Jonathan Cole

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Jonathan R. Cole (born August 27, 1942), is an American sociologist and educator. He is currently is John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University at Columbia University. He is best known for his scholarly work developing the sociology of science and his work on science policy. He is also widely known for the fourteen years (from 1989 to 2003) that he spent as Columbia University’s chief academic officer – its Provost and Dean of Faculties.

Biography

Jonathan R. Cole was born in New York City. His mother, Sylvia Dym, was a public, high school teacher of English; his father, Richard Cole (stage name Richard Sanders) held a law degree, but turned to acting early on and had many roles in radio and television during the 1940s. Jonathan R. Cole attended New York City public schools, including Jamaica High School, until he entered Columbia College in 1960. He has spent his entire academic career at Columbia. Majoring in American history at Columbia College (graduating in 1964), he participated also as a varsity athlete in baseball for four years and as a member of Columbia’s freshman basketball team while an undergraduate. He turned to sociology after graduation in large part because of the influence of Robert K. Merton . As an undergraduate he studied with some of the great minds of Columbia in the early 1960s, including Merton, Lionel Trilling, Eric Bentley, Meyer Schapiro, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Daniel Bell, and Richard Hofstadter. Jonathan R. Cole received his Ph.D., with distinction, from Columbia’s Department of Sociology in 1969. He has been teaching, conducting research, and been active in academic administration since receipt of his doctorate, which was entitled, “The Social Structure of Science.” He served as the Director of the Center for the Social Sciences from 1979 to 1987, when he became Vice President for Arts and Sciences. After two years, he was named Provost of the University and in 1994 he became Provost and Dean of Faculties at Columbia, a position that he has held until 2003, when he returned to teaching and research as a member of Columbia’s faculty.

Works

Cole’s scholarly work has focused principally on the development of the sociology of science as a research specialty. The Columbia University Program in the Sociology of Science, with Robert K. Merton, Harriet Zuckerman, Stephen Cole and Jonathan R. Cole as principal investigators, received support from the National Science Foundation for roughly 20 years. Faculty and student members of the program produced a substantial body of both theoretical and empirical work on a variety of themes. Jonathan and Stephen Cole collaborated on studies of the system of social stratification in science and on the reward system in science. They examined the extent to which the social system of science approximated a meritocracy. This work is seen in early-published papers and in their book, Social Stratification in Science (University of Chicago Press, 1973). In this early work, Jonathan and Stephen Cole developed the use of citations as a measure of scientific quality and impact. They were the first social scientists to use this measure extensively as an indicator of impact of published work. Initially this indicator of impact and quality was strongly resisted by scientists and scholars. Today, it is widely used as a measure of scholarly impact and there is a very substantial literature on its varied uses.

Further questions of meritocracy were explored in a project that they conducted for the National Academy of Sciences on the peer review system in science. They focused on whether there was any force to the claim that the peer review system was an “old-boys” network of self-reinforcing elites. The study, which examined the system of grant reviews at the National Science Foundation, resulted in several published works, including Peer Review in the National Science Foundation: Phase One of a Study (1978, with Stephen Cole and Leonard Rubin) and Peer Review in the National Science Foundation: Phase Two of a Study (1981,with Stephen Cole and COPUP of the NAS), (both volumes published by the National Academy of Sciences Press). Concentrating still further on theoretical issues of fairness and meritocracy, Jonathan R. Cole began to explore the place of women in science. His early work, Fair Science: Women in the Scientific Community (The Free Press, 1987) was one of the first major empirical works on the treatment of women in science and how their treatment could be assessed against the norm of universalism in science. Following the publication of this book, a series of studies of women in science were carried out by Cole in collaboration with Harriet Zuckerman. This NSF supported work, which produced extended interviews with hundreds of men and women scientists (including recorded interviews with scores of many of the most eminent female scientists in the United States), resulted in many published papers and the volume The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community (1991, with Harriet Zuckerman and John Bruer, editors). These papers explored, for example, the relationship between marriage, family, and scientific productivity. It tried to explain the “productivity puzzle” of increasing differences in the scientific publication rates of men and women scientists. It compares the careers and scientific productivity of matched samples of men and women in various fields of science. The last of these papers, “A Theory of Limited Differences: Explaining the Productivity Puzzle in Science,” (with Burton Singer) is published in The Outer Circle. His interest in science has extended to work on the relationship between science and the media. He has published on the “social construction of medical facts,” which deals with the presentation by journalists of highly problematic scientific findings as “facts.” His focus is on the sociological relationships between scientists and the media that lead to these distortions.

