博主按：下面这篇文章已被录用，将于今年春天的某个时候发表于Quantitative Science Studies杂志的一期讨论质性研究与定量研究关系的专辑。该期专辑的主编主动表示，欢迎我们线上先行发表此文。

    我们也在ArXiv上贴出了此文，链接为https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.02135。

Impact of JD Bernal’s Thoughts in the Science of Science upon China:

Implications for Today’s Quantitative Studies of Science

Yong Zhao1, Jian Du2 and Yishan Wu3

1 Information Research Center, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

2 National Institute of Health Data Science, Peking University, Beijing, China

3 Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, Beijing, China

Abstract：John Desmond Bernal (1901-1970) was one of the most eminent scientists in molecular biology, and also regarded as the founding father of the Science of Science. His book The Social Function of Science laid the theoretical foundations for the discipline. In this article, we summarize four chief characteristics of his ideas in the Science of Science: the socio-historical perspective, theoretical models, qualitative and quantitative approaches, and studies of science planning and policy. China has constantly reformed its scientific and technological system based on research evidence of the Science of Science. Therefore, we analyze the impact of Bernal’s Science-of-Science thoughts on the development of China’s Science of Science, and discuss how they might be usefully taken still further in quantitative studies of science.

Keywords：J.D. Bernal, the Social Function of Science, the Science of Science, China’s Science of Science, Quantitative Studies of Science

The Science of Science, literally meaning science connoisseurship or science studies (Kokowski, 2014) can be defined as the use of scientific methodology to study science itself. For example, one can study how research is done and where improvements can be made. The Science of Science can also be considered as the self-consciousness of science.

Polish scholars were the first to recognize a need for a separate field concerned with Science-of-Science problems (Walentynowicz, 1982). In 1925, the Polish sociologist Znaniecki introduced the term naukoznawstwo (Science of Science or Science Studies) in his study Przedmiot i zadania nauki o wiedzy (Subject and Tasks of the Science of Knowledge). Ten years later M. Ossowska and S. Ossowski wrote another article, entitled Nauka o nauce (The Science of Science) in Polish, in which they defined the scope and formulated the program of Science-of-Science research. These authors identified three core disciplines that constitute the scientific study of science: epistemology and philosophy of science, psychology of scientific creativity, and the anthropology or sociology of science.

The emergence of the Science of Science, as a new scientific discipline, is generally associated with J.D. Bernal’s book The Social Function of Science first published in 1939 (Goldsmith & Mackay, 1964). The book’s theme was summarized in its sub-title: “what science does and what science could do”. In his later essay Towards a Science of Science, co-authored with Mackay A.L., Bernal took Derek John de Solla Price’s definition as a general indication of the discipline: “the history, philosophy, sociology, psychology, economics, political science and operations research (etc.) of science, technology, and medicine (etc.)”. He also identified some specific research subjects in the Science of Science: statistical attacks, detailed study of critical cases, systems research, experimental approaches and classification. Meanwhile he separated the discipline into pure and applied branches (Bernal & Mackay, 1966). The first, descriptive and analytic in nature, asks “how do science and the scientist work?” and the second, normative and synthetic in nature, asks “how can science be applied to the needs of human society?” Bernal considered that the Science of Science must be a proper science with special characteristics. There must be observation, speculation and experiment or operational research. Thus, unlike Polish researchers in the history, philosophy and sociology of science, who approached Science-of-Science issues usually with a humanistic methodology, Bernal brought measurement techniques from statistics to the analysis of science (Price, 1964). He also pointed out emphatically that science is both affecting and being affected by the social changes of its time. He thought that “this is a social and economic rather than a philosophical inquiry” (Bernal, 1939).