The ''Journal of the Royal Statistical Society'' is a

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

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statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

. It comprises three series and is published by

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for the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

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 Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

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. 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 The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

. 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 An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

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 A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

. 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. 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 An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

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 The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. 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 The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a type of journal ranking. Journals with higher impact factor values are considered more prestigious or important within their field. The Impact Factor of a journa ...

is 2.175.
(accessed 6 September 2022) Past and current editors: * 1987–1990: Harvey Goldstein * 1989–1992: S M Gore * 1991–1994: D Holt * 1993–1996: S G Thompson * 1995–1998: I F Plewis * 1997–2000: G M Raab * 1999–2001: C D Payne * 2001–2004: Nicola Best * 2002–2005: P J Lynn * 2004–2004: J 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: D. R. Cox * 1965–1969: D. M. G. Wishart * 1965–1969: D. J. Bartholomew * 1970–1974: D. E. Barton * 1975–1978: M. Stone * 1978–1981: J. A. Anderson * 1978–1983: T. M. F. Smith * 1980–1983: P. Holgate * 1982–1985: P. M. E. Altham * 1984–1987: P. J. Diggle * 1986–1989: D. M. 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 B 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

''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: W. J. Krzanowski * 1993–1996: D. A. Preece * 1995–1998: S. M. Lewis * 1997–2000: J. N. S. Matthews * 1999–2002: A. W. Bowman * 2001–2004: Geert Molenberghs * 2003–2006: C. A. Glasbey * 2005–2008: M. S. Ridout * 2007–2010: Chris J. Skinner * 2009–2012: Stephen Gilmour * 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

''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 The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

) and L.C. Wolstenholme (

City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

). ''The Statistician'' was added in parallel to Series A–C as a Royal Statistical Society publication in 1993, having previously been published by the

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 The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

and distributed to members of both societies.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Journal Of The Royal Statistical Society Royal Statistical Society

Publications established in 1838 English-language journals 1838 establishments in the United Kingdom Wiley-Blackwell academic journals Academic journals associated with learned and professional societies of the United Kingdom