The evolution of mathematical periodicals

state of the art

Abstract

Between mid-nineteenth and mid twentieth century, in line with the processes of institutionalization and professionalization of mathematics, mathematical periodicals expanded and consolidated as a form of communication among mathematical communities in national and international contexts at different levels of specialization. In the framework of a centre consisting of four great powers – France, Germany, Britain and Italy – with no consolidated hegemony – despite strong Franco-German competition, some peripheral European, American and Asian communities managed to shape their mathematical communities and their corresponding media, a status quo that will change dramatically with the Second World War and the subsequent Cold War.