World’s oldest scientific journal is focus of new exhibition | News | Times Higher Education

"Philosophical Transactions was established in 1665 and, after a period when it was privately run by successive secretaries, formally taken over by the Royal Society in 1752.  That means, said Aileen Fyfe, reader in history at the University of St Andrews, that it has not only 'the longest publication history' of any scientific journal but 'the archive to back it up' – including, for example, more than 6,000 referees’ reports from the 19th century. This enables us to trace 'the back history of today’s debates on open access, peer review and whether such journals should be profit-making', she said. Dr Fyfe is the principal investigator on a research project titled 'Publishing the Philosophical Transactions', funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She is also the lead curator of the society’s new public exhibition, 'The Philosophical Transactions: 350 years of publishing at the Royal Society (1665-2015)', which opened on 2 December ..."