Hi Stevan, Would you mind posting this note to the American Scientist discussion list?
An article which might be of interest to this forum has just appeared in Social Studies of Science, a leading journal in the area of Science and Technology Studies: Ingemar Bohlin, Communication Regimes in Competition: The Current Transition in Scholarly Communication Seen through the Lens of the Sociology of Technology. Social Studies of Science 34, 2004, 365-91. Abstract: Recent advances in information technology have enabled new ways of communicating research reports. A significant innovation in this area is that of 'eprint' archives, online repositories in which researchers make their papers freely available to their colleagues. This practice, which is known as self-archiving, poses a serious challenge to traditional academic journals. Publishers have responded with several strategies for remodeling journals, in order to make them more attractive to authors and readers. New services, products and initiatives are constantly being launched in this market, and the outcome of the present disruption is uncertain. This article employs the SCOT methodology to analyse the current transformation in scholarly communication. The analysis defines the functions long served by academic publishing, examines the extent to which newly introduced technologies fulfil those functions, and explains the dynamics of the stabilisation process now under way. A key element of the analysis is the principle of interpretative flexibility. In the present case, interpretative flexibility brings into relief disciplinary variation in the needs and interests of potential users. Keywords: academic publishing, eprint archives, interpretative flexibility, scholarly journals, self-archiving, social construction of technology Ingemar Bohlin Theory of Science Gothenburg University P.O. Box 200 405 30 Gothenburg Sweden Tel +46 31 773 44 74 Email [email protected]
