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110-634: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society . In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the second journal in the world exclusively devoted to science, after the Journal des sçavans , and therefore also the world's longest-running scientific journal. It became an official society publication in 1752. The use of

220-485: A bibliography ). They also deal with research, and are peer reviewed. Meanwhile, trade journals are aimed at people in different fields, focusing on how people in these fields can do their jobs better. They additionally cover information related to work, and include tips and advice for improving performance, but they are not scholarly. Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as students, researchers, and professors. Their intended audience

330-439: A brief hiatus, the position of Editor was passed down through successive secretaries of the society as an unofficial responsibility and at their own expense. Robert Hooke changed the name of the journal to Philosophical Collections in 1679—a name that remained until 1682, when it changed back. The position of editor was sometimes held jointly and included William Musgrave (Nos 167 to 178) and Robert Plot (Nos 144 to 178). By

440-624: A broad spectrum of disciplines from the general sciences, as seen in journals like Science and Nature , to highly specialized fields. These journals primarily publish peer-reviewed articles, including original research , review articles , and perspectives , each serving distinct purposes within the academic landscape. The advent of electronic publishing has further expanded the reach and accessibility of scientific journals, enabling more efficient dissemination and retrieval of information, while also addressing challenges related to cost and copyright . Scientific journals not only contribute to

550-464: A copy of his restoration of Apollonius 's De Locis Planis to one of the mathematicians there. Certainly, in Bordeaux he was in contact with Beaugrand and during this time he produced important work on maxima and minima which he gave to Étienne d'Espagnet who clearly shared mathematical interests with Fermat. There he became much influenced by the work of François Viète . In 1630, he bought

660-432: A discussion of similar research. The materials and methods or experimental section provides specific details of how the research was conducted. The results and discussion section describes the outcome and implications of the research, and the conclusion section places the research in context and describes avenues for further exploration. In addition to the above, some scientific journals such as Science will include

770-643: A factorization method— Fermat's factorization method —and popularized the proof by infinite descent , which he used to prove Fermat's right triangle theorem which includes as a corollary Fermat's Last Theorem for the case n = 4. Fermat developed the two-square theorem , and the polygonal number theorem , which states that each number is a sum of three triangular numbers , four square numbers , five pentagonal numbers , and so on. Although Fermat claimed to have proven all his arithmetic theorems, few records of his proofs have survived. Many mathematicians, including Gauss , doubted several of his claims, especially given

880-423: A gradual move towards a license to publish instead. Under such a system, the publisher has permission to edit, print, and distribute the article commercially, but the authors retain the other rights themselves. Even if they retain the copyright to an article, most journals allow certain rights to their authors. These rights usually include the ability to reuse parts of the paper in the author's future work, and allow

990-467: A growing number of subscriptions from British and international institutions, including universities, industry, and government; this was at the same time as private subscriptions, outside of fellows, were non-existent. By the early 1970s, institutional subscription was the main channel of income from publication sales for the society. From 1970 to 1971, 43,760 copies of Transactions were sold, of which casual purchasers accounted for only 2070 copies. All of

1100-637: A hobby than a profession. Nevertheless, he made important contributions to analytical geometry , probability, number theory and calculus. Secrecy was common in European mathematical circles at the time. This naturally led to priority disputes with contemporaries such as Descartes and Wallis . Anders Hald writes that, "The basis of Fermat's mathematics was the classical Greek treatises combined with Vieta's new algebraic methods." Fermat's pioneering work in analytic geometry ( Methodus ad disquirendam maximam et minimam et de tangentibus linearum curvarum )

1210-415: A journal uses to determine publication can vary widely. Some journals, such as Nature , Science , PNAS , and Physical Review Letters , have a reputation of publishing articles that mark a fundamental breakthrough in their respective fields. In many fields, a formal or informal hierarchy of scientific journals exists; the most prestigious journal in a field tends to be the most selective in terms of

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1320-415: A mathematician of rare power. He was an independent inventor of analytic geometry , he contributed to the early development of calculus, he did research on the weight of the earth, and he worked on light refraction and optics. In the course of what turned out to be an extended correspondence with Blaise Pascal , he made a significant contribution to the theory of probability. But Fermat's crowning achievement

1430-415: A method ( adequality ) for determining maxima, minima, and tangents to various curves that was equivalent to differential calculus . In these works, Fermat obtained a technique for finding the centers of gravity of various plane and solid figures, which led to his further work in quadrature . Fermat was the first person known to have evaluated the integral of general power functions. With his method, he

1540-403: A money-losing proposition: it cost, on average, upwards of £300 annually to produce, of which they seldom recouped more than £150. Because two-fifths of the copies were distributed for free to the journal's natural market, sales were generally slow, and although back issues sold out gradually it would usually be ten years or more before there were fewer than 100 left of any given print run. During

