# Alex Csiszar ![Alex Csiszar](/sites/g/files/omnuum9746/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/csiszar/files/aac-nyc.jpg?itok=VI9nwOZg) Alex Csiszar studies the history of science in modern Europe. He publishes primarily on the history of communications media and information technology in the sciences. His work asks how formats and genres -- newspapers, journals, books, and databases — have evolved in conjunction with changes in how groups come to know things about the natural world, and in the criteria they use to trust the knowledge claims of others. His first book, [*The Scientific Journal: Authorship and the Politicsl of Knowledge in the Nineteenth Century* ](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo28179042.html)(2018) follows the rise of the modern scientific journal in Western Europe, focusing on the changing relationship between authorship and scientific identity, transformations in systems of judgement, and developing notions of trust and public accountability. It is the first book to attempt to explain how being an investigator of the natural world came, by the early twentieth century, to be identified closely with being a very particular kind of author. He is currently writing a book titled *Rank and File: From the Literature Seach to Algorithmic Judgment*. See a recent piece on the early history of bibliometrics here: "[Provincializing Impact: From Imperial Anxiety to Algorithmic Universalism](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/725131?journalCode=osiris)." *The Scientific Journal* is now available in paperback. There is also a [Japanese translation](https://www.unp.or.jp/ISBN/ISBN978-4-8158-1145-7.html) by Kazuhiro Shibata (University of Nagoya Press, 2024) and an [Arabic translation](https://nama-store.com/product/-------felcc) (Namaa Association for Research and Development, 2024). Please feel welcome to [email me ](mailto:acsiszar@fas.harvard.edu?subject=Paper%20Request)for access to any papers that you aren't able to access directly. Bluesky: [@alexcsiszar.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/alexcsiszar.bsky.social) ## Recent Writing Download 3 citations download- [BibTeX](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=bibtex) - [EndNote X3 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=endnote8) - [EndNote 7 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=endnote7) - [Endnote tagged](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=tagged) - [Marc](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=marc) - [PubMedId](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=pubmed_id) - [RIS](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&taxonomy_filters=&&&format=ris) ### 2024 Csiszar, Alex. “[Isis Before HSS: From Géniologie to New Humanism](/publications/isis-hss-g%C3%A9niologie-new-humanism)”. *Isis* 115, no. 3 (2024): 481-90. Csiszar, Alex. “[Isis Before HSS: From Géniologie to New Humanism](/publications/isis-hss-g%C3%A9niologie-new-humanism)”. *Isis* 115, no. 3 (2024): 481-90. - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/731550) - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/731550) Csiszar, Alex. “[Blurry Authorship: Originality in Science Before and After Large Language Models](/publications/blurry-authorship-originality-science-and-after-large-language-models)”. *Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences* 54, no. 5 (2024): 611-16. Csiszar, Alex. “[Blurry Authorship: Originality in Science Before and After Large Language Models](/publications/blurry-authorship-originality-science-and-after-large-language-models)”. *Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences* 54, no. 5 (2024): 611-16. - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article-pdf/54/5/611/842934/hsns.2024.54.5.611.pdf) - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article-pdf/54/5/611/842934/hsns.2024.54.5.611.pdf) ### 2023 Csiszar, Alex. “[Provincializing Impact: From Imperial Anxiety to Algorithmic Universalism](/publications/provincializing-impact-imperial-anxiety-algorithmic-universalism)”. *Osiris* 38 (2023): 103-26. Csiszar, Alex. “[Provincializing Impact: From Imperial Anxiety to Algorithmic Universalism](/publications/provincializing-impact-imperial-anxiety-algorithmic-universalism)”. *Osiris* 38 (2023): 103-26. - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.1086/725131) - [ descriptionPublisher's Version](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.1086/725131) [ More arrow\_circle\_right ](/publications)