Scholarly journals and the disciplinary formation of the modern humanities in Sweden, c. 1850-1920

The project investigates the impact of changing publishing patterns in the humanities in Sweden between c. 1850 and 1920. During this period, the scholarly journal developed into a medium for specialized scientific knowledge.

However, while historians have shown how journals became crucial for the negotiation of modern standards and ideals in the natural sciences, so far, the consequences for the development of the humanities have been overlooked.The project maps the publishing patterns of professors and associate professors (docenter) at Swedish universities, analyzing the importance of the scientific article for individual disciplines with the help of a database.

Next, the project studies the journal as a medium for disciplinary formation. In its third and final phase, the project investigates the article as a format for circulating humanistic knowledge.

The main aim of the project is to discern how the scholarly journal became part of processes of specialization, professionalization and internationalization and determine the results of such transformations for how the humanities produced and circulated knowledge.This project will challenge the notion that changing publishing patterns in the humanities stem from modern bibliometric norms created in natural science.

Instead, it approaches changes in publication as part of the historical development of the humanities, thereby offering historical insight into issues that are still a major concern today.