1650-462: A news section where scientific developments (often involving political issues) are described. These articles are often written by science journalists and not by scientists . In addition, some journals will include an editorial section and a section for letters to the editor. While these are articles published within a journal, in general they are not regarded as scientific journal articles because they have not been peer-reviewed. Electronic publishing

1760-456: A particular group of disciplines, were initially set up in the 1830s to adjudicate the award of George IV's Royal Medals . But individual members of these committees were soon put to work reporting on and evaluating papers submitted to the Royal Society. These evaluations began to be used as the basis of recommendations to the Committee of Papers, who would then rubber-stamp decisions made by

1870-781: A review of Robert Boyle 's Experimental History of Cold ; Robert Boyle's own report of a deformed calf; "A report of a peculiar lead-ore from Germany, and the use thereof"; "Of an Hungarian Bolus, of the Same Effect with the Bolus Armenus"; "Of the New American Whale-Fishing about the Bermudas", and "A Narrative Concerning the Success of Pendulum-Watches at Sea for the Longitudes". The final article of

1980-408: A scientific article is citation of earlier work. The impact of articles and journals is often assessed by counting citations ( citation impact ). Some classes are partially devoted to the explication of classic articles, and seminar classes can consist of the presentation by each student of a classic or current paper. Schoolbooks and textbooks have been written usually only on established topics, while

2090-402: A series of letters from Oldenburg to Robert Boyle : The printed journal replaced much of Oldenburg's letter-writing to correspondents, at least on scientific matters, and as such can be seen as a labour-saving device. Oldenburg also described his journal as "one of these philosophical commonplace books", indicating his intention to produce a collective notebook between scientists. Over the years

2200-426: A year. In general, this money is used to fund the activities of the scientific societies that run such journals, or is invested in providing further scholarly resources for scientists; thus, the money remains in and benefits the scientific sphere. Despite the transition to electronic publishing, the serials crisis persists. Concerns about cost and open access have led to the creation of free-access journals such as

2310-403: Is a new area of information dissemination . One definition of electronic publishing is in the context of the scientific journal. It is the presentation of scholarly scientific results in only an electronic (non-paper) form. This is from its first write-up, or creation, to its publication or dissemination. The electronic scientific journal is specifically designed to be presented on the internet. It

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2420-528: Is best known for his Fermat's principle for light propagation and his Fermat's Last Theorem in number theory , which he described in a note at the margin of a copy of Diophantus ' Arithmetica . He was also a lawyer at the Parlement of Toulouse , France . Fermat was born in 1607 in Beaumont-de-Lomagne , France—the late 15th-century mansion where Fermat was born is now a museum. He

2530-405: Is defined as not being previously printed material adapted, or retooled, and then delivered electronically. Electronic publishing will likely continue to exist alongside paper publishing for the foreseeable future, since whilst output to a screen is important for browsing and searching, it is not well suited for extensive reading. Formats suitable both for reading on paper, and for manipulation by

2640-503: Is evidence of editorial intervention, with Banks himself or a trusted deputy proposing cuts or emendations to particular contributions. Publishing in the Philosophical Transactions carried a high degree of prestige and Banks himself attributed an attempt to unseat him, relatively early in his presidency, to the envy of authors whose papers had been rejected from the journal. Transactions continued steadily through

2750-582: Is named after him: the Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat . French sculptor Théophile Barrau made a marble statue named Hommage à Pierre Fermat as a tribute to Fermat, now at the Capitole de Toulouse . Together with René Descartes , Fermat was one of the two leading mathematicians of the first half of the 17th century. According to Peter L. Bernstein , in his 1996 book Against the Gods , Fermat "was

2860-504: Is others in the field (such as students and experts), meaning their content is more advanced and sophisticated than what is found regular publications. They have different purposes, depending on the type. Articles with original research are meant to share it with others in the field, review articles give summaries of research that has already been done, and perspective articles give researchers' views on research that their peers performed. Each article has several different sections, including

2970-736: Is therefore judged implicitly by the quality of the procedures reported and agreement with the data provided. However, some journals in the field of chemistry such as Inorganic Syntheses and Organic Syntheses require independent reproduction of the results presented as part of the review process. The inability for independent researches to reproduce published results is widespread, with 70% of researchers reporting failure to reproduce another scientist's results, including more than half who report failing to reproduce their own experiments. Sources of irreproducibility vary, including publication of falsified or misrepresented data and poor detailing of procedures. There are several types of journal article;

3080-403: Is wanted, such as physics , the role of the journal at disseminating the latest research has largely been replaced by preprint databases such as arXiv.org . Almost all such articles are eventually published in traditional journals, which still provide an important role in quality control , archiving papers, and establishing scientific credit. Many scientists and librarians have long protested

