The Value of Bibliographic Data Analysis for Detecting Patterns of Intellectual and Social Collaboration and Exchange in the Publications of Members of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft (1617–1680) | CU Experts

This article draws on large-scale data analysis to investigate the connections in print between members of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft (Fruitbearing Society), the first and largest academy in early modern Central Europe. Our work analyzes the collective publication output of Society members based mainly on bibliographic data in the German retrospective national bibliography for the seventeenth century, the “Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts” (VD17). These publications are an important location of intellectual and social discourse among members, and with the scholarly community and broader reading public across time and space. The research reveals that extending the set of actors and connections beyond authorship to present a broader perspective on collaboration is both valuable and arguably more in keeping with the Society’s own perception of cultural participation. The patterns that emerge suggest several avenues for future research to increase our understanding of the role of print in the functioning of the Society as a community.

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