In recent years, Jonathan R. Cole has turned his scholarly attention to issues in higher education, particularly focusing on problems facing the great American research universities. His edited book (with Elinor Barber and Stephen R. Graubard), The Research University in a Time of Discontent (1994, Johns Hopkins University Press), contains essays by prominent educators, including his own opening chapter, “Balancing Acts: Dilemmas of Choice Facing Research Universities.” More recently, he has been focusing attention on questions of scientific and technological literacy, on intellectual property and the new digital media, and on current problems facing research universities. He has written numerous essays as well on attacks on academic freedom and free inquiry during the period following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. In January 2010, he published The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected (PublicAffairs of the Perseus Publishing Group, 2010)

The years between 1987 and 2003 were spent largely in academic administration. After two years as Vice President for Arts and Sciences, Jonathan R. Cole was Columbia’s chief academic officer for 14 years – the second longest tenure as Provost in the University’s 250-year history. During these years, he has served three University presidents and has been a chief architect in building still further the academic quality of the University. Since the lion’s share of his time during those 14 years were devoted to academic administrative work, Cole’s achievements as Provost and Dean of Faculties can be found as a section in his full curriculum vitae. In 2003, he returned to the faculty as the John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University.

Influences

Jonathan R. Cole’s work has been strongly influenced by both his teachers and collaborators. His work in the sociology of science was strongly influenced by the scholarship and teachings of Robert K. Merton, who was Cole’s dissertation advisor, principal mentor, and faculty colleague. Other strong influences on his work can be found in the empirical work and teachings of Paul F. Lazarsfeld carried out at Columbia. Cole’s principal collaborator, his brother, Stephen Cole, has influened all of his work on science policy and the sociology of science, as has the work of historians of science Derek de Solla Price and Gerald Holton. The quartet of the Coles, Merton, and Harriet Zuckerman produced the foundation for the “Columbia School of the Sociology of Science.”

Awards and Honors

Jonathan Cole has received widespread recognition for his scholarly work and for his work as an academic administrator. He was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1975-76. In the same year, he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He spent the 1986-87 academic year as a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. In 1992, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; in 2003, he was named a “National Associate” of the United States National Academies of Science, was elected a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2004, he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2005, he was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society. Cole has been honored twice by the Government of Italy, being named an “Ufficiale” in 1994 and “Commendatore” of the “ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana” in 2003 for his work in creating the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America.

Publications

Books and Monographs

  • The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Threatened Future New York Public Affairs, 2010
  • More Juice, Less Punch. New York Times, December 22, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/opinion/22cole.html
  • The Research University in a Time of Discontent Baltimore Editor (with Elinor G. Barber and Stephen R. Graubard) : Johns Hopkins University Press. 1994
  • The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community. Editor (with Harriet Zuckerman and John Bruer) : New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 1991. Paperback edition, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
  • Fair Science: Women in the Scientific Community, New York: The Free Press. 1979. Paperback edition with a new preface, New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.
  • Peer Review in the National Science Foundation: Phase One of a Study, Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences Press (Stephen Cole, Leonard Rubin and Jonathan R. Cole). 1978.
  • Social Stratification in Science. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press. Paperback edition, University of Chicago Press, 1981. Sections reprinted in many sources. Translated into Chinese, People’s Republic of China, 1999. (Jonathan R. Cole and Stephen Cole).
  • The Social Structure of Science. Doctoral Dissertation, Columbia University. Dissertation Abstracts International (AAT6920169) (Thesis Advisor: Robert K. Merton) 1969