3190-662: The Old Style calendar ; equivalent to 11 March 1665 in the modern New Style calendar ) ordered that "the Philosophical Transactions, to be composed by Mr Oldenburg, be printed the first Monday of every month, if he have sufficient matter for it, and that that tract be licensed by the Council of this Society, being first revised by some Members of the same". Oldenburg published the journal at his own personal expense and seems to have entered into an agreement with

3300-584: The Public Library of Science (PLoS) family and partly open or reduced-cost journals such as the Journal of High Energy Physics . However, professional editors still have to be paid, and PLoS still relies heavily on donations from foundations to cover the majority of its operating costs; smaller journals do not often have access to such resources. Based on statistical arguments, it has been shown that electronic publishing online, and to some extent open access , both provide wider dissemination and increase

3410-624: The Royal Society (1660) and the French Academy of Sciences (1666). In 1665, the French Journal des sçavans and the English Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society began systematically publishing research results. Over a thousand, mostly ephemeral , were founded in the 18th century, and the number has increased rapidly since then. Peer review did not begin until the 1970s, and

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3520-611: The Transactions were first published online in 1997. Over the centuries, many important scientific discoveries have been published in the Philosophical Transactions . Famous contributing authors include: In July 2011 programmer Greg Maxwell released through The Pirate Bay the nearly 19,000 articles that had been published before 1923 and were therefore in the public domain in the United States , to support Aaron Swartz in his case . The articles had been digitized for

3630-532: The World Wide Web via hyperlinks that are created 'on-the-fly'. The PDF version of an article is usually seen as the version of record , but the matter is subject to some debate. Electronic counterparts of established print journals already promote and deliver rapid dissemination of peer-reviewed and edited, "published" articles. Other journals, whether spin-offs of established print journals, or created as electronic only, have come into existence promoting

3740-561: The Publishing Section; by 1990, the number had risen to twenty-two. The editorial processes were also transformed. In 1968 the Sectional Committees had been abolished (again). Instead, the secretaries, Harrie Massey (physicist) and Bernard Katz (physiologist), were each assigned a group of Fellows to act as associate editors for each series ("A" and "B") of the Transactions . The role of the Committee of Papers

3850-698: The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences ). Both journals now publish themed issues and issues resulting from papers presented at the scientific meetings of the Royal Society . Primary research articles are published in the sister journals Proceedings of the Royal Society , Biology Letters , Journal of the Royal Society Interface , Interface Focus , Open Biology and Royal Society Open Science . The first issue, published in London on 6 March 1665,

3960-427: The Royal Society and the Philosophical Transactions . The society was quick to point out that it was not officially responsible for the journal. Yet, in 1752 the society took over the Philosophical Transactions . The journal would henceforth be published "for the sole use and benefit of this Society"; it would be financially carried by the members' subscriptions; and it would be edited by the Committee of Papers. After

4070-554: The Royal Society by JSTOR for a cost of less than US$ 100,000 and public access to them was restricted through a paywall. In August 2011, users uploaded over 18,500 articles to the collections of the Internet Archive . The collection received 50,000 views per month by November 2011. In October of the same year, the Royal Society released for free the full text of all its articles prior to 1941 but denied that this decision had been influenced by Maxwell's actions. In 2017,

4180-476: The Royal Society launched a completely re-digitised version of the complete journal archive back to 1665 in high resolution and with enhanced metadata. All the out of copyright material is completely free to access without a login. The protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "The Birthmark" alludes to the older editions of the Philosophical Transactions , comparing them to the occult writings of earlier natural philosophers: Hardly less curious and imaginative were

4290-425: The Sectional Committees. Despite its flaws—it was inconsistent in its application and not free of abuses—this system remained at the heart of the society's procedures for publishing until 1847 when the Sectional Committees were dissolved. However, the practice of sending most papers out for review remained. During the 1850s, the cost of the Transactions to the society was increasing again (and would keep doing so for

4400-411: The article as long as no fee is charged. The rise of open access journals, in which the author retains the copyright but must pay a publication charge, such as the Public Library of Science family of journals, is another recent response to copyright concerns. Pierre de Fermat Pierre de Fermat ( French: [pjɛʁ də fɛʁma] ; between 31 October and 6 December 1607 – 12 January 1665)

4510-433: The articles it will select for publication, and usually will also have the highest impact factor . In some countries, journal rankings can be utilized for funding decisions and even evaluation of individual researchers, although they are poorly suited for that purpose. For scientific journals, reproducibility and replicability of the scientific results are core concepts that allow other scientists to check and reproduce

