Publications, normative guidelines
Many guidelines providing normative principles for designing articles, books, reports etc. are published. A part of this literature is domain specific. Major associations for, for example, biologists, linguists, physicists and psychologists have their own "style manual", "publication manual" or whatever they are called. Also many publishers and journals have their own normative guidelines. This is also the case with organizations working with standards, information and science make guidelines, e.g. DANDOK(1972) and UNESCO (1963, 1969).
There is also some research and development going on (e.g. in developing software for writers), but research is mostly undertaking in the field of composition studies, which is more descriptive and explanatory than it is normative. (Research in this field has actually criticized some of the guidelines, for example, the one published by the American Psychological Association, see Brand, (1996), Josselson & Lieblich (1996), Madigan, Johnson & Linton (1995), Madigan, Linton & Johnson (1996), Vipond (1993 & 1996).
This field is a natural extension of the core of Library and Information
Science (LIS). Precise design of reference lists is necessary for retrieving
documents in libraries. The intermediating of different standards and guidelines
is clearly a relevant task for LIS. This may be a part of programs for
user education. It is important that specific
guidelines for the users' disciplines are mediated, not general standards that
the librarians or information specialists believe should be the norm. It is also
important to observe a functional requirements, not pedantry.
Literature:
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the
American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: American
Psychological Association.
Barzun, J. & Graff, H. (2003). The modern researcher: The classic manual on all aspects of research and writing. 6 edition Belmont, California :Wadsworth Publishing.
Brand, J. L. (1996). Can we decide between logical positivism and social
construction views of reality? American Psychologist, 51(6),
652653.
Borris, G. V. (1950). Teknikken ved udarbejdelsen og udgivelsen af videnskabelige
afhandlinger. 2.ed. København: Gad.
Chicago Manual of Style (2003). 15th edition For Authors,
Editors, and Copywriters. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (With
substantial sections on preparing manuscripts for electronic publishing, editing
for online publications and citing electronic sources).
DANDOK (1972). [Statens udvalg for videnskabelig og teknisk information og
dokumentation]: Retningslinier for udformning af videnskabelige artikler.
København: Undervisningsministeriet, Forskningssekretariatet.
DeBakey, L. (ed). (1976). The Scientific Journal: Editorial policies and practices. St.
Louis: C. V. Mosby Co.
Hjørland, B. et al. (1973). Specialevejledning: Retningslinier for
specialeskrivende ved studiet til psykologisk embedseksamen på Københavns
Universitet. København: Københavns Universitet, Psykologisk laboratorium.
Høeg, O. A. (1971). Vitenskapelig forfatterskap. 2.ed. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Josselson, R., & Lieblich, A. (1996). Fettering the mind in the name of “science.” American Psychologist, 51(6), 651652.
Katzenelson, B. (1996). Om skriftlig afhandling. Vejledning i udarbejdelse og affattelse af universitetsopgaver og videnskabelige arbejder. 2.udgave. København: Dansk psykologisk forlag.
Madigan, R., Johnson, S., & Linton, P. (1995). The language of psychology: APA style as epistemology. American Psychologist, 50, 428436.
Madigan, R., Linton, P., & Johnson, S. (1996). APA style: Quo vadis? American Psychologist, 51(6), 653655.
Price, D. J. de Solla (1964). Ethics of scientific publication.
Science, 144,
655-657.
Smith, J. (1968). Bogfremstilling. En introduktion for bogvenner. København:
Foreningen for boghåndværk.
UNESCO (1963). Bibliography of publications designated to raise the standard of scientific literature. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO. (1969). Guide for the Preparation of Scientific Papers for Publication. UNESCO Bulletin Library, 23(2), 64-69.
Vipond, D. (1993). Writing and psychology: Understanding writing and its teaching from the perspective of composition studies. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Vipond, D. (1996). Problems with a monolithic APA style. American Psychologist, 51(6), 653.
Journals:
Scholarly Publishing, 1970-
See also: Composition studies;
Documents, quality of;
Editor; Peer-review
Birger Hjørland
26-05-2006