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Fit for print: developing an institutional model of scientific periodical publishing in England, 1665–ca. 1714

Moxham, Noah (2015) Fit for print: developing an institutional model of scientific periodical publishing in England, 1665–ca. 1714. Notes and Records: the Royal Society journal of the history of science, 69 (3). pp. 241-260. ISSN 0035-9149. (doi:10.1098/rsnr.2015.0035) (KAR id:64498)

Abstract

This paper explores the contested afterlife of Philosophical Transactions following the death of its founder, Henry Oldenburg. It investigates the complex interrelation between the institution and the periodical at a time when the latter was supposedly independent, and outlines the competing proposals for institutional publishing in science contemplated in the Royal Society, linking some publications that were actually attempted to those proposals and to the Society's attempts to revitalize its experimental programme between 1677 and 1687. It argues that the Society was concerned to produce experimental natural knowledge over which it could claim ownership, and intended this work for publication in other venues than Transactions, whereas the periodical was seen as a more suitable site for work reported to the Society than for research that the institution had primarily produced. It was only from the early 1690s, after the collapse of the Society's experimental programme, that Transactions gradually became a more straightforward reflection of the mainstream of Royal Society activity, paving the way for its formal reinvention as the official publication of the Society in 1752.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1098/rsnr.2015.0035
Uncontrolled keywords: Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, scientific journals, learned societies,early modern experiment, Philosophical Transactions, History of Science, Book History, Early Modern History
Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General)
D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D901 Europe (General)
D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User: Noah Moxham
Date Deposited: 16 Nov 2017 16:52 UTC
Last Modified: 10 Dec 2022 04:58 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/64498 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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