Outline for a History of Science Measurement

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5337940
AutoresBenoit Godin (0000-0002-2474-6494, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique-Montreal, autor de correspondencia)
Año2002
Volumen27
Número1
Páginas3-27
Fecha de publicación2002-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/016224390202700101
OpenAlexW2059600429
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas60

The measurement of science and technology (S&T) is now fifty years old. It owes a large part of its existence to the work of the National Science Foundation and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the 1950s and 1960s. Given the centrality of S&T statistics in science studies, it is surprising that no history of the measurement exists in the literature. This article outlines such a history. The history is cast in the light of social statistics. Like social statistics, S&T indicators are produced mainly by governments but differ in a number of aspects. First, they have not been developed to control individuals. Second, they have taken shape from the start at the international level. Third, they reflect a consensus among states and their organizations. This article shows that this specificity is due to the sociopolitics that drives S&T measurement

Centrality · Economics · Management · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Statistics · Engineering · Law · Mathematics · Research, Science, and Academia · scientometrics and bibliometrics research · Twentieth Century Scientific Developments