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The Elusive ‘Docent Grade’ : Evaluative Cultures in and Beyond the Swedish Humanities (1876–1969)

Hammar, Isak LU orcid and Östh Gustafsson, Hampus LU (2025) In Minerva
Abstract
In the late nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century, an academic career in Sweden was highly dependent on what grade a scholar’s doctoral dissertation was awarded. Unless receiving a so-called “docent grade”, basically declaring the scholar eligible for seeking the title of docent (associate professor), the prospects of maintaining an academic career were bleak. Throughout the period, this gate-keeping practice provoked controversy, at times extending beyond closed faculty board rooms into public arenas such as periodicals and newspapers. Moreover, conflicts over grades could expose tensions between opposing intellectual traditions, regional cultures of knowledge, and political camps. This article explores the development of the... (More)
In the late nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century, an academic career in Sweden was highly dependent on what grade a scholar’s doctoral dissertation was awarded. Unless receiving a so-called “docent grade”, basically declaring the scholar eligible for seeking the title of docent (associate professor), the prospects of maintaining an academic career were bleak. Throughout the period, this gate-keeping practice provoked controversy, at times extending beyond closed faculty board rooms into public arenas such as periodicals and newspapers. Moreover, conflicts over grades could expose tensions between opposing intellectual traditions, regional cultures of knowledge, and political camps. This article explores the development of the combined doctor/docent assessment and investigates instances when customary practice was challenged, for instance as female docents or applicants with foreign credentials entered the system. By tracing the long history of the docent grade and the debates it spurred, the article shows that the uncodified grading of dissertations was indeed an effective gate-keeping mechanism, but that the evaluative practice was also possible to circumvent and challenge. The article highlights early and alternative forms of peer evaluation in the humanities with particular focus on the assessment of early career academics, arguing that historical perspectives enrich ongoing discussions on evaluative practices in academia, and also open up for new ways to think about how peer review can be organised in years to come. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
In the late nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century, an academic career in Sweden was highly dependent on what grade a scholar’s doctoral dissertation was awarded. Unless receiving a so-called “docent grade”, basically declaring the scholar eligible for seeking the title of docent (associate professor), the prospects of maintaining an academic career were bleak. Throughout the period, this gate-keeping practice provoked controversy, at times extending beyond closed faculty board rooms into public arenas such as periodicals and newspapers. Moreover, conflicts over grades could expose tensions between opposing intellectual traditions, regional cultures of knowledge, and political camps. This article explores the development of the... (More)
In the late nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century, an academic career in Sweden was highly dependent on what grade a scholar’s doctoral dissertation was awarded. Unless receiving a so-called “docent grade”, basically declaring the scholar eligible for seeking the title of docent (associate professor), the prospects of maintaining an academic career were bleak. Throughout the period, this gate-keeping practice provoked controversy, at times extending beyond closed faculty board rooms into public arenas such as periodicals and newspapers. Moreover, conflicts over grades could expose tensions between opposing intellectual traditions, regional cultures of knowledge, and political camps. This article explores the development of the combined doctor/docent assessment and investigates instances when customary practice was challenged, for instance as female docents or applicants with foreign credentials entered the system. By tracing the long history of the docent grade and the debates it spurred, the article shows that the uncodified grading of dissertations was indeed an effective gate-keeping mechanism, but that the evaluative practice was also possible to circumvent and challenge. The article highlights early and alternative forms of peer evaluation in the humanities with particular focus on the assessment of early career academics, arguing that historical perspectives enrich ongoing discussions on evaluative practices in academia, and also open up for new ways to think about how peer review can be organised in years to come. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
History of humanities, Peer review, doctor/docent assessment, evaluative culture, Swedish academia, boundary work, history of humanities
in
Minerva
pages
21 pages
publisher
Springer
ISSN
1573-1871
DOI
10.1007/s11024-025-09598-8
project
Den humanistiska diasporan: Humanisters migration och kunskapscirkulation i Sverige, 1876-1926
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ffb111e8-0438-45e3-ae92-e671e995ea45
date added to LUP
2025-08-29 10:55:12
date last changed
2025-09-12 14:43:56
@article{ffb111e8-0438-45e3-ae92-e671e995ea45,
  abstract     = {{In the late nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century, an academic career in Sweden was highly dependent on what grade a scholar’s doctoral dissertation was awarded. Unless receiving a so-called “docent grade”, basically declaring the scholar eligible for seeking the title of docent (associate professor), the prospects of maintaining an academic career were bleak. Throughout the period, this gate-keeping practice provoked controversy, at times extending beyond closed faculty board rooms into public arenas such as periodicals and newspapers. Moreover, conflicts over grades could expose tensions between opposing intellectual traditions, regional cultures of knowledge, and political camps. This article explores the development of the combined doctor/docent assessment and investigates instances when customary practice was challenged, for instance as female docents or applicants with foreign credentials entered the system. By tracing the long history of the docent grade and the debates it spurred, the article shows that the uncodified grading of dissertations was indeed an effective gate-keeping mechanism, but that the evaluative practice was also possible to circumvent and challenge. The article highlights early and alternative forms of peer evaluation in the humanities with particular focus on the assessment of early career academics, arguing that historical perspectives enrich ongoing discussions on evaluative practices in academia, and also open up for new ways to think about how peer review can be organised in years to come.}},
  author       = {{Hammar, Isak and Östh Gustafsson, Hampus}},
  issn         = {{1573-1871}},
  keywords     = {{History of humanities; Peer review; doctor/docent assessment; evaluative culture; Swedish academia; boundary work; history of humanities}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Minerva}},
  title        = {{The Elusive ‘Docent Grade’ : Evaluative Cultures in and Beyond the Swedish Humanities (1876–1969)}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/226554752/s11024-025-09598-8.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11024-025-09598-8}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}