Journal Articles

  • “Intellectual diversity n the U.S.: To What End?” The Journal of Higher Education: Academic Matters. OCUFA, Fall 2006, pp. 13-16. 2006.
  • “Paul F. Lazarsfeld’s Scholarly Journey,” in WM. Theodore de Barry with Jerry Kisslinger and Tom Mathewson (editors) Living Legacies at Columbia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006, pp. 309 – 322. 2006.
  • “The New McCarthyism,” The Chronicle Review. Volume LII, Number 3, September 9, 2005, B7-B8. 2005.
  • “Academic Freedom under fire,” Daedalus, 134, 2 (Spring 2005): 5-17. 2005.
  • “Robert K. Merton, 1910-2003,” Scientometrics Vol. 60, No. 1: 37-40. 2004.
  • “The Patriot Act on Campus: Defending the University Post 9/11” Boston Review Volume 28, Number 3-4, Summer 2003, 16-18. http://bostonreview.net/BR28.3/cole.html, For letters and response see http://bostonreview.net/BR28.5/letters.html 2003.
  • “Improving Technological Literacy,” Science and Technology, Vol.XVIII, No. 4, Summer. (A. Thomas Young, Jonathan R. Cole, Denise Denton) 2002
  • “Academy and Society in the United States: Cultural Concerns,” Volume 1, pp. 20-27 in Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (editors), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Amsterdam; New York. Elsevier Science. 2001
  • “A Short History of the Use of Citations as a Measure of the Impact of Scientific and Scholarly Work.” Chapter 14: 281-300. In The Web of Knowledge A Festschrift in Honor of Eugene Garfield, Blaise Cronin and Helen Barsky Atkins (editors). Medford New Jersey: Information Today, Inc. 2000.
  • “Two Cultures Revisited.” The Bridge, National Academy of Engineering, Volume 26, Number 3-4, Fall/Winter, pp.16-21. Reprinted in Albert H. Teich, Stephen D. Nelson, Celia McEnaney (editors), AAAS Science and Technology Policy Yearbook, Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C.: 89-100. 1997. (Selected as one of most important articles published in the field during the past year.) 1996
  • “Beyond the Metaphors of War,” Published in 21st C, Columbia University quarterly journal on research at the University. Winter issue. 1995
  • “Science v. Anti-Science,” Published in the Columbia Magazine (Summer, 1995). Sent to 140,000 alumni of the University.
  • “Research Strategies in Science: A Preliminary Inquiry,” Creativity Research Journal. Vol. 7, No. (3 & 4): 391-405. (Harriet Zuckerman and Jonathan R. Cole)
  • “Balancing Acts: Dilemmas of Choice Facing Research Universities,” Daedalus. Volume 122, Number 4, Fall, pp. 1-36. Lead article in issue entitled “The American Research University.”
  • “A Theory of Limited Differences: Explaining the Productivity Puzzle in Science.” (Jonathan R. Cole and Burton Singer) Chapter 13, pp. 277-310, in The Outer Circle Women in the Scientific Community (Harriet Zuckerman, Jonathan R. Cole and John T. Bruer, editors). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
  • “Marriage, Motherhood, and Research Performance in Science,” (Jonathan R. Cole and Harriet Zuckerman) Chapter 6, pp. 157-170 in The Outer Circle Women in the Scientific Community (Harriet Zuckerman, Jonathan R. Cole and John T. Bruer, editors). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
  • “The Paradox of Individual Particularism and Institutional Universalism,” Social Science Information. London, Newbury Park and New Delhi: Sage. Volume 28, Number 1, pp. 51-76.
  • “Do Journal Rejection Rates Index Consensus?” American Sociological Review, Volume 53, February, pp.152-156. (Stephen Cole, Gary Simon and Jonathan R. Cole) Comment on Lowell Hargens, “Scholarly Consensus and Journal Rejection Rates,” American Sociological Review, Volume 53, Number 88, February, pp. 139-151. Comment appears in same issue, pp. 152-156.
  • GATOR: Generalized Automatic Text Organization Retrieval System,” Perspectives, Spring. Published by the IBM Corporation. (Paper describing a primitive software program to enable scholars to analyze both textual as well as qualitative and quantitative data drawn from interviews with roughly 150 men and women scientist.)
  • “Dietary Cholesterol and Heart Disease: The Construction of a Medical ‘Fact’,” Chapter 20, pp. 437-466 in (Hubert J. O’Gorman, editor) Surveying Social Life Papers in Honor of Herbert H. Hyman Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. 1998
  • “Preface to the Paperback Edition,” Fair Science: Women in the Scientific Community. New York: Morningside Press, Fall. 1998
  • “Testing the Ortega Hypothesis: Milestone or Millstone?” (Stephen Cole and Jonathan R. Cole) Scientometrics Volume 12, Numbers 5 - 6, November, pp. 345-353. 1998
  • “Marriage, Motherhood, and Research Performance in Science.” (Jonathan R. Cole and Harriet Zuckerman Scientific American, Volume 255, Number 2, February, pp. 119-125. 1986. Reprinted in (Helga Nowotny and Klaus Taschwer, editors) The Sociology of the Sciences Volume I, Chapter 15, pp. 238-253. Brookfield, Vermont: Edward Elgar Publishing Company, 1996.
  • “Authors: A Disconnected Profession,” Book Research Quarterly, Volume 1, Number 3, Fall, pp. 47-61 (Paul William Kingston and Jonathan R. Cole) 1985
