1. Scholarly Communication Institutions:
Transforming Scholarship with History
Shawn Martin Indiana University – Bloomington
4S Conference November 13, 2015

2. What is “scholarly communication?”
Creation
Dissemination
Management
Scholarship

3. What is “scholarly communication?”
“Seventeenth-century commentators felt secure in guaranteeing the truthfulness of narratives by pointing to the integrity of those who proffered them Trust is no longer bestowed on familiar individuals; it is accorded to institutions and abstract capacities thought to reside in certain institutions.” - Steven Shapin, A Social History of Truth

4. What is “scholarly communication?”
“As digital content becomes the primary form of scholarly discourse, the need for trust mechanisms will grow Trust is an inherently social construct that varies widely by culture, context, and time.” - Christine Borgman , Scholarship in the Digital Age

5. Problem
As more scholarship is produced, scholarly communication and its institutions become more complex
Trust in the system gets generated in different ways
How can history help us answer how trust is generated in the scholarly communication system?

6. Can history help solve the problem?
What were solutions at the transition of the last scholarly communication system?

7. Can history help solve the problem?
Movement toward professionalization
Beginnings of professional societies
Focus on research as means toward professionalization of university faculty
Shift from placing trust in reputation of individual to trust in journals

8. Professionalization of history
Trained in Germany and professor at Johns Hopkins
Saw original research as the foundation of the discipline
Envisioned “an American Historical Review under the auspices of the [American Historical] Association.”
Herbert Baxter Adams (1850 – 1901) , first secretary of the American Historical Association

9. Professionalization of history
Articles come from board of editors and well-known historians
Initially readers relied on reputations of authors
Now we rely on reputation of journal

10. Conclusions
Both historical and current scholarly communication institutions built on
Reputation
Trust
Now moving back toward trusting in individuals (Twitter)
Do scholarly communication institutions need to be redesigned to ensure trust in the system?