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4620-507: The author to distribute a limited number of copies. In the print format, such copies are called reprints; in the electronic format, they are called postprints . Some publishers, for example the American Physical Society , also grant the author the right to post and update the article on the author's or employer's website and on free e-print servers, to grant permission to others to use or reuse figures, and even to reprint

4730-416: The authors are unpaid and receive no compensation from the journal. However, their funding bodies may require them to publish in scientific journals. The paper is submitted to the journal office, where the editor considers the paper for appropriateness, potential scientific impact and novelty. If the journal's editor considers the paper appropriate, the paper is submitted to scholarly peer review . Depending on

4840-440: The average number of citations an article receives. Traditionally, the author of an article was required to transfer the copyright to the journal publisher. Publishers claimed this was necessary in order to protect authors' rights, and to coordinate permissions for reprints or other use. However, many authors, especially those active in the open access movement, found this unsatisfactory, and have used their influence to effect

4950-466: The cost for a print subscription, although this may reflect the number of people who will be using the license—while a print subscription is the cost for one person to receive the journal; a site-license can allow thousands of people to gain access. Publications by scholarly societies , also known as not-for-profit-publishers, usually cost less than commercial publishers, but the prices of their scientific journals are still usually several thousand dollars

5060-425: The cost of its journals were finally allayed. There had been a one-off surplus in 1932, but it was only from 1948 that the Transactions began regularly to end the year in surplus. That year, despite a three-fold increase in production costs (it was a bumper year for papers), there was a surplus of almost £400. Part of the post-war financial success of the Transactions was due to the rising subscriptions received, and

5170-399: The cost of journals, especially as they see these payments going to large for-profit publishing houses. To allow their researchers online access to journals, many universities purchase site licenses , permitting access from anywhere in the university, and, with appropriate authorization, by university-affiliated users at home or elsewhere. These may be quite expensive, sometimes much more than

5280-407: The data discussed supports the conclusion offered and the implications suggested. Novelty is also key: existing work must be appropriately considered and referenced, and new results improving on the state of the art presented. Reviewers are usually unpaid and not a part of the journal staff—instead, they should be "peers", i.e. researchers in the same field as the paper in question. The standards that

5390-582: The difficulty of some of the problems and the limited mathematical methods available to Fermat. His Last Theorem was first discovered by his son in the margin in his father's copy of an edition of Diophantus , and included the statement that the margin was too small to include the proof. It seems that he had not written to Marin Mersenne about it. It was first proven in 1994, by Sir Andrew Wiles , using techniques unavailable to Fermat. Through their correspondence in 1654, Fermat and Blaise Pascal helped lay

5500-576: The dissemination and archival of scientific knowledge but also play a critical role in the academic and research careers of scientists. They are instrumental in keeping researchers informed about the latest developments in their field, supporting the integrity of research through reproducibility and replicability, and influencing the direction of future research endeavors. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, with one estimate from 2012 indicating that there were 28,100 that were active, and many more have been published at various points in

5610-552: The early volumes of the Transactions of the Royal Society, in which the members, knowing little of the limits of natural possibility, were continually recording wonders or proposing methods whereby wonders might be wrought. The journal is also mentioned by the narrator in Chapter 6 of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells Had I been a literary man I might, perhaps, have moralised upon the futility of all ambition. But as it was,

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5720-419: The editing of the Transactions was emphasized by the re-establishment of the Sectional Committees. The six sectional committees covered mathematics , botany , zoology , physiology , geology, and (together) chemistry and physics , and were composed of Fellows of the society with relevant expertise. The Sectional Committees took on the task of managing the refereeing process after papers had been read before

5830-491: The exact terminology and definitions vary by field and specific journal, but often include: The formats of journal articles vary, but many follow the general IMRAD scheme recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors . Such articles begin with an abstract , which is a one-to-four-paragraph summary of the paper. The introduction describes the background for the research including

5940-438: The experiment or calculation to verify the results, or so that they could evaluate whatever the research article's findings were. Each such journal article also becomes part of the permanent scientific record. Articles in scientific journals can be used in research and higher education. Scientific articles allow researchers to keep up to date with the developments of their field and direct their own research. An essential part of

6050-452: The field and advanced students. In some subjects this is inevitable given the nature of the content. Usually, rigorous rules of scientific writing are enforced by the editors; however, these rules may vary from journal to journal, especially between journals from different publishers. Articles are usually either original articles reporting completely new results or reviews of current literature. There are also scientific publications that bridge

6160-419: The field, journal and paper, the paper is sent to 1–3 reviewers for evaluation before they can be granted permission to publish. Reviewers are expected to check the paper for soundness of its scientific argument, including whether the author(s) are sufficiently acquainted with recent relevant research that bears on their study, whether the data was collected or considered appropriately and reproducibly, and whether

