The Scots Magazine

About The Scots Magazine

It reported on the defeat of the Jacobites, the Napoleonic Wars, two World Wars and the creation of the new Scottish Parliament. It was already old when the United States was founded. The Scots Magazine, first published in January 1739, is the oldest magazine in the world still in publication — a monthly celebration of Scotland's culture, history, landscapes and people, published in Dundee by D. C. Thomson & Co. With a readership of well over 178,000 and the claim to be the world's best-selling Scottish-interest publication, it is both a living piece of publishing history and a thoroughly modern glossy magazine.

Each month its pages carry in-depth features, stunning photography, interviews with prominent Scots, outdoor adventure inspiration, and tales from Scotland's unique history and rich culture. Below is a detailed profile of this remarkable publication: its extraordinary history, editorial character, ownership, formats, signature contributors, and its place in Scotland's cultural heritage.

History and Founding

The Scots Magazine was originally published in January 1739, with its first issue dated Monday 9 February 1739, priced at sixpence and appearing in a blue cover bearing the motto Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat ("let him not dare to say anything false, nor dare not to say anything true"). It was conceived as a Scottish rival to the London-based Gentleman's Magazine, so that, in the founders' words, "our countrymen might have the production of every month sooner, cheaper and better collected than before." Edited and printed in Edinburgh, it was an immediate success through the 18th century and innovated a register of births, marriages and deaths that other journals soon copied.

From 1759 until 1765 the magazine was edited by William Smellie, the noted printer and naturalist. In 1801 Archibald Constable bought the magazine, and three years later amalgamated it with the Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany. Its popularity, however, was eroded by competition from serious literary journals such as the Edinburgh Review and Blackwood's Magazine, and by 1826 sales had declined to the point where it was withdrawn. Attempts to revive the name — as the New Scots Magazine in 1828 and the Scots Weekly Magazine in 1832 — were unsuccessful.

Publication resumed in December 1887 as a partial successor to The Scottish Church under a new owner, S. Cowan of Perth, but ceased again in 1893. It appeared between 1922 and 1924 as The Scottish Church, before publication as The Scots Magazine resumed in 1924 under the St Andrew's Society of Glasgow. In 1927, D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd of Dundee took over the title — and has published it ever since, giving the magazine nearly a century of continuous publication under its current owner. (The publisher notes that the magazine celebrated a major anniversary in 2014, marking 275 years since that first 1739 issue.)

Editorial Focus and Audience

The Scots Magazine describes itself as an essential monthly passport for exploring all that is amazing about Scotland, and as the authority on all things Scottish. Every issue of the high-quality glossy magazine is packed with must-read features written by expert journalists and creatives: in-depth articles on culture, history and nature; inspiration for outdoor adventures; thrilling travel itineraries; the best places to stay and eat; and the events, festivals and shows readers cannot miss.

The magazine is targeted at Scots at home and abroad, and at all lovers of Scotland worldwide. Its readership — a monthly average of over 178,000, with some estimates exceeding 200,000 — makes it the world's best-selling Scottish-interest publication. It boasts a very healthy subscription base alongside newsstand sales in Scotland, the wider UK and overseas, and a vibrant, highly engaged social audience.

Ownership and Publishing

The Scots Magazine has been owned and published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd since 1927. DC Thomson is a private company and one of the leading publishing houses in the UK, headquartered in Dundee, Scotland, with a London base in Fleet Street. The company's portfolio includes newspapers (The Courier, the Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post), magazines (The People's Friend, My Weekly), and the world-famous comics The Beano and The Dandy, alongside interests in radio, printing, retailing and online services.

As part of DC Thomson's magazine stable, The Scots Magazine sits alongside some of Britain's longest-running periodicals — a fitting home for the world's oldest magazine. The title is produced in Scotland and carries the contact address mail@scotsmagazine.com.

