Challenging the Matthew Effect : International Exchange of Publications in Four Finnish Learned Societies Until the Second World War
71: Finnish Society of Science and Letters, 2012. 1st Edition. Soft Cover. Text in English. 350 pp.
The widely used term, the Matthew effect in science coined by the sociologist Robert Merton describes the accumulation of advantage to those with good premises This book examines if in the case of exchanging scholarly publications the Matthew effect was mitigated by the traditions of scientific communication. This exchange practice began in the eighteenth century, when the scholarly community was known as the Republic of Letters. The idea of republic required certain courtesy rules, in particular reciprocity in various favours and gift-giving. The egalitarian ideals began to decline in the nineteenth century as scientific competition intensified and success accumulated in those countries, institutions and journals which had already gained a good reputation.
This book illustrates how the Finnish learned societies succeeded in their efforts to distribute their publications, to acquire foreign journals for their libraries and to link themselves into the international networks in a period of increasing scientific competition. The focus is on four societies: the Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, the Finnish Literature Society, the Finnish Antiquarian Society and the Finnish Dental Society, which represent different branches of scholarship and also different trategies for promoting international networking. These societies were young, poor and geographically peripheral when they began their publishing activities - hence constituting an interesting case from the viewpoint of the Matthew effect. Fine. Item #3360
ISBN: 9789516533912
Price: $80.00