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As the longest-running scientific journal in the world, having been founded in 1665 by Henry Oldenburg, Philosophical Transactions A is now moving into its 382nd Volume. Although a lot has changed in academic publishing since Phil Trans A started publishing theme issues in the 1990s, the journal continues to publish high-quality issues guest edited by leading scientists across the physical sciences. In this blog, we look back on the top papers and theme issues published in 2023.

Guest Editor, Dr Federico Holik, introduces us to his Philosophical Transactions A theme issue which explores the concepts of identity and indistinguishability in science.

Launched in 1665, Philosophical Transactions is the longest-running scientific journal in the world. Since then, a lot has changed in scientific publishing, but the Royal Society still strives to maintain integrity and trust in the research it publishes. 91TV Publishing Editorial team explains how.

Guest Editor, Dr Yasmin Andrew, introduces us to her Philosophical Transactions A theme issue which explores the future challenges and prospects for magnetic fusion.

Guest editor Professor Richard Fenner discusses how our cities can respond to a rapidly escalating threat.

Now that we have entered a new decade, Commissioning Editor, Alice Power, looks back on a great year for one of our oldest journals.

To celebrate 350 years of scientific publishing, we are inviting our readers to tell us about their favourite papers from the Royal Society archive. Today Sebastien Guenneau, Director of Research at CNRS and member of the Editorial Board of Proceedings A, tells us about a very recent paper that builds on an exciting idea.

To celebrate 350 years of scientific publishing, we are inviting our readers to tell us about their favourite papers from the Royal Society archive. Today Visakh Vaikuntanathan, a final year doctoral candidate in the department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, tells us about two highlights from the archive.

The latest issue of Philosophical Transactions A looks at the emerging field of heterotic computing.

Professor John Knott FRS revisits some of his favourite papers from the field of fracture mechanics.

Mike Glazer is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and Visiting Professor at the University of Warwick. For the special issue of Philosophical Transactions A celebrating the 350th anniversary of the journal, he has written a commentary on a paper by one of the first female Fellows of the Royal Society, Kathleen Lonsdale, on ‘Divergent beam X-ray photography of crystals’ (1947). Here he answers a few of our questions.

Brian Launder is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Manchester. For the special issue of Philosophical Transactions A celebrating the 350th anniversary of the journal, he has written a commentary on one of the highlights from our archive, Osborne Reynolds’ 1895 paper ‘On the dynamical theory of incompressible viscous fluids and the determination of the criterion’.