Print Editions and Frequency

The Scots Magazine is published monthly. In 2013 the magazine moved to a B5 format — a handy, pocket-friendly size that suits its role as a companion for exploring Scotland. The print edition is a full-colour glossy magazine filled with in-depth features and stunning photography designed to capture the essence of Scotland, from its wild landscapes to its historic towns and living culture.

Subscriptions are available in the UK and internationally (with delivery times of up to 10–13 weeks for overseas readers), and the magazine is sold on newsstands in Scotland, across the wider UK and abroad.

Digital Presence

The magazine's website, scotsmagazine.com, extends the brand online with features, travel inspiration and subscription information. The title maintains a vibrant and highly engaged social audience, sharing its photography, features and Scottish-interest content across social platforms — a modern complement to a magazine whose print heritage stretches back nearly three centuries.

DC Thomson has also used the brand's rich archive creatively: in 2015 the company republished the columns of Tom Weir — the magazine's legendary outdoors writer — online, bringing decades of classic Scottish hill-walking writing to a new digital audience.

Iconic Features

The Scots Magazine's signature content includes in-depth interviews with the biggest Scottish names, regular contributions from star columnists, and fascinating tales of Scotland's unique history and rich culture. Its outdoor and travel coverage — walking routes, island itineraries, hidden glens, and guides to the best places to stay, eat and explore — is central to its identity as a "passport" to Scotland.

The magazine's historical features draw on its own extraordinary archive: few publications can illustrate articles on the Jacobites, the Enlightenment or the Industrial Revolution from their own contemporary pages. This depth of heritage gives its history writing an authenticity no rival can match.

Notable Contributors

The magazine's columnists have included some of Scotland's best-loved writers and broadcasters. Regular star contributors have included Coinneach MacLeod, the Hebridean Baker, whose celebration of island food culture has made him a publishing phenomenon, and Cameron McNeish, the veteran mountaineer, writer and broadcaster whose outdoor wisdom has guided generations of hillwalkers.

Perhaps the most legendary name associated with the title is Tom Weir, the Scottish mountaineer, writer and broadcaster whose walking columns were a beloved fixture of the magazine for decades; DC Thomson's republication of his columns online in 2015 testified to his enduring popularity. The 18th-century editor William Smellie — printer of the first Encyclopaedia Britannica — remains a distinguished figure in the magazine's editorial lineage.

Cultural Impact

The Scots Magazine is, by its own description and by wide recognition, part of Scotland's cultural heritage — proud of its past and excited by its future. Its claim to be the oldest magazine in the world still in publication (first published January 1739, with only the Gentleman's Magazine of 1731 older, and long defunct) gives it a unique place in global publishing history. It reported on events from the Jacobite rising through the Napoleonic Wars to the Second World War and the creation of the new Scottish Parliament in 1999 — a continuous chronicle of Scottish life across nearly three centuries.

For the Scottish diaspora — in North America, Australia, New Zealand and beyond — the magazine has long served as a monthly connection to home, keeping emigrants and their descendants in touch with the country's landscapes, culture and current affairs. Its status as the world's best-selling Scottish-interest title reflects that global reach.

Awards and Recognition

The magazine's primary distinction is historical rather than competitive: its status as the world's oldest continuously published magazine is recognised in publishing histories and reference works worldwide. Within the Scottish magazine industry, its sustained readership of over 178,000 per month and its thriving subscription base mark it as one of the country's most successful consumer titles. Its longevity — through revivals, ownership changes and nearly a century under DC Thomson — is itself the award: no other magazine has survived so long.

Recent Developments

In recent years The Scots Magazine has modernised while honouring its heritage: the move to B5 format in 2013 gave it a contemporary, handy-sized feel, and its digital and social presence has grown into a vibrant complement to the print edition. The republication of Tom Weir's classic columns online connected its archive to new audiences.

Under DC Thomson's ownership, the magazine continues to publish monthly from Scotland as the world's best-selling Scottish-interest title — nearly 290 years after a sixpenny blue-covered pamphlet first appeared in Edinburgh, still telling Scotland's story to Scots at home and around the world.