The purpose of the four papers which follow is to describe the field of econophysics as seen by the present author. These papers:
The first (and shortest) paper is a presentation of econophysics that has been written for the webpage of our laboratory, the LPTHE. There is both an English and a French version. It explains why (and how) it makes sense to apply to the social sciences the experimental approach of physics. It is in this specific sense that econophysics can be seen as a form of "social physics". The second paper is the entry "Econophysics" in the "Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science" to be published by Springer in 2008. The third paper is a presentation of econophysics given in seminar form in various places (Singapore, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Tokyo, Kyoto) during a journey that I made in the fall of 2007. It was published in the "Evolutionary and Institutional Economic Review" (Kyoto) in March 2008. The fourth paper was written for the Indian journal "Science and Culture" in April 2010; it can be seen as an anniversary paper which looks back at 15 years of (institutional) econophysics and tries to propose some guidelines for the future.