From 2013-17, a research team led by Professor Aileen Fyfe at the University of St Andrews investigated the history of the world’s longest-running scientific journal, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Their research generated new historical insights about the business model of mission-led publishing societies, and into the functions and social dynamics of peer review, as well as telling the story of how the publishing and editing of scientific journals have changed over the last 350 years. These historical findings have stimulated and informed current debates about open access publishing, peer review and the role of learned society publishers.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A is the series of the British Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions that is devoted to mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering. Compiled by John Mark Ockerbloom at UPenn.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B is the series of the British Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions that is devoted to biological sciences. Compiled by John Mark Ockerbloom at UPenn.
Contains digital facsimile page images of a large collection of work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America, and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700.
Contains journals, periodicals, and printed volumes. Featured topics include literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences.
More than 160 journals. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences.
An index of items in the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office. Useful for researchers in the history of medicine, history of science, and for clinical research. Coverage from 1880 to 1961.
Access the digital library from the Bibliothque Nationale of France. Includes a variety of primary source materials and public domain resources. Mainly in French.
Books on the History of Scientific Writing
Scientific Discourse in Sociohistorical Context by Dwight Atkinson"Scientific Discourse in Sociohistorical Context" represents the intersection of knowledge and method, examined from the perspective of three distinct disciplines: linguistics, rhetoric-composition, and history. Herein, Dwight Atkinson describes the written language and rhetoric of the Royal Society of London, based on his analysis of its affiliated journal, The Philosophical Transactions, starting with the 17th century advent of modern empirical science through to the present day. Atkinson adopts two independent approaches to the analysis of written discourse--from the fields of linguistics and rhetoric-composition--and then integrates and interprets his findings in light of the history of the Royal Society and British science. Atkinson's study provides the most complete and particular institutional account of a scientific journal, which in this case is a publication that stands as an icon of scientific publication. He supplies his readers with important material found nowhere else in the historical literature, including details about the operation of the journal and its relation to the society. The work embeds the history of the journal and its editors within the history of the Royal Society and other developments in science and society. The synthesis of historical, linguistic, rhetorical, and cultural analysis makes visible certain complex communicative dynamics that could not previously be seen from a single vantage point. The work presented here reinforces how deep historical examinations of linguistic and rhetorical practices have direct bearing on how and what scholars read and write now. Most significantly, this volume demonstrates how these historical activities need to inform current teaching of and thinking about language.
ISBN: 0585147701
Publication Date: 1999-01-01
The Story of Science by Susan Wise BauerThe Story of Science guides us to the original texts that have changed the way we think about our world, our cosmos and ourselves. Whether referenced individually or read together as the narrative of Western scientific development, the book's twenty-eight succinct chapters lead readers from the first science texts by Hippocrates, Plato and Aristotle through twentieth-century classics in biology, physics and cosmology, including works by Einstein, Schr?dinger and Dawkins. Each chapter recommends one or more classic books and provides an entertaining account of the discovery, a vivid sketch of the scientist-writer and a clear explanation of any technical issues. The Story of Science reveals science to be a human pursuit--an essential, often deeply personal, sometimes flawed, frequently brilliant way of understanding the world.
ISBN: 9780393243260
Publication Date: 2015-05-11
Shaping Written Knowledge by Charles BazermanThe forms taken by scientific writing help to determine the very nature of science itself. In this closely reasoned study, Charles Bazerman views the changing forms of scientific writing as solutions to rhetorical problems faced by scientists arguing for their findings. Examining such works as the early Philosophical Transactions and Newton's optical writings as well as Physical Review, Bazerman views the changing forms of scientific writing as solutions to rhetorical problems faced by scientists. The rhetoric of science is, Bazerman demonstrates, an embedded part of scientific activity that interacts with other parts of scientific activity, including social structure and empirical experience. This book presents a comprehensive historical account of the rise and development of the genre, and views these forms in relation to empirical experience.
ISBN: 9780299116903
Publication Date: 1988-11-01
Making Modern Science by Peter J. Bowler; Iwan Rhys MorusThe development of science, according to respected scholars Peter J. Bowler and Iwan Rhys Morus, expands our knowledge and control of the world in ways that affect-but are also affected by-society and culture. In Making Modern Science, a text designed for introductory college courses in the history of science and as a single-volume introduction for the general reader, Bowler and Morus explore both the history of science itself and its influence on modern thought. Opening with an introduction that explains developments in the history of science over the last three decades and the controversies these initiatives have engendered, the book then proceeds in two parts. The first section considers key episodes in the development of modern science, including the Scientific Revolution and individual accomplishments in geology, physics, and biology. The second section is an analysis of the most important themes stemming from the social relations of science-the discoveries that force society to rethink its religious, moral, or philosophical values. Making Modern Science thus chronicles all major developments in scientific thinking, from the revolutionary ideas of the seventeenth century to the contemporary issues of evolutionism, genetics, nuclear physics, and modern cosmology. Written by seasoned historians, this book will encourage students to see the history of science not as a series of names and dates but as an interconnected and complex web of relationships between science and modern society. The first survey of its kind, Making Modern Science is a much-needed and accessible introduction to the history of science, engagingly written for undergraduates and curious readers alike.
