Global historical trends in scientific publication as a requirement for doctoral degrees

Abstract

Introduction: scientific publishing and doctoral training are two deeply interconnected academic institutions. Scientific article is defined as a structured, published written report that communicates original research results, constituting the primary means for the validation and socialization of knowledge.

Objective: to analyze global historical trends in scientific publishing as a requirement for doctoral degrees.

Development: historical analysis reveals four macro-sequential trends. Initially, there was a dissociation between the doctoral thesis (medieval in origin, reformulated in the 19th-century Humboldtian model) and formal communication channels (scientific journals that emerged in the 17th century). In the 19th century, the convergence of science professionalization elevated the article to academic currency. After World War II, the explosion of scientific production and the development of bibliometric tools (such as the Science Citation Index) led to the formalization and institutionalization of the requirement in university regulations. Finally, the digital age and globalization have led to a homogenization toward the Anglo-Saxon model based on metrics, generating a high-tension ecosystem (“publish or perish”) between the accumulation of academic capital and comprehensive research training.

Conclusions: the study identifies an evolutionary trajectory from initial dissociation to mandatory symbiosis, characterized by progressive formalization, disciplinary expansion, and globalization of the requirement. This process has created an inherent tension between the logic of metered scientific productivity and the ideals of deep and risky doctoral training.