HISTORIOGRAPHIC CONCERNS UNDERLYING INDIAN-JOURNAL-OF-THE-HISTORY-OF-SCIENCE - A BIBLIOMETRIC INFERENCE

This review proposes that the papers appearing in the Indian Journal o f the History of Science fall into a genre of the history of science w riting that strictly observes the internal-external divide. The attemp t here is to identify the historiographic elements that constitute thi s genre of the history of science in India. Based on a bibliometric an alysis, the priorities of historians of science in India publishing in the journal are identified. These priorities and the underlying histo riography render certain kinds of problems amenable for research and i nvestigation and foreclose the pursuit of others. In attempting a soci ology of the discipline, a very preliminary one is proposed here, othe r themes and areas may be identified. In addition, it is suggested tha t the conservatism of historians of science, tied as they are to the a pron-strings of the scientific establishment, has curtailed the growth of the discipline. While this review is partisan, it also seeks to ga uge the growth of the discipline in terms of the precepts set down by the founders of the IJHS itself.