Carnot E. Nelson

Communication in the physical and the social sciences.

Although composed of similar elements and structured similarly, the communications systems associated with the physical sciences and the social sciences differ markedly with respect to the operation and use of these elements. For both groups of disciplines, as information flows through the system it encounters lags and filtering, and much of a scientists communication behavior is an effort to compensate for these factors. Because the lags and filtering within each system differ in loci and extent, the members of different disciplines adjust to them differently, and the overall information flow patterns in the physical and in the social sciences differ.

Research studies in patterns of scientific communication: II. The role of the national meeting in scientific and technical communication

Abstract We describe the results of a comprehensive study of scientific/technical communication associated with eleven national meetings which were sponsored by nine physical-, social- and engineering-science disciplines. Three groups of meeting participants were studied: authors (persons who presented papers) attendants (sample of persons who were present at these paper-presentations), and requestors (sample of persons who requested copies of these papers). The results showed that the national meeting is the first public announcement of a large portion of current research findings in any discipline and much of the information-exchange behavior encountered at the meeting is intrinsically exploratory. The meeting presentation itself usually constitutes an interim report since most material presented there ultimately finds its way into the journal literature. Some discussion is presented of the relationship of the information-exchange activities to characteristics of meeting participants.

Research Studies in Patterns of Scientific Communication: I. General Description of Research Program.

Abstract This article is the first in a series which describes the general procedures and some findings of over seventy studies which we conducted from 1966 to 1971 on the information-exchange activities of over 12,000 scientists and engineers in a sample of nine physical, social and engineering sciences. We designed the studies so that (a) the full spectrum of scientific communication media could be explored, (b) the various studies were coupled in order that data obtained from one study could be directly related to those obtained from other studies, (c) the scheduling of the studies was conducted in real time in order that the same body of information could be followed from its inception to its final integration into the general body of scientific knowledge, and (d) the same studies were conducted for all nine disciplines being studied in order that genuine comparisons could be made among them. The data are now stored on machine-readable magnetic tapes and will be made available to scholars in the field of information science.

Scientific Information Exchange Surrounding the 1968 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association1

tion. It is usually the professional society that sponsors various types of meetings, from small conferences to large annual meetings, and publishes the most important journals in the field. The recent rapid growth of manpower and information in educational research has made the American Educational Research Association (AERA) increasingly aware of its key role in the dissemination of scientific and technical information in educational research. In order to improve the dissemination of scientific and technical information in educational research, AERA became, in early 1968, the ninth professional society to join The Johns Hopkins University Center for Research in Scientific Communication program of studies. The major objective of this program is, in cooperation with these professional societies, the study of the utilization of their communications media and of the information needs and practices of the scientists and technologists they represent.

APPENDIX D – Research Studies in Patterns of Scientific Communication: II, The Role of the National Meeting in Scientific and Technical Communication*

We describe the results of a comprehensive study of scientific/technical communication associated with eleven national meetings which were sponsored by nine physical-, social- and engineering-science disciplines. Three groups of meeting participants were studied: authors (persons who presented papers) attendants (sample of persons who were present at these paper-presentations), and requestors (sample of persons who requested copies of these papers). The results showed that the national meeting is the first public announcement of a large portion of current research findings in any discipline and much of the information-exchange behaviour encountered at the meeting is intrinsically exploratory. The meeting presentation itself usually constitutes an interim report since most material presented there ultimately finds its way into the journal literature. Some discussion is presented of the relationship of the information-exchange activities to characteristics of meeting participants.

APPENDIX C – Research Studies in Patterns of Scientific Communication: I, General Description of Research Program

This article is the first in a series which describes the general procedures and some findings of over 70 studies which we conducted from 1966 to 1971 on the information-exchange activities of over 12,000 scientists and engineers in a sample of nine physical, social and engineering sciences. We designed the studies so that (1) the full spectrum of scientific communication media could be explored, (b) the various studies were coupled in order that data obtained from one study could be directly related to those obtained from other studies, (c) the scheduling of the studies was conducted in real time in order that the same body of information could be followed from its inception to its final integration into the general body of scientific knowledge, and (d) the same studies were conducted for all nine disciplines being studied in order that genuine comparisons could be made among them. The data are now stored on machine-readable magnetic tapes and will be made available to scholars in the field of information science.