2024

Karonen, Petri

In this chapter, the research trends in history writing on the early modern period are examined. The research infrastructures are briefly presented, giving an overview of the relevant research themes in both countries. The doctoral dissertations in early modern history, including relationships between supervisors and supervisees in Sweden and Finland, are also analyzed. The empirical evidence is based on extensive quantitative source data. The material consists of publication data collected from national historical bibliographies and various databases from both countries. Research on the early modern period has been very strong and surprisingly similar in Sweden and Finland. However, the volume of scientific publications has always been considerably larger in Sweden than in Finland, especially the number of doctoral dissertations. In the 2000s, the number of doctoral dissertations on the early modern period in both countries is more than twice as high as in the 1950s, but at the same time, the relative share of dissertations on the period has fallen from around 40% to 15%–20% of all dissertations. Practically, all of the most active supervisors in both countries have been in contact with each other and supervised most doctoral dissertations.