CfP: Science of Science: Conceptualizations and Models of Science

[Katy Borner]

Call for Papers: Informetrics, Special Issue on

"Science of Science: Conceptualizations and Models of Science"

Guest Editors: Katy Börner, Indiana University & Andrea Scharnhorst, 
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

This special issue aims to improve our understanding of the structure 
and evolution of science by reviewing and advancing existing 
conceptualizations and models of scholarly activity.

Existing conceptualizations and models of science have been created by 
scholars from very different disciplines and backgrounds. They have the 
form of

    * philosophical concepts (Bernal, Kuhn, Popper),
    * (utopian) stories (Wells, Lem),
    * visual drawings (Otlet),
    * empirical measurements (Price, Garfield), or
    * mathematical theories (Goffman, Yablonski)

among others. 

It is our belief that a theoretically grounded and practically useful 
shared conceptualization of science can provide the intellectual 
framework to interlink and puzzle together the hundreds of science 
models in existence today. This is analogous to how meteorologists or 
seismologists integrate rather different local weather models or seismic 
hazard predictions into a global coherent model that has higher 
predictive value and broader coverage. With this issue we aim to start 
an interdisciplinary discourse towards a science of science models.

The design of such a conceptualization requires the identification of the

    * Boundaries of the system or object.
    * Basic building blocks of science, e.g., units of analysis or key
      actors.
    * Interactions of building blocks, e.g., via coupled networks.
    * Basic mechanisms of growth and change.
    * Existing laws (static and dynamic).

Ideally, the conceptualizations can be also presented in a visual form 
so that disciplinary and cultural boundaries can be bridged more easily.

This issue invites contributions such as

    * Reviews of existing conceptualizations of the structure and
      evolution of science. Each paper should compare and contrast works
      from multiple authors. Here, we invite contributions by
      philosophers, sociologists and historians of science as well as
      scientometricians.
    * Historiographic and ethnographic work on how people understand and
      communicate the structure and dynamics of science via imagery and
      textual descriptions. Papers in this category should analyze a
      variety of approaches, including critiques on science
      conceptualizations.
    * Novel conceptualizations and empirically validated models of
      science and scientific communication. Please discuss epistemic
      assumptions and disciplinary roots, possible application domains,
      covered and omitted features of scientific evolution, and model
      interpretation. Work on 'ensemble models' that integrate different
      mathematical models to arrive at higher quality and broader
      coverage simulations of science are welcome. 

Authors are also welcome to discuss alternative paper proposals with the 
guest editors.

Deadlines

Submission of 2-page abstracts:                          May 30th, 2008

Submission of full papers:                                   Aug 31st, 2008

Reviews back and accepted papers shared:         Oct 31st, 2008

Final version due:                                               Nov 
30th, 2008


-- 
Katy Borner, Victor H. Yngve Associate Professor of Information Science
Director of the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center
School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University

10th Street & Jordan Avenue     Phone:  (812) 855-3256   Fax: -6166
Wells Library 021               E-mail: katy at indiana.edu
Bloomington, IN 47405, USA      WWW:    ella.slis.indiana.edu/~katy

Mapping Science exhibit will be on display at the National Research 
Council in Ottawa, Canada, April 3-June 27, 2008, http://scimaps.org/

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