ISBN: 0226068609
Publication Date: 2005-05-01
A History of Scientific Journals by Camilla Mørk Røstvik; Camilla Mørk Røstvik; Aileen Fyfe; Noah Moxham; Julie McDougall-WatersA comprehensive history of scientific publishing and its impact on scientific discourse. Modern scientific research has changed significantly since the days of Isaac Newton, with professionalized, collaborative, and international networks that engage a more diverse community of researchers. Yet, the long history of scientific publishing reveals a deep mutual relationship between how academic discourse develops and what (and how) research is published. With unique insights from the Royal Society of London's comprehensive archives spanning 350 years of scientific journal publishing, A History of Scientific Journals illustrates the entangled histories of scientific publishing and professional discourses. This volume provides insights into the editorial management, business practices, and financial difficulties of journals such as Philosophical Transactions, which was first published in 1665 and has published papers by Newton, Darwin, Dorothy Hodgkin, and Stephen Hawking. Highly illustrated with photographs of historic archived documents, including early publications and editorial annotations, this history extends to the present day and includes a look at digital journal publication and the open-access movement, making the book's publication through UCL Press both appropriate and symbiotic.
ISBN: 9781800082342
Publication Date: 2023-03-07
Communicating Science by Alan G. Gross; Joseph E. Harmon; Michael S. ReidyThis book describes the development of the scientific article from its modest beginnings to the global phenomenon that it has become today. Their analysis of a large sample of texts in French, English, and German focuses on the changes in the style, organization, and argumentative structure of scientific communication over time. They also speculate on the future currency of the scientific article, as it enters the era of the World Wide Web. This book is an outstanding resource text in the rhetoric of science, and will stand as the definitive study on the topic.
ISBN: 0195134540
Publication Date: 2002-04-11
The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Communication by Cristina Hanganu-Bresch (Editor); Michael J. Zerbe (Editor); Gabriel Cutrufello (Editor); Stefania M. Maci (Editor)Given current science-related crises facing the world such as climate change, the targeting and manipulation of DNA, GMO foods, and vaccine denial, the way in which we communicate science matters is vital for current and future generations of scientists and publics. The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Communication scrutinizes what we value, prioritize, and grapple with in science as highlighted by the rhetorical choices of scientists, students, educators, science gatekeepers, and lay commentators. Drawing on contributions from leading thinkers in the field, this volume explores some of the most pressing questions in this growing field of study, including: How do issues such as ethics, gender, race, shifts in the publishing landscape, and English as the lingua franca of science influence scientific communication practices? How have scientific genres evolved and adapted to current research and societal needs?  How have scientific visuals developed in response to technological advances and communication needs?  How is scientific communication taught to a variety of audiences?  Offering a critical look at the complex relationships that characterize current scientific communication practices in academia, industry, government, and elsewhere, this Handbook will be essential reading for students, scholars, and professionals involved in the study, practice, and teaching of scientific, medical, and technical communication.  
ISBN: 9781000528091
Publication Date: 2021-12-20
Landmark Essays on Rhetoric of Science: Case Studies by Randy Allen Harris (Editor)Now in its Second Edition, Landmark Essays on Rhetoric of Science: Case Studies presents fifteen iconic essays in science studies, rhetorical criticism, and argumentation. Integral to the launch of the Landmark Essays series and renowned for its impact on the then-nascent field of rhetoric of science, this volume returns with a revised introduction and updated contributions to the field, including the work of Leah Ceccarelli, James Wynn, Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, and Carolyn R. Miller.
ISBN: 9781138695887
Publication Date: 2017-11-02
A Companion to the History of Science by Bernard Lightman (Editor)The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the History of Science is a single volume companion that discusses the history of science as it is done today, providing a survey of the debates and issues that dominate current scholarly discussion, with contributions from leading international scholars. Provides a single-volume overview of current scholarship in the history of science edited by one of the leading figures in the field Features forty essays by leading international scholars providing an overview of the key debates and developments in the history of science Reflects the shift towards deeper historical contextualization within the field Helps communicate and integrate perspectives from the history of science with other areas of historical inquiry Includes discussion of non-Western themes which are integrated throughout the chapters Divided into four sections based on key analytic categories that reflect new approaches in the field
A Company of Scientists by Alice StroupWho pays for science, and who profits? Historians of science and of France will discover that those were burning questions no less in the seventeenth century than they are today. Alice Stroup takes a new look at one of the earliest and most influential scientific societies, the Acad#65533;mie Royale des Sciences. Blending externalist and internalist approaches, Stroup portrays the Academy in its political and intellectual contexts and also takes us behind the scenes, into the laboratory and into the meetings of a lively, contentious group of investigators. Founded in 1666 under Louis XIV, the Academy had a dual mission: to advance science and to glorify its patron. Creature of the ancien r#65533;gime as well as of the scientific revolution, it depended for its professional prestige on the goodwill of monarch and ministers. One of the Academy's most ambitious projects was its illustrated encyclopedia of plants. While this work proceeded along old-fashioned descriptive lines, academicians were simultaneously adopting analogical reasoning to investigate the new anatomy and physiology of plants. Efforts to fund and forward competing lines of research were as strenuous then as now. We learn how academicians won or lost favor, and what happened when their research went wrong. Patrons and members shared in a new and different kind of enterprise that may not have resembled the Big Science of today but was nevertheless a genuine "company of scientists."