On July 1, 2024, the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST) became one of the editorial offices of the journal Isis which has been the primary journal of the History of Science Society (HSS) since its first publication in 1912. It is the oldest and most widely circulated English-language journal for the history of science and is considered a barometer publication for research in the field.
For the next five years (2024-2029), Isis will be co-edited by Professor Projit Bihari Mukharji and Professor Elise K. Burton. This marks the first time that the editorship of Isis will be shared between two institutions: Ashoka University in New Delhi, India (Mukharji), and the University of Toronto (Burton). During this period, the journal’s book review editor will be Professor Pablo F. Gómez, (University of Wisconsin-Madison). This historic editorial partnership brings the leadership of Isis to Asia for the first time ever, and the editorial team hopes to promote the journal and the History of Science Society among scholars in Asia and the rest of the Global South.
To gain more insight into the new editors and their vision for the journal, read the HSS announcement and listen to the HSS Centennial podcasst in which the former and current editors of Isis share their thoughts on their experiences and visions for the journal while talking about the history of science as a field.
The Toronto editorial office is something of a homecoming for the journal. From 2004-2014, Professor Bernard Lightman, an IHPST affiliate, edited Isis out of York University. The work of IHPST faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students has regularly appeared on the pages of Isis. Below is a selection of articles contributed by IHPST scholars over the past twenty years.
Sung, Wen-Ching, Chen-Pang Yeang, and Zhixiang Cheng. "Demarcating a Pure Land: CFido as a Cyberspace for Computer Amateurs in 1990s China." Isis 115, no. 2 (2024): 267-291.
Ghoshal, Sayori. "Experts of Identity: Race, Ethnicity, and Science in India, 1910s–1940s." Isis 115, no. 1 (2024): 84-104.
Burton, Elise K. "Rethinking Collaboration: Medical Research and Working Relationships at the Iranian Pasteur Institute." Isis 112, no. 3 (2021): 461-483.
Mukharji, Projit Bihari, Myrna Perez Sheldon, Elise K. Burton, et al. "A roundtable discussion on collecting demographics data." Isis 111, no. 2 (2020): 310-353.
Burton, Elise K. "Red crescents: Race, genetics, and sickle cell disease in the Middle East." Isis 110, no. 2 (2019): 250-269.
Yeang, Chen-Pang. "From Modernizing the Chinese Language to Information Science: Chao Yuen Ren’s Route to Cybernetics." Isis 108, no. 3 (2017): 553-580.
Solovey, Mark. "Senator Fred Harris's National Social Science Foundation proposal: Reconsidering federal science policy, natural science–social science relations, and American liberalism during the 1960s." Isis 103, no. 1 (2012): 54-82.
Vicedo, Marga. "The father of ethology and the foster mother of ducks: Konrad Lorenz as expert on motherhood." Isis 100, no. 2 (2009): 263-291.
Krementsov, Nikolai. "Hormones and the Bolsheviks: From organotherapy to experimental endocrinology, 1918–1929." Isis 99, no. 3 (2008): 486-518.