Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences
(English: Proceedings of the Academy of sciences),
or simply Comptes rendus, is a French scientific
journal which has been published since 1666.
It is the proceedings of the French Academy
of Sciences.
It is currently split into seven sections,
published on behalf of the Academy by Elsevier:
Mathématique, Mécanique, Physique, Géoscience,
Palévol, Chimie, and Biologies.
== Naming history ==
The journal has had a complicated naming history,
with several name changes and splits over
the years.
=== 1666–1965 ===
Comptes rendus was initially established in
1835 as Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances
de l'Académie des Sciences.
It began as an alternative publication pathway
for more prompt publication than the Mémoires
de l'Académie des Sciences, which had been
published since 1666.
The Mémoires, which continued to be published
alongside the Comptes rendus throughout the
nineteenth century, had a publication cycle
which resulted in memoirs being published
years after they had been presented to the
Academy.
Some academicians continued to prefer publishing
in the Mémoires because of the strict page
limits in the Comptes rendus.
=== 1966–1980 ===
After 1965 this title was split into five
sections:
Série A (Sciences mathématiques) – mathematics
Série B (Sciences physiques) – physics
and geosciences
Série C (Sciences chimiques) – chemistry
Série D (Sciences naturelles) – life sciences
Vie académique – academy notices and miscellaneaSeries
A and B were published together in one volume
except in 1974.
=== 1980–2001 ===
The 
subject areas of the series were rearranged
as follows:
Série I (Sciences mathématiques) – mathematics
Série IIA (Sciences de la Terre et des planètes)
– geo- and astrosciences
Série IIB – see below
Série IIC (Sciences chimiques) – chemistry
Série III (Sciences de la Vie) – life sciences
Série IV (Physique et Astrophysique) – physics
and astrophysicsThe physical and chemical
sciences series were reshuffled between 1989
and 2000, creating considerable confusion.
Series IIB united the physical and chemical
sciences (as Mécanique, Physique, Astrophysique
et Chimie) until the July 1989 issue, with
which chemistry was separated in Series IIC.
Series IV was created in March, 2000, but
for two more months, Series IIB was published
as Mécanique, Physique et Astrophysique.
From May 2000 on, Series IIB was renamed Mécanique
and limited to (applied) mechanics, as opposed
to Series IV.
Series IIC and IV started with issue number
1, the others continued their issue numbers
(which by then had reached the 320s).
=== After 2001 ===
The present naming and subject assignment
was established from 2002 on:
Biologies – life sciences except paleontology
and evolutionary biology.
Continues in part Series IIC (biochemistry)
and III.
Chimie – chemistry.
Continues in part Series IIC.
Géoscience – geosciences.
Continues in part Series IIA.
Mathématique – mathematics.
Continues Series I.
Mécanique – mechanics.
Continues Series IIB.
Palévol – paleontology and evolutionary
biology.
Continues in part Series IIA and III.
Physique – topical issues in physics (mainly
optics, astrophysics and particle physics).
Continues Series IV
