The impact of computer usage on scholarly communication among social scientists

An examination has been made of the effects of using information technology an the communication of research by social scientists in Brazil. Two disci plines were studied economics and sociology - via both interviews and a que stionnaire survey. A small sample of UK social scientists was also intervie wed. The results indicate that major changes in communication habits are occurri ng. These are already well advanced for informal communication and are begi nning to appear for formal communication. Differences have been found betwe en economists and sociologists, with the former more active in their use of electronic facilities. Along with such discipline-related differences, the developments also appear to be influenced, in part, by pressures from the research community and ham the institutional environment. One significant i mpact of information technology seems to be an increasing democratisation o f the international research community.