Introduction

Whereas methodological discussions of scientific publication frequently occur in an institutional vacuum, in the sense that they take little account of the process whereby scientific contributions are published, this symposium illuminates the urgency of focusing on the increased dominance of commercial considerations in scientific publication in particular and science in general. It stresses the importance of embarking upon a multi-disciplinary evaluation that starts from a contextual perspective, looks at developments in sciences other than just economics, and goes beyond attributing everything to technological changes.