6270-407: The final decision was made by the Committee of Papers. During Stokes' time, authors were given the opportunity to discuss their paper at length with him before, during and after its official submission to the Committee of Papers. In 1887, the Transactions split into series "A" and "B", dealing with the physical and biological sciences respectively. In 1897, the model of collective responsibility for

6380-399: The following: Scientific journal articles are not usually read casually like a person would read a magazine. Whereas magazine articles can be read in a more casual manner, reading an article in a scientific periodical requires a lot more concentration. Reading an article in a scientific journal usually entails first reading the title, to see if it was related to the desired topic. If it was,

6490-472: The form of the contributions to the journal evolved as part of the changing expectations for persuasive scientific claims and the changing roles of scientists with respect to publication. Issue 1 contained such articles as: an account of the improvement of optic glasses; the first report on the Great Red Spot of Jupiter ; a prediction on the motion of a recent comet (probably an Oort cloud object );

6600-550: The foundation for the theory of probability. From this brief but productive collaboration on the problem of points , they are now regarded as joint founders of probability theory . Fermat is credited with carrying out the first-ever rigorous probability calculation. In it, he was asked by a professional gambler why if he bet on rolling at least one six in four throws of a die he won in the long term, whereas betting on throwing at least one double-six in 24 throws of two dice resulted in his losing. Fermat showed mathematically why this

6710-502: The gap between articles and books by publishing thematic volumes of chapters from different authors. Many journals have a regional focus, specializing in publishing papers from a particular geographic region, like African Invertebrates . In the 17th century, scientists wrote letters to each other, and included scientific ideas with them. Then, in the mid-17th century, scientists began to hold meetings and share their scientific ideas. Eventually, they led to starting organizations, such as

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6820-547: The issue concerned "The Character, Lately Published beyond the Seas, of an Eminent Person, not Long Since Dead at Tholouse, Where He Was a Councellor of Parliament". The eminent person in question was Pierre de Fermat , although the issue failed to mention his last theorem . In the first year of the journal, also the formula for determining the year of the Julian Period , given its character involving three four-digit numbers,

6930-435: The journal was 1000 copies. Around 500 of these went to the fellowship, in return for their membership dues, and since authors now received up to 150 off-prints for free, to circulate through their personal networks, the demand for the Transactions through the book trade must have been limited. The concerns with cost eventually led to a change in the printer in 1877 from Taylor & Francis to Harrison & Sons —the latter

7040-419: The latest research and more obscure topics are only accessible through scientific articles. In a scientific research group or academic department it is usual for the content of current scientific journals to be discussed in journal clubs . Public funding bodies often require the results to be published in scientific journals. Academic credentials for promotion into academic ranks are established in large part by

7150-477: The mechanisms for it were established in 1752. By the mid-nineteenth century, getting a paper published in the Transactions still relied on the paper first being read by a Fellow. Many papers were sent immediately for printing in abstract form in Proceedings of the Royal Society . But those which were being considered for printing in full in Transactions were usually sent to two referees for comment before

7260-457: The members could, if they desired, consult the original paper in full. Once the decision to print had been taken, the paper appeared in the volume for that year. It would feature the author's name, the name of the Fellow who had communicated the paper to the society, and the date on which it was read. The Royal Society covered paper, engraving and printing costs. The society found the journal to be

7370-415: The message to their overseas colleagues; by the early 2000s, the proportion of non-UK authors had risen to around a half; and by 2017 it had passed 80%. As the twentieth century came to a close, the editing of the Transactions and the society's other journals became more professional with the employment of a growing in-house staff of editors, designers and marketers. In 1968 there were about eleven staff in

7480-441: The mid-1850s, the Philosophical Transactions was seen as a drain on the society's finances and the treasurer, Edward Sabine , urged the Committee of Papers to restrict the length and number of papers published in the journal. In 1852, for example, the amount expended on the Transactions was £1094, but only £276 of this was offset by sales income. Sabine felt this was more than the society could comfortably sustain. The print run of

7590-576: The mid-eighteenth century, the most notable editors, besides Oldenburg, were Hans Sloane , James Jurin and Cromwell Mortimer . In virtually all cases the journal was edited by the serving secretary of the society (and occasionally by both secretaries working in tandem). These editor-secretaries carried the financial burden of publishing the Philosophical Transactions . By the early 1750s, the Philosophical Transactions had come under attack, most prominently by John Hill , an actor, apothecary, and naturalist. Hill published three works in two years, ridiculing

7700-402: The modern theory of such curves. It naturally falls into two parts; the first one ... may conveniently be termed a method of ascent, in contrast with the descent which is rightly regarded as Fermat's own." Regarding Fermat's use of ascent, Weil continued: "The novelty consisted in the vastly extended use which Fermat made of it, giving him at least a partial equivalent of what we would obtain by

