International Academy of the History of Science

by Robert Halleux, collection director

I created in 1998, with the late Emmanuel Poulle, the new series of the Collection of Works. My contract with the publisher Brepols ends in 2026, but I will cease my activity at the 2025 congress, after the publication of the 80th volume.

1: The spirit of the collection
The Collection publishes works of high erudition, essential and timeless, in the long term, especially editions of texts and correspondence. It aims to be at Brepols the counterpart of the Corpus Christianorum for the history of science. It also publishes scholarly monographs, collective works on a scholarly subject, collections of articles by distinguished members of the Academy and Miscellanies in their honor. In the tradition of the Academy, it covers all disciplines, all periods, all cultural areas and it publishes in French, English, German, Italian and Spanish.

2: Legal framework
The Collection is published by Brepols International Publishers in Turnhout, Belgium, on the basis of a renewable contract. This contract expires on December 31, 2026.

3: Organizational chart
Direction : Robert Halleux (scientific management) and Jan Vandersmissen (financial management) by contract with Brepols valid until December 31, 2026.
Erwin Neuenschwander, by cooptation for contemporary mathematics and physics.
Blanche El Gammal, by cooptation as associate director for editorial preparation.
Alexander Sterkens, editor at Brepols.
Reading committee: the reading committee of the Collection is the Council of the Academy.
The report on publications and editorial projects is submitted to each Council meeting.

4: Procedure
The Collection never decides on a project but on a definitive manuscript ready for publication.
Manuscripts are submitted anonymously to four referees chosen on the sole criterion of competence.
Until 2017, the composition was made free of charge at the Center for the History of Science and Technology (CHST) of the University of Liège. After the removal of this Center, the graphics are produced by Brepols.
There are two sets of proofs. All the first proofs of all the volumes are proofread by the authors and by Robert Halleux assisted by Blanche El Gammal. The second proofs are proofread by Robert Halleux who gives the bon à tirer.

5: Finances
External funding is desirable, but not essential. Since 2017, all works have been funded. The management team works for free. Its operating costs are not reimbursed. Royalties (5% on new publications, 15% or 20% on publications graphically produced at the CHST) are paid in full to the Academy. The authors receive no rights and receive 10 copies.

6: Works published and to be published

In 2018:
N.S. 66: C. Guesmi, J. Samso ed., Astrometeorologia en al-Andalus y el Magrib entre los siglos VIII y XV. El Kitab al-amtar wa I-as’ar (Libro de las Lluvias y de los precios) de Abu’Abd Allah al-Baqqar (fl. 1411-1418).
N.S. 67: Efthymios Nicolaidis ed., Greek Alchemy from Late Antiquity to Early Modernity.

In 2020:
N.S. 68: Marta Cecilia Bustamante, A l’aube de la théorie des quanta: notes d’Émile Borel aux cours de Paul Langevin. Paul Doistau-Émile Blutet Prize for Scientific Information from the Académie des Sciences (Paris). Prize of the Senate of the French Republic, awarded by President Gérard Larcher.
N.S. 69: Chantal Grell ed., Correspondance de Johannes Hevelius III, Correspondance avec Pierre des Noyers, secrétaire la reine de Pologne; with the collaboration of Damien Mallet. (Polish translation in progress).

In 2021:
N.S. 70: Noël Golvers, Johan Schreck Terrentius SJ. His European Network and the Origins of the Jesuit Library in Peking.
N.S. 71: Maciej Jasinski ed., Correspondence of Johannes Hevelius, IV, The Correspondence with Stanislaw Lubieniecki.

In 2023:
N.S. 72: I. Draelants, E. Frunzeanu, J. Lidaka, R. Suntrup, I. Ventura eds., Bartholomeus Anglicus. De Proprietatibus Rerum, vol. III, liber VI, VIII, IX.
N.S. 73: Edouard Mehl, Isabelle Pantin eds. De mundi recentioribus phænomenis. Cosmologie et science dans l’Europe des temps modernes (XVe-XVIIe siècles). Essais en l’honneur de Miguel Angel Granada.
N.S. 74: Béatrice Bakhouche, Evelyne Berriot-Salvadore, Daniel Le Blévec eds., Guy de Chauliac et sa Grande Chirurgie.

To be published in 2024:
N.S. 75: Mathieu da Vinha, Blanche El Gammal, Maciej Forycki, Marc Zuili eds., Polyhistor Europeus. Essais sur l’âge classique offerts à Chantal Grell (ready for publication)
N.S. 76: Marta Cecilia Bustamante, Jacques Solomon physicien-militant-fusillé. Avec l’édition de manuscrits de physique écrits en clandestinité et en prison (submission scheduled for September 2023)
N.S. 77: Noël Golvers et Chantal Grell eds., Correspondance de Johannes Hevelius, V, Correspondance avec les jésuites (submission scheduled for December 2023).

To be published in 2025:
N.S. 78: Inès Vilela-Petit, Le livre des couleurs de Jean le Bègue (manuscrit BnF 6741). Édition, traduction, commentaire. Dépôt prévu en mai 2024.
N.S. 79: Jaroslaw Wlodarczyk, The Correspondence of Johannes Hevelius, VI. The Correspondence with Maria Cunitia and Elis von Löwen.
N.S. 80: Maciej Jasinski, The Correspondence of Johannes Hevelius, VII. The Correspondence with the Court of Poland.

7: Conclusion

The DDA collection has acquired over the years an enviable scientific respectability. It owes this to its deliberately scholarly orientation (excluding sociological, philosophical, anthropological studies and fashionable topics), the rigor of its procedures and the scientific and typographical quality of the finished product. In particular, in the current scientific landscape, only academies can carry out long-term projects, such as editions of complete works and correspondence. With the edition of the correspondences of Laplace, Cremona and especially the great project of the Correspondence of Hevelius, our Academy makes reference and has deserved to be admitted to the Union Académique Internationale (UIA). However, scholarly works are of small sale, which will imply two contradictory obligations for the collection: to maintain a high scientific level and, on the other hand, to avoid being in deficit financing with our commercial publisher.