# Science and its significant other: Representing the humanities in bibliometric scholarship

**Authors:** Thomas Franssen, Paul Wouters  
**arXiv:** [1710.04004](https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.04004)  
**Date:** 2017-10-11  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/1710.04004v1/

## Key points

- Bibliometrics is a quantitative method used to analyze scientific publications
- Bibliometrics offers a particular representation of science by highlighting certain elements of publications while obscuring others
- A bibliometric analysis is always performative, bringing a particular representation of science into being which can potentially influence the science system itself
- Franssen and Wouters analyzed bibliometric scholarship between 1965 and 2016 that studies the humanities empirically, distinguishing between two periods of scholarship
- The first period from 1965 to 1989 is characterized by a sociological theoretical framework, the development and use of the Price index as well as small samples of journal publications as data sources
- The second period from the mid-1980s up until today is characterized by a new hinterland - that of science policy and research evaluation - in which bibliometric methods become embedded
- Throughout this history, the humanities have often been compared to other scientific domains or to a general notion of sciences
- By examining these representations over time, Franssen and Wouters shed light on how bibliometrics shapes our understanding of science as well as its impact on different fields within academia.

## Summary

In their article "Science and its significant other: Representing the humanities in bibliometric scholarship," Thomas Franssen and Paul Wouters explore how bibliometrics, a quantitative method used to analyze scientific publications, has represented the humanities throughout history. They argue that bibliometrics offers a particular representation of science by highlighting certain elements of publications while obscuring others. This means that a bibliometric analysis is always performative, bringing a particular representation of science into being which can potentially influence the science system itself. The authors analyze bibliometric scholarship between 1965 and 2016 that studies the humanities empirically, distinguishing between two periods of scholarship. The first period from 1965 to 1989 is characterized by a sociological theoretical framework, the development and use of the Price index as well as small samples of journal publications as data sources. The second period from the mid-1980s up until today is characterized by a new hinterland - that of science policy and research evaluation - in which bibliometric methods become embedded. Throughout this history, the humanities have often been compared to other scientific domains or to a general notion of sciences. By examining these representations over time, Franssen and Wouters shed light on how bibliometrics shapes our understanding of science as well as its impact on different fields within academia.