‘Disciplining’ Scientific Publishing in the Twentieth Century

Raf Vanderstraeten, Ghent University

Science is often described as a self-organizing and self-policing system, and the scientific literature with its evaluation procedures (peer review) is often seen to constitute the basic model of this form of self-organization. But not much historical-sociological attention has been devoted to the changes which this model has undergone. The predominant view has rather encouraged us to project back unto earlier epochs contemporary views and sensibilities about how scientific communities ought to operate. In this presentation, I look at the history of major journals in the field of educational research. I discuss changing expectations regarding editorship and authorship, and look at how predominant evaluation mechanisms delimit what is valued in science, viz. peer-reviewed publications. These analyses show that the social structure of science is much less stable than often assumed. Given recent evolutions, it can also be expected that the increasing focus on rankings and impact factors will determine the selection of alternatives.

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 Presented in Session 38. Curriculum and Career, Discipline and Disruption