Communicating Medicine: Digitalisation of Swedish Medical Periodicals, 1781–2011 (SweMPer)

The purpose is to create a database (Swemper), containing the most important Swedish medical periodicals published between 1781–2011. The text and metadata of 21 titles (ca 1100 physical volumes), comprising close to half a million pages, will be digitised, curated and made available through the Alvin cultural heritage platform and a new medical history portal (medicinhistoria.se).

By creating this infrastructure, the project aims to: 1) establish a national resource for research and education in the history of medicine and the medical humanities, as well as for the wider public; 2) make medical historical periodicals available for both broad and long-term analyses through quantitative research methods; 3) process, enrich and qualify data and metadata for research through the expertise of the interdisciplinary team.

Swemper is critical to the infrastructural needs of current Swedish research. The unique character of the database, the first in the world to include the discourse of doctors and health professionals as well as students and patients, will enable new ways of analysing medical history. It will greatly strengthen the digital infrastructural landscape for research in the humanities, the social sciences and medicine as well as the expanding field of digital humanities.

A partnership will be established with Uppsala University Library. An advisory board will anchor the project in international research. The work plan comprises workshops and user testing.