This is the first Serbian scientific journal in the field of mathematics, established in the year 1932 under the name "Publications Mathematiques de l'Université de Belgrade". It was founded with the help of the Belgrade University foundations "Luka Ćelović-Trebinjac" and "Pavle and Katarina Kurtović". Seven volumes were published until the World War II, and the eighth volume was lost in the German bombing of Belgrade on April 6. 1941. Immediately after the founding of the Mathematical Institute in 1946, the publication of the journal was restarted in 1947 under the new name "Publications de l'Institut Mathématique". Due to some organizational issues of the Mathematical institute, new series of the journal started in 1961. More then 2000 articles were published until these days. The scope of the journal in the beginning was broader, including not only mathematics, but also papers from the fields of mechanics and astronomy. Most prominent Serbian and Yugoslav scientist in these fields published in the journal their papers, including Đuro Kurepa, Jovan Karamata, Mihailo Petrović, Milutin Milanković, Anton Bilimović, Josip Plemelj, Sibe Mardešić, and others. Some of the leading world mathematicians published in "Publications" as well: Paul Montel, Paul Erdős, Waclaw Sierpinski, Saharon Shelah, Henri Lebesgue, and others. Most papers in the journal are in English, but papers written in Russian, French, and German are accepted as well. There is an extensive exchange program with scientific institutions all over the world whereby the library of the Institute obtains more than 200 journals.

The journal is published in two volumes per year. The complete retrodigitization of the journal was finished in 2006. and this electronic version is now available on the Internet.