The great scientific acceleration: Scientometrics and time-binding techniques 1950–1980

This article examines discourse on science citations and information between 1950 and 1980. Drawing upon the works of Eugene Garfield, John Desmond Bernal, and Derek de Solla Price, it explores how the scientific publication became a locus for shaping temporalities. Narratives and visual representations were “time-binding techniques,” which captured, arranged, and displayed temporalities. Past, present, and future were not merely sequential but intricately interwoven. It gave rise to ambivalent notions of both progress and potential hazards of unchecked scientific growth. Furthermore, the article underscores how time-binding techniques had both ontological and policy effects. They defined a place of contemporary society within a chronological flow of time. These accounts also generated calls for rational science policies and stewardship of science amidst what was perceived as an ongoing information explosion. By synthesizing research on historical time and history of postwar science policies, the article contributes to an understanding of temporalities emerging from the sciences in the postwar era.