7810-450: The most important or most-used titles. There is usually a delay of several months after an article is written before it is published in a journal, making paper journals not an ideal format for announcing the latest research. Many journals now publish the final papers in their electronic version as soon as they are ready, without waiting for the assembly of a complete issue, as is necessary with paper. In many fields in which even greater speed

7920-467: The next step is to read the abstract (or summary or conclusion, if the abstract is missing), to see if the article is worth reading. Then, if it seems like reading it would be worthwhile, the reader would then read the whole article. Publishing research results is an essential part of helping science to advance. If scientists are describing experiments or calculations, they should also explain how they did them so that an independent researcher could repeat

8030-423: The number and impact of scientific articles published. Many doctoral programs allow for thesis by publication , where the candidate is required to publish a certain number of scientific articles. Articles tend to be highly technical, representing the latest theoretical research and experimental results in the field of science covered by the journal. They are often incomprehensible to anyone except for researchers in

8140-482: The number of illustrations or tables or, indeed, the overall length of the paper, as a condition of acceptance. It was hoped that this policy would reduce the still-rising costs of production, which had reached £1747 in 1906; but the effect appears to have been negligible, and the cost estimates ceased to be routine practice after 1914. It was only after the Second World War that the society's concerns about

8250-917: The office of a councilor at the Parlement de Toulouse , one of the High Courts of Judicature in France, and was sworn in by the Grand Chambre in May 1631. He held this office for the rest of his life. Fermat thereby became entitled to change his name from Pierre Fermat to Pierre de Fermat. On 1 June 1631, Fermat married Louise de Long, a fourth cousin of his mother Claire de Fermat (née de Long). The Fermats had eight children, five of whom survived to adulthood: Clément-Samuel, Jean, Claire, Catherine, and Louise. Fluent in six languages ( French , Latin , Occitan , classical Greek , Italian and Spanish ), Fermat

8360-663: The past (see list of scientific journals ) . Most journals are highly specialized, although some of the oldest journals such as Science and Nature publish articles and scientific papers across a wide range of scientific fields. Scientific journals contain articles that have been peer reviewed , in an attempt to ensure that articles meet the journal's standards of quality and scientific validity . Although scientific journals are superficially similar to professional magazines (or trade journals), they are actually quite different. Among other things, scientific journals' papers' authors are experts who must cite everything (and have

8470-520: The path of shortest time " now known as the principle of least time . For this, Fermat is recognized as a key figure in the historical development of the fundamental principle of least action in physics. The terms Fermat's principle and Fermat functional were named in recognition of this role. Pierre de Fermat died on January 12, 1665, at Castres , in the present-day department of Tarn . The oldest and most prestigious high school in Toulouse

8580-509: The presidency of Joseph Banks the work of the Committee of Papers continued fairly efficiently, with the President himself in frequent attendance. There was a number of ways in which the president and secretaries could bypass or subvert the Royal Society's publishing procedures. Papers could be prevented from reaching the committee by not allowing them to be read in the first place. Also—though papers were rarely subjected to formal review—there

8690-772: The rapid dissemination capability, and availability, on the Internet. In tandem with this is the speeding up of peer review, copyediting, page makeup, and other steps in the process to support rapid dissemination. Other improvements, benefits and unique values of electronically publishing the scientific journal are easy availability of supplementary materials (data, graphics and video), lower cost, and availability to more people, especially scientists from non-developed countries. Hence, research results from more developed nations are becoming more accessible to scientists from non-developed countries. Moreover, electronic publishing of scientific journals has been accomplished without compromising

8800-462: The reader's computer will need to be integrated. Many journals are electronically available in formats readable on screen via web browsers , as well as in portable document format PDF , suitable for printing and storing on a local desktop or laptop computer. New tools such as JATS and Utopia Documents provide a 'bridge' to the 'web-versions' in that they connect the content in PDF versions directly to

8910-513: The reader. By reporting ongoing and often unfinished scientific work that may otherwise have not been reported, the journal had a central function of being a scientific news service. At the time of Philosophical Transactions ' foundation, print was heavily regulated, and there was no such thing as a free press. In fact, the first English newspaper, The London Gazette (which was an official organ of government and therefore seen as sanitized), did not appear until after Philosophical Transactions in

9020-401: The requirement to have papers communicated by Fellows was dropped. This did not happen until 1990. There was also a suggestion to create a "C" journal for molecular sciences to attract more authors in that area, but the idea never materialized. The conclusion in 1973 was a general appeal to encourage more British scientists (whether Fellows or not) to publish papers with the society and to pass on

