The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of statistics. It comprises three series and is published by Oxford University Press for the Royal Statistical Society.
History
The Statistical Society of London was founded in 1834, but would not begin producing a journal for four years. From 1834 to 1837, members of the society would read the results of their studies to the other members, and some details were recorded in the proceedings. The first study reported to the society in 1834 was a simple survey of the occupations of people in Manchester, England. Conducted by going door-to-door and inquiring, the study revealed that the most common profession was mill-hands, followed closely by weavers.
When founded, the membership of the Statistical Society of London overlapped almost completely with the statistical section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1837 a volume of Transactions of the Statistical Society of London were written, and in May 1838 the society began its journal. The first editor-in-chief of the journal was Rawson W. Rawson. In the early days of the society and the journal, there was dispute over whether or not opinions should be expressed, or merely the numbers. The symbol of the society was a wheatsheaf, representing a bundle of facts, and the motto Aliis exterendum, Latin for "to be threshed out by others." Many early members chafed under this prohibition, and in 1857 the motto was dropped.
From 1838 to 1886, the journal was published as the Journal of the Statistical Society of London (). In 1887 it was renamed the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society () when the society was granted a Royal Charter.
On its centenary in 1934, the society inaugurated a Supplement to the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society to publish work on industrial and agricultural applications.J. Aldrich (2010) Mathematics in the London/Royal Statistical Society 1834-1934, Electronic Journ@l for History of Probability and Statistics, 6, (1). In 1948 the society reorganised its journals and the main journal became the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (General) () and the supplement became Series B (Statistical Methodology). In 1988, Series A changed its name to Series A (Statistics in Society).
In 1952, the society founded Applied Statistics of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society which became Series C (Applied Statistics). After merging with the Institute of Statisticians in 1993, the society published Series D (The Statistician) (), but this journal was closed in 2003, to be replaced by Significance.
Discussion papers Traditionally papers were presented at ordinary meetings of the society and those present, whether fellows or not, were invited to comment on the presentation. The paper and subsequent discussion would then be published in the journal. This followed a format used by other scientific societies of the time, such as the Royal Society. This practice continues although papers are selected for reading and go through peer review before being presented. It is considered a significant recognition to be invited to present a paper at an ordinary meeting of the society. This selection is currently done by the research section of the society for Series B and by an appointed editor for Series A&C. Papers are selected to be of importance and wide interest in terms of application or applicability.
Any person is invited to attend discussion meetings and contribute to the discussion although they are limited to 5 minutes speaking time. Following the formal presentation of the paper, two speakers are invited to comment by prior arrangement. Formally they are there to propose and second the 'vote of thanks' and would have respectively praised and criticised the presentation. Contributions to the discussion are not peer reviewed but are limited to 400 words in the journal.
Current series As of 2009, three series are published under this general title.
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (Statistics in Society) Statistics in Society () is published quarterly. Its 2021 impact factor is 2.175. (accessed 6 September 2022)
Past and current editors:
1987–1990: Harvey Goldstein 1989–1992: Sheila Gore 1991–1994: Tim Holt 1993–1996: Simon Thompson 1995–1998: Ian Plewis 1997–2000: Gillian Raab 1999–2001: Clive Payne 2001–2004: Nicola Best 2002–2005: Peter Lynn 2004–2004: John Haigh 2005–2008: Geert Verbeke 2006–2010: Antony Fielding 2009–2012: Simon Day 2011–2014: Arnaud Chevalier 2013–2016: Linda Sharples 2015–2018: Harvey Goldstein 2017–2020: James Carpenter 2019–2022: Jouni Kuha 2021–2024: Bianca de Stavola 2023–2026: Mike Elliott 2025–2028: Nikos Tzavidis
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Statistical Methodology) Statistical Methodology () is published five times a year. Its 2021 impact factor is 4.933.Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Statistical Methodology) (accessed 6 September 2022)
Starting in 1934, it was originally called Supplement to the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (), and in 1948 was changed to Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Methodological) (), before being changed to its current name in 1998.
In a 2003 survey of statisticians, Series B was perceived to have been one of the highest quality journals in statistics.
Past and current editors:
1951–1959: J. O. Irwin 1960–1964: N. T. J. Bailey 1960–1964: David Cox 1965–1969: D. M. G. Wishart 1965–1969: David Bartholomew 1970–1974: D. E. Barton 1975–1978: Mervyn Stone 1978–1981: J. A. Anderson 1978–1983: T. M. F. Smith 1980–1983: P. Holgate 1982–1985: P. M. E. Altham 1984–1987: Peter Diggle 1986–1989: Mike Titterington 1988–1991: R. L. Smith 1990–1993: John T. Kent 1992–1995: Anthony C. Atkinson 1994–1997: Alastair Young 1996–1999: Chris Jones 1998–2001: David Firth 2000–2003: Anthony C. Davison 2002–2005: Robin Henderson 2004–2007: Andy Wood 2006–2009: Christian Robert 2008–2011: George Casella 2010–2013: Gareth Roberts 2012–2015: Ingrid van Keilegom 2014–2017: Piotr Fryzlewicz 2016–2019: David Dunson 2018–2021: Simon Wood 2020–2022: Aurore Delaigle 2021–2023: Steffen Lauritzen 2022–2024: Q. Yao 2023–2025: Daniela Witten 2024–2026: Hani Doss 2025–2027: Xuming He 2026–2028: Nicolas Chopin
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C (Applied Statistics) Applied Statistics () is published five times a year. Its 2021 impact factor is 1.680.Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C (Applied Statistics) (accessed 6 September 2022)
A review of the first 227 algorithms published as source code in Applied Statistics is available. The last such code was published in 1997.
Past and current editors:
1987–1990: I. R. Dunsmore 1989–1992: David J. Hand 1991–1994: Wotjek J. Krzanowski 1993–1996: Donald A. Preece 1995–1998: S. M. Lewis 1997–2000: John N. S. Matthews 1999–2002: Adrian Bowman 2001–2004: Geert Molenberghs 2003–2006: C. A. Glasbey 2005–2008: Steven Gilmour 2007–2010: Chris J. Skinner 2009–2012: M. S. Ridout 2011–2014: Richard Chandler 2013–2016: Peter W. F. Smith 2015–2019: Nigel Stallard 2017–2019: Richard Boys 2019–2022: Nial Friel 2020–2020: Peter W. F. Smith 2021–2024: Janine Illian 2023–2026: Thomas Kneib 2025–2028: Thordis Thorarinsdottir
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series D (The Statistician) The Statistician () is no longer published, but was published 4 times a year up to 2003, being replaced by Significance. The final editors were A.J. Watkins (University of Wales) and L.C. Wolstenholme (City University London). The Statistician was added in parallel to Series A–C as a Royal Statistical Society publication in 1993, having previously been published by the Institute of Statisticians.
Allied publications Since 2004 the Society has published Significance, which consists of articles on topics of statistical interest presented at a level suited to a general audience. From September 2010 Significance is jointly published with the American Statistical Association and distributed to members of both societies.
References
Further reading (May 1838). "Introduction". Journal of the Statistical Society of London, 1 (1): 1–5. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
External links