[1][2][3] The projected number of volumes of the publication, which includes score editions, critical reports and supplements, is 177, of which, as of 2020[update], 150 have been realised.
[1][4][5] The NSE is a successor to Franz Schubert's Werke: Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe: this old collected edition (in German: Alte Gesamt-Ausgabe, AGA), was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in the late 19th century, and the successor is sometimes referred to as new collected edition, in German: Neue Gesamt-Ausgabe (NGA).
The old collected edition has a limited critical apparatus, and soon after its completion previously unknown works by Schubert were discovered.
The International Schubert Society was founded in 1963, 135 years after the composer's death, with the sole purpose of supporting such endeavour.
[7][12][13][14][15] In 1965, the editorial board became fully operational, with members such as Walther Dürr, Arnold Feil and Christa Landon [de].
[20] A 1973 article by Dürr, Feil and Landon, in Die Musikforschung, explains the project's approach to the publication of critical reports.