9130-462: The rest of the century); illustrations were always the largest expense. Illustrations had been a natural and essential aspect of the scientific periodical since the later seventeenth century. Engravings (cut into metal plates) were used for detailed illustrations, particularly where realism was required; while wood cuts (and, from the early nineteenth century, wood-engravings) were used for diagrams, as they could be easily combined with letterpress. By

9240-475: The results under the same conditions described in the paper or at least similar conditions and produce similar results with similar measurements of the same measurand or carried out under changed conditions of measurement. While the ability to reproduce the results based only on details included in the article is expected, verification of reproducibility by a third party is not generally required for publication. The reproducibility of results presented in an article

9350-525: The same year. Oldenburg's compulsive letter writing to foreign correspondents led to him being suspected of being a spy for the Dutch and interned in the Tower of London in 1667. A rival took the opportunity to publish a pirate issue of Philosophical Transactions , with the pretense of it being Issue 27. Oldenburg repudiated the issue by publishing the real 27 upon his release. Upon Oldenburg's death, following

9460-463: The secretary in the 1890s, Arthur Rucker , no longer coordinated the refereeing of papers, nor did he generally correspond extensively with authors about their papers as Stokes had done. However, he continued to be the first port of call for authors submitting papers. Authors were increasingly expected to submit manuscripts in a standardized format and style. From 1896, they were encouraged to submit typed papers on foolscap-folio-sized paper to lighten

9570-646: The society's council 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 his lifetime, just about covering the rent on his house in Piccadilly. Oldenburg put out 136 issues of the Transactions before his death in 1677. The familiar functions of the scientific journal—registration (date stamping and provenance), certification ( peer review ), dissemination, and archiving—were introduced at inception by Philosophical Transactions . The beginnings of these ideas can be traced in

9680-507: The society's publications now had a substantial international circulation; in 1973, for example, just 11% of institutional subscriptions were from the United Kingdom; 50% were from the United States. Contributions, however, were still mostly from British authors: 69% of Royal Society authors were from the United Kingdom in 1974. A Publications Policy Committee suggested that more overseas scientists could be encouraged to submit papers if

9790-438: The society. It has been argued that Oldenburg benefitted from this ambiguity, retaining both real and perceived independence (giving the publication an air of authenticity) and the prospect of monetary gain, while simultaneously enjoying the credibility afforded by the association. The society also enjoyed the benefits of ambiguity: it was able to communicate advances in natural philosophy, undertaken largely in its own name, without

9900-416: The society. Referees were usually Fellows, except in a small number of cases where the topic was beyond the knowledge of the fellowship (or at least, of those willing to referee). The Sectional Committees communicated referee reports to authors; and sent reports to the Committee of Papers for final sanction. The Sectional Committees were intended to reduce the burden on the secretaries and Council. Consequently,

10010-411: The standards of the refereed, peer review process. One form is the online equivalent of the conventional paper journal. By 2006, almost all scientific journals have, while retaining their peer-review process, established electronic versions; a number have moved entirely to electronic publication. In a similar manner, most academic libraries buy the electronic version and purchase a paper copy only for

10120-408: The takeover of the journal by the Royal Society, management decisions including negotiating with printers and booksellers, were still the task of one of the secretaries—but editorial control was exercised through the Committee of Papers. The committee mostly based its judgements on which papers to publish and which to decline on the 300 to 500-word abstracts of papers read during its weekly meetings. But

10230-404: The thing that struck me with keenest force was the enormous waste of labour to which this sombre wilderness of rotting paper testified. At the time I will confess that I thought chiefly of the Philosophical Transactions and my own seventeen papers upon physical optics. Scientific journal As of 2012 , it is estimated that over 28,100 active scientific journals are in publication, covering

10340-502: The turn of the century and into the 1820s. In the late 1820s and early 1830s, a movement to reform the Royal Society rose. The reformers felt that the scientific character of the society had been undermined by the admission of too many gentleman dilettantes under Banks. In proposing a more limited membership, to protect the society's reputation, they also argued for systematic, expert evaluation of papers for Transactions by named referees. Sectional Committees, each with responsibility for

10450-522: The word philosophical in the title refers to natural philosophy , which was the equivalent of what would now be generally called science . In 1887 the journal expanded and divided into two separate publications, one serving the physical sciences ( Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences ) and the other focusing on the life sciences ( Philosophical Transactions of

10560-490: The work of getting papers ready for printing and to reduce the chance of error in the process. A publishable paper now had to present its information in an appropriate manner, as well as being of remarkable scientific interest. For a brief period between 1907 and 1914, authors were under even more pressure to conform to the society's expectations, due to a decision to discuss cost estimates of candidate papers alongside referees' reports. The committees could require authors to reduce

