The Scientific Journal

Csiszar takes us on a grand tour of the intersection between politics and scholarly communication over a crucial period in the recent history of western Europe. This fascinating past reveals much about how we arrived at the present state, where scandal, political drama, and scientific egos play prominent parts in the complex evolution of the publishing press. Each page contains eyebrow-raising and illuminating tales that demonstrate just how important an academic understanding of the history of scholarship is. At a time when just about every aspect of scholarly publishing is experiencing strong reforms, this book could not be better timed to help us recognize just how adaptable this fragile ecosystem can be. . . . As illuminating to the most veteran scholar as it is to the most wide-eyed young graduate student getting ready to embark on their own adventure into the world of publishing. -- Information & Culture The book is full of detailed sketches of the fascinating personalities involved in the development of an institution -- journal publishing -- that we often think of as having always existed. Csiszar gives a compelling account of how the publication of scientific results in the fragmented form of journal articles won out as a format over comprehensive books. . . . This book will be a very welcome resource for students of the history of academic publishing, as well as anyone with an interest in the history of science as it tracks with the origins of the institution of the scientific journal. -- Publishing Research Quarterly This book is really the first one that focuses on the development and emergence of the scholarly journal as we know it today. . . . The author's interpretations of the past in the introduction and conclusion are keen and help the reader better understand the twenty-first-century status quo of scholarly publishing. . . . In addition to those studying the history of science, this book will be of interest to scholars of library and information science, epistemology, the history of bibliography, and the history of the UK and France. -- Metascience This clever and absorbing history charts the coming into being and imminent passing away of one of the most important forms of scientific activity - journal publication. Stocked with fascinating tales of scientific authors' deeds and sufferings, and of publishers' market savvy and ingenious trickery, Csiszar shows that the allegedly novel and dramatic alliance between scientific writing and commercial interest is nothing new, and in fact dominated the original developments of scientific literature and its vagaries in earlier centuries. The book explains how the notion of a quick and cheap technological fix for any apparent trouble of public knowledge first gained ground and why its mythology so evidently survives. The book will be indispensable for anyone interested in the roots of trust in scientific facts and their authors, and the central role played by print media in the crisis of intellectual authority. --Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge A timely reminder that the literary marketplace and political ideologies, together with science practitioners' own interests, shape the vehicles and multiple roles of science communication. . . . It is indispensable for graduates in the history of science and, especially, in library and information science. . . . Essential. -- CHOICE Brilliant. . . . A welcome addition to a growing body of scholarship on science and nineteenth-century print culture. It deserves to be placed alongside the other important monographs appearing in the last two decades that examine the intersection of the history of publishing with the history of science. . . . By concentrating on the purely scientific periodicals, Csiszar's book fills a rather large gap in the scholarship. . . . An immensely satisfying read, Csiszar successfully treats the development of the scientific periodical press through a finely crafted midscale study. --Bernard Lightman Journal of Modern History Csiszar meticulously traces the development of journals in Britain and France during the 19th century, and he shows that shifting and competing ideas about scientific audiences and authors led to significant changes in the way scientific researchers engaged with print. . . . The great strength of Csiszar's book is how it challenges both historians and scientists to confront the ways in which formats and genres of communication shape modes of inquiry. Our understanding of the history of scientific priority is considerably enriched when we pay close attention to the media through which claims to 'discovery' were made. . . . In order to chart a new future for the scientific journal, it will be important to understand its history. Csiszar's book is an excellent example of how that history should be done. -- Physics Today Fascinating and carefully researched. . . . This timely book challenges our notion of the traditional scientific journal by showing that it was the result of a long and complex historical process and much controversy. -- Times Higher Education Amid fresh convulsions in scholarly publishing, much here resonates -- not least, how commercial interests have shaped science communication almost from the start. -- Nature A scientific journal can make for dry reading; The Scientific Journal, on the other hand, does not. Csiszar provides a fascinating account about how this particular genre came to have its current form and, most importantly, its overwhelming status. There are thought-provoking challenges to our assumptions about scientific communication on just about every page. --Michael D. Gordin, Princeton University