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Dissertation Information for Sarah Scott Gibson

NAME:
- Sarah Scott Gibson

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Case Western Reserve University (USA) (1975)

ADVISORS:
- Phyllis A. Richmond

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Jesse H. Shera
- Genevieve Miller
- Dorothy Melville Sinclair

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The exchange Literature of regional scientific societies

Abstract: This study investigates the literature produced

by those societies defined as general and

regional as distinct from those having a broad

national base and from those that are primarily

oriented about a single subject. It attempts to

determine what role is played by these regional

societies and their pUblications in the ffusion

of scientific information. Exchange is one of

the primary means of distribution of their

publications and lS regarded as a subunit of

the scientific communication systern, fnd an

attempt is made to explain its rsistence.
LIThe genesis and evolution of the societies

and their journals from their inception in the

seventeenth century is reviewed, as is the

development of the exchange system. To obtain a

narrower focus, four representative societies

were chosen for study: the Denison Scientific

Association, a college-affiliated society; the

Rochester Academy of Science, a regional

organization with a city base; the Ohio Academy

of Science, a state-wide organization; and
the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, ~

scientific museum. The subject areas of their

respective publications were delineated, and an

attempt was made to establish the status of

their authors within the scientific community,

using a predetermined set of criteria. To

ascertain the degree to which the exchange

journals are Visible and used, both obtrusive

(questionnaire) and unobtrusive (citation

counting) measures were used.
The continued survival of thls type of

scientific literature suggests that at present

scientlflc research needs more outlets

than_those provided by I1core ll journals. In

addition, the exchange journals appear to,

serve several
other functions. They provide visibility for

those who publish in them and prestige for

their sponsoring organizations; they serve as

repositories for regional scientific

information; they operate as vehicles for

scientists beginning their publishing careers;

and they act as counterweights to what some

scientists view as overspecialization in

science.
The findings further strongly suggest the

existence
of a two level usage of scientific journals,

one for
exchange journals and one for subscription

periodicals, and cross-citation between the two

types is limited. The existence of these two

paths of usc should be confirmed
with larger samples, preferably with as much of

the total corpus of scientific exchange

journals as possible. The reasons for such a

divergence need more investigation by means

more subtle than study of citatlon patterns.

MPACT Scores for Sarah Scott Gibson

A = 1
C = 21
A+C = 22
T = 1
G = 1
W = 1
TD = 1
TA = 0
calculated 2008-04-09 14:42:22

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