The Hand of Science: Academic Writing and Its Rewards

(Paperback)

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The collaborative character of science and scholarship, whether formal or informal in nature, is the focus of this discussion by a master of the subject. The world of scholarly communication is evolving with exponential speed. Propelled by the Web and the rapid transition from paper to electronic journals, the scale of the research effort is moving from the individual to research conducted by dozens of scientists scattered all over the globe.

These changes evoke many questions: What does it mean to be an author in an age of collective effort How are responsibility and credit allocated in collaborative endeavors What is the relationship between reading, referencing and reputation - the political economy of citation How are social relations inscribed in intellectual space Will the move to online and open access publishing provide new measures of authorial salience and intellectual impact Cronin answers these questions as he captures the complex relationship between authorship and the reward system of science.

Reviews

Cronin's latest book is a densely packed synthesis of scholarly communication-its history, scope, current theories, and anticipated future developments....Ideally, this is a book that academic librarians can recommend to faculty as a starting point for valuable discussion of this important topic within academia. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students (especially but not exclusively in library and information science) will also benefit. Highly recommended for all librarians interested in the electronic paradigm shift, this work will also be of value to anyone with an interest in how research is disseminated. Highly recommended. All levels. * Choice Reviews *
Cronin (information science, Indiana U.-Bloomington) analyzes the new world of science scholarship, which is largely a collaborative process, not just of a small number of colleagues exchanging hand-written notes but of perhaps hundreds working together on the Web. Cronin describes the new methods of intellectual collaboration, citation, and reward, and finds that traditional means of communication and establishing reputation may only stretch so far. He believes the core of science, experimentation, is quite different than its afterthought, communication, and recommends more study on sorting out the transition from the lone hand to the new concept of hands. * Scitech Book News *

Author Bio

Blaise Cronin is the Rudy Professor of Information Science, and Dean of the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He is also the author of Jeremiad Jottings and Pulp Friction.