Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences

Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences (English: Proceedings of the Academy of sciences), or simply Comptes rendus, is a French scientific journal which has been published since 1666. It is the proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences. It is currently split into seven sections, published on behalf of the Academy by Elsevier: Mathématique, Mécanique, Physique, Geoscience, Palevol, Chimie, and Biologies.

Naming history

The journal has had a complicated naming history, with several name changes and splits over the years.

1666–1965

Comptes rendus was initially established in 1835 as Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences. It began as an alternative publication pathway for more prompt publication than the Mémoires de l'Academie des Sciences, which had been published since 1666. The Mémoires, which continued to be published alongside the Comptes rendus throughout the nineteenth century, had a publication cycle which resulted in memoirs being published years after they had been presented to the Academy. Some academicians continued to prefer publishing in the Mémoires because of the strict page limits in the Comptes rendus.^[1]

1966–1980

After 1965 this title was split into five sections:

• Série A (Sciences mathématiques) – mathematics
• Série B (Sciences physiques) – physics and geosciences
• Série C (Sciences chimiques) – chemistry
• Série D (Sciences naturelles) – life sciences
• Vie académique – academy notices and miscellanea

Series A and B were published together in one volume except in 1974.

1980–2001

The subject areas of the series were rearranged as follows:

• Série I (Sciences mathématiques) – mathematics
• Série IIA (Sciences de la Terre et des planètes) – geo- and astrosciences
• Série IIB – see below
• Série IIC (Sciences chimiques) – chemistry
• Série III (Sciences de la Vie) – life sciences
• Série IV (Physique et Astrophysique) – physics and astrophysics

The physical and chemical sciences series were reshuffled between 1989 and 2000, creating considerable confusion. Series IIB united the physical and chemical sciences (as Mécanique, Physique, Astrophysique et Chimie) until the July 1989 issue, with which chemistry was separated in Series IIC. Series IV was created in March, 2000, but for two more months, Series IIB was published as Mécanique, Physique et Astrophysique. From May 2000 on, Series IIB was renamed Mécanique and limited to (applied) mechanics, as opposed to Series IV. Series IIC and IV started with issue number 1, the others continued their issue numbers (which by then had reached the 320s).

After 2001

The present naming and subject assignment was established from 2002 on:

• Biologies – life sciences except paleontology and evolutionary biology. Continues in part Series IIC (biochemistry) and III.
• Chimie – chemistry. Continues in part Series IIC.
• Geoscience – geosciences. Continues in part Series IIA.
• Mathématique – mathematics. Continues Series I.
• Mécanique – mechanics. Continues Series IIB.
• Palevol – paleontology and evolutionary biology. Continues in part Series IIA and III.
• Physique – topical issues in physics (mainly optics, astrophysics and particle physics). Continues Series IV.

References

External links

• "Comptes Rendus" (in French). French Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 August 2015. 
• Scholarly Societies project: French Academy of Sciences page; provides information on naming and publication history up to 1980, as well as on previous journals of the Academy. Retrieved 2006-DEC-10.
• Bibliothèque nationale de France: Catalog record and full-text scans of Comptes rendus. Retrieved 2009-JUN-22.
• Gallica-Math. Scans from 1835 to 1930. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
• ScienceDirect entries:
  • Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences – Series III – Sciences de la Vie, 1997–2001.
  • Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences – Series IIC – Chemistry, 1998–2001.
  • Comptes Rendus Biologies, 2002–2012.
  • Comptes Rendus Chimie, 2002–2012.
  • Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2002–2012.