In 1665, Philosophical Transactions pioneered the concepts of scientific priority and peer review and archiving and dissemination, the model for almost 30,000 scientific journals today. In March of 1665 Henry Oldenburg, the Royal Society’s first Secretary, was publisher and editor. He could probably slide right back into the job today as could his successors, Edmond Halley among them.
Diagram of an Archeopteryx from Philosophical Transactions (1863) by Richard Owen
Science publishing is the same as 350 years ago? Basically, yeah. Open Access has been an important waypoint on the road to Science 2.0 but it has been just an incremental step. Now, instead of large conglomerates charging taxpayers to read science articles, smaller conglomerates are making tens of millions of dollars charging taxpayers to publish them. It's still an unnecessary barrier to entry.
If you want to read about the history of the first science journal, go here
H/T Retraction Watch
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