10670-487: The worry that it was directly responsible for its content. In the aftermath of the Interregnum , the potential for censorship was very real. Certainly the tone of the early volumes was set by Oldenburg, who often related things he was told by his contacts, translated letters and manuscripts from other languages, and reviewed books, always being sure to indicate the provenance of his material and even to use this to impress

10780-486: Was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus , including his technique of adequality . In particular, he is recognized for his discovery of an original method of finding the greatest and the smallest ordinates of curved lines, which is analogous to that of differential calculus , then unknown, and his research into number theory . He made notable contributions to analytic geometry , probability , and optics . He

10890-490: Was a larger commercial printer, able to offer the society a more financially viable contract, although it was less experienced in printing scientific works. While expenditure was a worry for the treasurer, as secretary (from 1854), George Gabriel Stokes was preoccupied with the actual content of the Transactions and his extensive correspondence with authors over his thirty-one-year term. He took up most of his time beyond his duties as Lucasian Professor at Cambridge . Stokes

11000-447: Was able to reduce this evaluation to the sum of geometric series . The resulting formula was helpful to Newton , and then Leibniz , when they independently developed the fundamental theorem of calculus . In number theory, Fermat studied Pell's equation , perfect numbers , amicable numbers and what would later become Fermat numbers . It was while researching perfect numbers that he discovered Fermat's little theorem . He invented

11110-483: Was abolished in 1989 and since 1990 two Fellows (rather than the secretaries) have acted as the editors with assistance from associate editors . The editors serve on the Publishing Board, established in 1997 to monitor publishing and report to the council. In the 1990s, as these changes to the publishing and editorial teams were implemented, the Publishing Section acquired its first computer for administration;

11220-491: Was circulated in manuscript form in 1636 (based on results achieved in 1629), predating the publication of Descartes' La géométrie (1637), which exploited the work. This manuscript was published posthumously in 1679 in Varia opera mathematica , as Ad Locos Planos et Solidos Isagoge ( Introduction to Plane and Solid Loci ). In Methodus ad disquirendam maximam et minimam et de tangentibus linearum curvarum , Fermat developed

11330-544: Was edited and published by the Royal Society 's first secretary, Henry Oldenburg , four-and-a-half years after the society was founded. The full title of the journal, as given by Oldenburg, was " Philosophical Transactions, Giving some Accompt [ sic ] of the present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours of the Ingenious in many considerable parts of the World ". The society's council minutes dated 1 March 1664 (in

11440-573: Was from Gascony , where his father, Dominique Fermat, was a wealthy leather merchant and served three one-year terms as one of the four consuls of Beaumont-de-Lomagne. His mother was Claire de Long. Pierre had one brother and two sisters and was almost certainly brought up in the town of his birth. He attended the University of Orléans from 1623 and received a bachelor in civil law in 1626, before moving to Bordeaux . In Bordeaux, he began his first serious mathematical researches, and in 1629 he gave

11550-406: Was in the theory of numbers." Regarding Fermat's work in analysis, Isaac Newton wrote that his own early ideas about calculus came directly from "Fermat's way of drawing tangents." Of Fermat's number theoretic work, the 20th-century mathematician André Weil wrote that: "what we possess of his methods for dealing with curves of genus 1 is remarkably coherent; it is still the foundation for

11660-401: Was paramount in establishing a more formalized refereeing process at the Royal Society. It was not until Stokes' presidency ended in 1890 that his influence over the journal diminished. The introduction of fixed terms for society officers precluded subsequent editors from taking on Stokes' mantle and meant that the society operated its editorial practices more collectively than it had done since

11770-412: Was praised for his written verse in several languages and his advice was eagerly sought regarding the emendation of Greek texts. He communicated most of his work in letters to friends, often with little or no proof of his theorems. In some of these letters to his friends, he explored many of the fundamental ideas of calculus before Newton or Leibniz . Fermat was a trained lawyer making mathematics more of

11880-399: Was published by Jacques de Billy . Oldenburg referred to himself as the "compiler" and sometimes "Author" of the Transactions , and always claimed that the journal was entirely his sole enterprise—although with the society's imprimatur and containing reports on experiments carried out and initially communicated by of many of its Fellows, many readers saw the journal as an official organ of

11990-407: Was seen as a way of enabling researchers who were not as well-known to have their papers published in journals that were more prestigious. Though it was originally done by mailing copies of papers to reviewers, it is now done online. The authors of scientific articles are active researchers instead of journalists; typically, a graduate student or a researcher writes a paper with a professor. As such,

12100-413: Was the case. The first variational principle in physics was articulated by Euclid in his Catoptrica . It says that, for the path of light reflecting from a mirror, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection . Hero of Alexandria later showed that this path gave the shortest length and the least time. Fermat refined and generalized this to "light travels between two given points along

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