  • “Experts’ Consensus and Decision-making at the National Science Foundation.” Chapter 3, pp. 27-63, in Kenneth S. Warren (editor), Selectivity in Information Systems: Survival of the Fittest. New York: Praeger, Praeger Special Studies, Praeger Scientific. (Jonathan R. Cole and Stephen Cole) 1985.
  • “The Media and Medicine: Believe What You Read at Your Own Risk,” Columbia Magazine, December, pp. 19-22. 1984.
  • “The Productivity Puzzle: Persistence and change in Patterns of Publication of Men and Women Scientists.” (Jonathan R. Cole and Harriet Zuckerman) pp. 217-258 in Marjorie W. Steinkempt and Martin L. Maehr, editors) Advances in Motivation and Achievement A Research Journal Women in Science. Volume 2. Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI PRESS INC. 1984.
  • “Economic Aspects of the Literary Situation,” Public Opinion Quarterly Volume 47, Fall, pp. 361-385. (Paul William Kingston and Jonathan R. Cole) 1983.
  • “NSF Peer Review Continued,” Science, 22 January 1982, Volume 215, Number 4531, pp. 344-348. (Stephen Cole, Jonathan R. Cole, and Gary A. Simon) 1982
  • “Summary of Findings of the Columbia Economic Survey of American Authors,” Art and the Law Volume IV, Number 4, pp. 83-95. (Paul William Kingston, Jonathan R. Cole and Robert K. Merton) 1981.
  • “Chance and Consensus in Peer Review,” Science, 20 November 1981, Volume 215, Number 4531, pp. 344-348. (Stephen Cole, Jonathan R. Cole, and Gary A. Simon)
  • “Women in Science,” American Scientist, Volume 69, July-August, pp. 385-391. 1981. Reprinted as “Women in Science: Past, Present, and Future,” Chapter 16 in Douglas N. Jackson and J. Philippe Rushton (Editors) Scientific Excellence: Origins and Assessment. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 1986.
  • “Meritocracy and Marginality: Women in Science Today and Tomorrow.” Proceedings of Harvard University Symposium entitled, “Choices for Science.” April, 1980, pp. 4-26.
  • ”Scientific Reward Systems: A Comparative Analysis.” In R.A. Jones (editor) Research in Sociology of Knowledge, Sciences and Art. Greenwich, Conn: JAI Press, pp. 167-190. 1978. (Stephen Cole, Jonathan R. Cole and Lorraine Dietrich)
  • ”Peer Review and the Support of Science,” Scientific American, October, 1977. pp. 34-41. (Jonathan R. Cole, Stephen Cole and Leonard Rubin).
  • “The Reputations of American Medical Schools,” Social Forces, Volume 56, Number 31, March, pp. 662-684. 1977. (Jonathan R. Cole and James Lipton) Table A-4, which reproduces the reputational ranks is reprinted in Logan Wilson, American Academics Then and Now. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 270-271, 1979.
  • “The Sociology of Science,” in Warren T. Reich (editor) The Encyclopedia of Bioethics. New York: The Free Press, Volume 4, pp. 1541-1546. 1976.
  • “Affirmative Action Policy: Problems and Proposals.” (A lengthy analysis of affirmative action in the early days produced for the Ford Foundation. It received limited distribution. Copies available.) 1976.
  • “The Reward System of the Social Sciences,” Chapter 3, pp. 55-88 in Charles Frankel (editor) Controversies and Decisions: The Social Sciences and Public Policy. New York: The Russell Sage Foundation. (Jonathan R. Cole and Stephen Cole)1976.
  • “Measuring the Cognitive State of Scientific Specialties,” Chapter pp. 209-258 in Yehuda Elkana, Joshua J. Lederberg, Robert K. Merton, Arnold Thackray, and Harriet Zuckerman (editors), Toward a Metric of Science, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Wiley-Interscience. (Stephen Cole, Jonathan R. Cole, and Lorraine Dietrich) 1976.
  • “The Emergence of a Scientific Specialty: The Self-Exemplifying Case of the Sociology of Science,” in Lewis Coser (editor) The Idea of Social Structure: Papers in Honor of Robert K. Merton. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, pp. 139-174. (Jonathan R. Cole and Harriet Zuckerman) 1976.
  • “Women in American Science,” Minerva Volume 13, Number 1, Spring, pp. 82-102. (Jonathan R. Cole and Harriet Zuckerman) 1975.
  • “The ‘Ortega’ Hypothesis,” Science 27 October, Volume 178, pp. 368-375. (Jonathan R. Cole and Stephen Cole. 1972.
  • “Measuring the Quality of Sociological Research: Problems in the Use of the Science Citation Index.” The American Sociologist Volume 5, Number 1, pp. 23-29. (Jonathan R. Cole and Stephen Cole) 1971.
  • “Patterns of Intellectual Influence in Scientific Research,” The Sociology of Education, Volume 43, Number 4, Fall, pp. 377-403. 1970.
  • “Visibility and Structural Bases of Awareness in Science,” The American Sociological Review, Volume 33, Number 3, June, pp. 397-413. (Stephen Cole and Jonathan R. Cole). 1968
  • “Scientific Output and Recognition: A Study in the Operation of the Reward System in Science,” American Sociological Review, Volume 32, Number 3, pp. 391-403. (Stephen Cole and Jonathan R. Cole) 1967.

References

Preceded by
Fritz Stern 		Provost (Arts and Sciences) 
1989-2003 		Succeeded by
Alan Brinkley
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