Scientific journals began as a Paris review of books and court rulings
Before journals, scientists shared ideas by private letter. In 1664 Denis de Sallo, writing under a pseudonym, and printer Jean Cusson won a royal privilege from Louis XIV to publish the Journal des sçavans. Its first issue, in January 1665, reviewed European books, reported discoveries and even covered the verdicts of church and secular courts.
The concept belonged to François Eudes de Mézeray, who in 1663 imagined a periodical keeping people informed about the Republic of Letters but never launched it. London moved quickly after Paris: the Royal Society started Philosophical Transactions in March 1665, now regarded as the first scientific journal, and the French Academy of Sciences followed with its Mémoires in 1666. Henry Oldenburg, the first editor in London, described the aim as letting researchers share knowledge in pursuit of improving understanding of nature.
Growth proved startlingly steady. By 1800 nearly 500 such periodicals had appeared, 304 of them German, though many German titles folded within five years. Estimates put the count at 10,000 by 1950 and 71,000 by 1987, and one analysis found average growth of 3.46% a year between 1800 and 2003. Around 28,100 were active in 2012.
Scrutiny by outside experts arrived early in some places. The Medical Society of Edinburgh launched Medical Essays and Observations in 1733 as the first fully peer-reviewed journal. Today editors either reject a submission outright or send it to typically two or more anonymous referees, whose reports lead to rejection, a request for revision, or acceptance, a process lasting weeks or months. Most papers follow a set pattern of introduction, methods, results and discussion, and a reader usually checks the title and abstract before committing to the rest.
Pressure to publish is intense, because promotion depends heavily on how many papers a researcher produces and how influential they are, the culture called publish or perish. Newer formats keep appearing: Postmodern Culture went online-only in 1990, arXiv began sharing preprints in 1991, and PLOS One became the first megajournal in 2006.
Source: Academic journal
