Circulation figures for Royal Society journals c1900-2010

This spreadsheet contains our best data on the actual circulation (including sales, but also, where known, non-commercial distribution, e.g. to fellows, and as gifts/exchanges to learned institutions) From 1955 (when the RS set up its own sales/marketing team) until 1989, the circulation figures were published each year in the Society's YearBook (or, Annual Report, 1980-89). Prior to that, circulation information is only rarely available (as far as we have found so far). After 1990, the Society stopped making its sales/circulation figures public (look at the graph in the second tab, and you'll guess why), but they do survive in internal reports. Tab2 focuses on the Philosophical Transactions and the Proceedings: the earliest data are from 1863, but the series is mostly post-1900. This data was the basis for Figure 3 in my 2022 article 'From philanthropy to business' https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0021 Tab3 focuses on the so-called 'other publications': the Year Book, Biographical Memoirs, and Notes & Records (data starts 1955) Tab4 includes a snapshot of circulation c.1935. This is the most detailed pre-1955 information. It comes from a document prepared by RS staff in late 1935, to provide information to printers interested in tendering for the RS printing contract. A copy of 'Sales and Distribution of Royal Society Periodicals' survives in the archive of Cambridge University Press, held at Cambridge UL, Pr578

本电子表格收录了本团队掌握的最完整的实际发行量数据，其中既包含销量，也涵盖已知的非商业发行情况——例如向英国皇家学会（Royal Society, RS）会员赠阅，以及向学术机构赠予或交换刊物。1955年（英国皇家学会成立自有销售与营销团队之年）至1989年期间，年度发行量数据均于学会的《年刊》（1980-1989年则为《年度报告》）中公开刊发。在此之前，目前我们仅能找到极为零散的发行量相关信息。1990年之后，学会不再对外公开销量与发行量数据（可查看第二个工作表中的图表，推测其停更原因），但相关数据仍留存于内部报告中。第二个工作表聚焦《哲学汇刊》（Philosophical Transactions）与《会报》（Proceedings）：最早的数据可追溯至1863年，但该系列刊物的多数数据来自1900年之后。本数据集为我2022年发表的论文"From philanthropy to business"（https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0021）中的图3提供了数据支撑。第三个工作表聚焦所谓的"其他出版物"：包括《年刊》、《传记回忆录》（Biographical Memoirs）与《笔记与纪事》（Notes & Records），相关数据始于1955年。第四个工作表收录了约1935年的发行量快照数据，这是1955年之前最为详尽的相关资料，源自1935年末英国皇家学会工作人员为向有意竞标学会印刷合同的印刷商提供参考而编制的文件。《英国皇家学会期刊销售与发行情况》的存档副本留存于剑桥大学出版社档案库（剑桥大学图书馆馆藏，档案编号Pr578）。