Introduction

In 2018 the 200th birth anniversary of the illustrious Dutch physiologist and ophthalmologist Frans Donders (1818–1889) was celebrated at several institutes in the Netherlands. In a commemorative essay published for the occasion, Donders is presented as ‘the epitome of the values of modern physiology’. Highlighted are his achievements as laboratory scientist, laboratory leader, author of hundreds of research reports, and co-founder of various journals. In 1891, writing at the height of science’s transition to modernity, Barend Stokvis made a similar assessment. In his obituary of Donders, issued by the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, he went to great lengths to praise the publishing strategies of his former tutor. Although the physiologist had read close to a hundred communications at meetings of the Royal Academy, only six of his papers appeared in the Academy’s proceedings. His preference for non-society journals (including foreign ones) had, according to Stokvis, not only enhanced his own prestige but also the scientific reputation of his laboratory and his country. One such journal was the Onderzoekingen, gedaan in het Physiologisch Laboratorium der Utrechtsche Hoogeschool, launched in 1848 by Donders himself. Stokvis emphasized the value of this periodical, while at the same time wondering if series of collected papers of laboratories could be considered ‘real journals’.

By the end of the nineteenth century, institutional laboratories had become essential components of all the major scientific disciplines. Many academic and private research laboratories issued their own serial publications, which were often nearly as old as the institutes themselves.