ABSTRACT
Scientific writing has always been changing, moved by multiple forces-some
of them under the inventive control of writers and editors creating articles and
journals; some evolving from the communal interactions of emerging and
changing scientific communities and their ways of pursuing investigations; some
responsive to larger organizational, political, and economic arrangements within
which science operates; and some exploiting the opportunities afforded by
changing communicative technologies. The forms and appearances of texts are
the realizations of communicative actions within these larger sets of forces.
What we may think of as the standard forms of scientific communication are
only semistable sets of expectations that emerged gradually since the invention
of journals in the 17th century. While some features arose early in this history,
some only took on robust form in the 20th century, as science came to reside at
the intersection of university departments and professional societies (with their
structures of rewards and advancements), government and business interests
and funding (based on their perceived needs for scientific and technological
knowledge), knowledge-based professions that pervade contemporary society
(with their reliance on systems of authority and credentials), expanding educated
populations who look toward science for knowledge, and evolving technologies
and systems for the production and distribution of texts (including cheap printing,
commercial publishing companies, university and professional libraries, national
mail systems, and international agreements).
