From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 (original article: http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/6/69-80/3075). 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.

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

Notes

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

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

From Wikisource

• Volume 1 (1665)
• Volume 2
• Volume 3
• Volume 4
• Volume 5
• Volume 6
• Volume 7
• Volume 8
• Volume 9
• Volume 10
• Volume 11
• Volume 12
• Volume 13
• Volume 14
• Volume 15
• Volume 16
• Volume 17
• Volume 18
• Volume 19
• Volume 20
• Volume 21
• Volume 22
• Volume 23
• Volume 24
• Volume 25
• Volume 26
• Volume 27
• Volume 28
• Volume 29
• Volume 30
• Volume 31
• Volume 32
• Volume 33
• Volume 34
• Volume 35
• Volume 36
• Volume 37
• Volume 38
• Volume 39
• Volume 40
• Volume 41
• Volume 42
• Volume 43
• Volume 44
• Volume 45
• Volume 46
• Volume 47
• Volume 48
• Volume 49
• Volume 50
• Volume 51
• Volume 52
• Volume 53
• Volume 54
• Volume 55
• Volume 56
• Volume 57
• Volume 58
• Volume 59
• Volume 60
• Volume 61
• Volume 62
• Volume 63
• Volume 64
• Volume 65
• Volume 66
• Volume 67
• Volume 68
• Volume 69
• Volume 70
• Volume 71
• Volume 72
• Volume 73
• Volume 74
• Volume 75
• Volume 76
• Volume 77
• Volume 78
• Volume 79
• Volume 80
• Volume 81
• Volume 82
• Volume 83
• Volume 84
• Volume 85
• Volume 86
• Volume 87
• Volume 88
• Volume 89
• Volume 90
• Volume 91
• Volume 92
• Volume 93
• Volume 94
• Volume 95
• Volume 96
• Volume 97
• Volume 98
• Volume 99
• Volume 100
• Volume 101
• Volume 102
• Volume 103
• Volume 104
• Volume 105
• Volume 106
• Volume 107
• Volume 108
• Volume 109
• Volume 110
• Volume 111
• Volume 112
• Volume 113
• Volume 114
• Volume 115
• Volume 116
• Volume 117
• Volume 118
• Volume 119
• Volume 120
• Volume 121
• Volume 122
• Volume 123
• Volume 124
• Volume 125
• Volume 126
• Volume 127
• Volume 128
• Volume 129
• Volume 130
• Volume 131
• Volume 132
• Volume 133
• Volume 134
• Volume 135
• Volume 136
• Volume 137
• Volume 138
• Volume 139
• Volume 140
• Volume 141
• Volume 142
• Volume 143
• Volume 144
• Volume 145
• Volume 146
• Volume 147
• Volume 148
• Volume 149
• Volume 150
• Volume 151
• Volume 152
• Volume 153
• Volume 154
• Volume 155
• Volume 156
• Volume 157
• Volume 158
• Volume 159
• Volume 160
• Volume 161
• Volume 162
• Volume 163
• Volume 164
• Volume 165
• Volume 166
• Volume 167
• Volume 168
• Volume 169
• Volume 170
• Volume 171
• Volume 172
• Volume 173
• Volume 174
• Volume 175
• Volume 176
• Volume 177 (1886)

From 1887, the Philosophical Transactions was split into two, Philosophical Transactions A and Philosophical Transactions B.