’s Committee of Papers. Although the society’s secretaries were responsible for management decisions such as printing and distribution, editorial control was done through the Committee of Papers’s weekly meetings. Records were kept regarding the authors, the source of the work, and the date the scientific paper was presented to the committee.
Over the years, controls on membership to the Royal Society as well as the articles published in its journal became stricter. Both a more limited membership to protect the society’s reputation and a stricter peer review of articles were established. In 1887, the “Transactions” journal was separated into two categories, physical science and biological science. Sectional committees were established to cover mathematics, botany, zoology, physiology, geology as well as chemistry and physics. From 1896, authors were expected to present manuscripts in a standardized format and style; typed papers were later required to reduce errors in and speed up the process of printing.
Today “Transactions” is an established, world-wide scientific journal with about eighty-per cent of its peer-reviewed articles coming from non-United Kingdom authors. The editing is accomplished through a large professional in-house staff with a group of research Fellows assigned for each category of science. The role of the Committee of Papers was abolished and two Fellows now act as journal editors assisted by associate editors from each category. In 1997, the “Transactions” began to be published online. Articles throughout its history have included Isaac Newton’s “New Theory about Light and Colors”, Michael Faraday’s “Experimental Relations of Gold and Other Metals to Light” and Alan Turing’s 1952 “On the Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis”, among others.