The “Revista española de Fisiología” (Rev. esp. Fisiol.)- title of the publication until 1993-, was founded in 1945 by Dr. Juan Jiménez Vargas, Professor of General Physiology and Biochemistry in the School of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, ”‹”‹with the support of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). From 1945 to 1966 it was published in Barcelona, and from 1967 onwards in Pamplona, ”‹”‹linked to the Department of Animal Physiology of the University of Navarra. In Vol. 2 (1946), Profs. Juan Jiménez Vargas and Francisco Ponz appeared as directors of the publication. The first would do so until 1989 (Vol. 45), while the second continued until 2009 (Vol. 65). Prof. Ana Barber was editor of the Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry from 1994 to 2014, sharing that responsibility from 1994 to 2009 with Prof. Francisco Ponz.

Since Vol. 49 (1993), the title became bilingual: "Revista española de Fisiología / Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry", and starting from Vol. 54 (1998), it has kept only the English title Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry.

Until Vol. 48 (1992), the journal was published by CSIC and, after a transition period, from Vol. 54 (1998) it became a publication of the Publishing Service of the University of Navarra, linked to the Department Physiology and Nutrition.

In 2010, the Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry became part of the Springer publishing system and distribution network. This was a significant step forward in increasing the journal's visibility, with the goal of enhancing its quality, scope, and impact factor. Thus, although the “Revista española de Fisiología” was already indexed in international databases, since it was renamed in English, and published by Springer, its impact factor has increased reaching 3.7 in 2023 (Q1, 17 of 85 journals in the area of Physiology).

Currently, its activities are connected to the Department of Nutrition, Food Sciences and Physiology of the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition, being the Editors-in-chief Prof. M. Pilar Lostao and María Jesús Moreno-Aliaga.

The Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry, publishes original research articles and reviews describing relevant new observations on molecular, biochemical and cellular mechanisms involved in human physiology, with articles contributed by researchers from around the world. The publication frequency remains at four issues per year, with approximately 60 articles per year.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the journal, a digitization project has been completed, making the years 1945-1997 available as open access.