FIT TO PRINT? REFEREE REPORTS ON MATHEMATICS FOR THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY JOURNALS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON

The Royal Society was one of the first British scientific societies to establish a peer review process for papers submitted to its journals. Initially, its peer review procedures were at best informal, but by the 1830s they became a formal, required gateway for all Royal Society submissions. This paper focuses on referee reports of mathematical papers submitted to the Society from 1832 to 1900, years covered in the first 15 volumes of referee reports archived at the Royal Society Library. Besides judging the content of papers, mathematical referees during this period discussed issues of professionalization and politics in their reports.