Miraba's Journal: The evolution of a scientific journal

ON ELECTRIC CURRENTS INDUCED BY ROTATING MAGNETS, AND THEIR APPLICATION TO SOME PHENOMENA OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM

By Arthur Schuster, F.R.S.,
Professor of Physics at the Owens College, Manchester.

Thus opens the first research presented in Terrestrial Magnetism (shortly thereafter renamed Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity). It had one editor (L. A. Bauer) and was published by the Ryerson Physical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. Subscriptions were $2 a year, single issues being available for 50 cents. Manuscripts were accepted in English, German, and French.

Almost 112 years later, it is called the Journal of Geophysical Research. It has seven sections covered by 20 editors and is published by the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C. A personal subscription for all JGR articles published in 2008 costs $700 (online only), $1900 (print only), or $2400 (both). Manuscripts are accepted in English only.

Why am I writing about this? I have a 1908 reprint of the first volume sitting on my desk as I check the electronic files. Within a matter of weeks, every paper ever printed in the journal will be made available online.