The Scientific Notes journal was founded in 1941 as a printed publication of the oldest higher education institution in Kursk. The university was established by the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated July 22, 1934, No. 661, as the Kursk State Pedagogical Institute, which was renamed the Kursk State Pedagogical University by the Order of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Higher Education dated November 14, 1994, No. 1094, and by the Order of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated November 25, 1994, No. 461.

By Order No. 208 of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated January 24, 2003, the Kursk State Pedagogical University was renamed to the State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Kursk State University," which was renamed to the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Kursk State University" by Order No. 1755 2 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated May 25, 2011.

By Order No. 263 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated March 21, 2016, the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education Kursk State University was renamed the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Kursk State University.

Since 2006, it has been available only in electronic form. The Internet address is http://scientific-notes.ru. "Scientific Notes. Electronic Scientific Journal of Kursk State University" is an electronic scientific publication registered by the Federal Service for Supervision of Legislation in the Field of Mass Communications and Protection of Cultural Heritage and the Federal Depository of Electronic Publications of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Scientific and Technical Center "Informregister".