[2] It was founded in 1868 by the German physiologist, Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger, under the title Archiv für die gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere.

[3] The first issue of the journal contains 26 articles, with contributors including Hermann Rudolph Aubert, Julius Bernstein, Johann Nepomuk Czermak, Franciscus Donders, Sigmund Exner, Siegmund Mayer, Peter Ludvig Panum, William Thierry Preyer, Salomon Stricker, Hermann von Helmholtz, Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn and Nathan Zuntz.

[4] It includes the earliest accurate description of the action potential, by Julius Bernstein, using an apparatus called a "differential rheotome".

[11] Other key developments published in the journal include Bernstein's explanation of the resting membrane potential; the demonstration of the requirement for sodium ions for nervous excitation, and the prediction of the existence of a lipid cell membrane by Ernest Overton; and early descriptions of conductance in excitable tissues by Ludwig Hermann.

Additionally, authors can pay to have their articles released freely online as part of a hybrid open access scheme.