Increase in diversity: Nordic dissertations 2014–2018

This issue of the Scandinavian Economic History Review features a list of dissertations published in the Nordic countries in 2017 and 2018 (Appendix). As in our previous surveys (Ojala, Hemminki & Nevalainen, 2016, 2018), we approached Nordic universities and business schools requesting them to provide full lists of dissertations completed in 2017 and 2018 addressing topics in economic and business history. This time our survey yielded altogether 46 dissertations. As in our previous surveys, the topic of the dissertation (not the department nor the discipline) was used to determine if it was eligible for inclusion to our survey. After compiling the list, we approached the authors requesting a summary of their dissertations. These summaries are included as an Appendix to this text. Unfortunately, we did not receive abstracts from all authors. The Scandinavian Economic History Review webpages provide direct links to all dissertations available on the Internet. Considering overall our previous and this latest survey, we can say that economic history research is doing well in Nordic countries: no less than 122 dissertations were produced in the period 2014– 2018 (Table 1). There is some annual fluctuation in these numbers although overall the number of dissertations has ranged approximately between 20 and 30. Yet there are clear differences between the countries. Sweden is the powerhouse of Nordic economic history research: 57% of dissertations in the period 2014–2018 were produced in Sweden, which produces some 13–15 dissertations per annum. Finland follows Sweden with a 27% share, while Norway and Denmark produce roughly ten per cent each of all dissertations in economic and business history. Lund University is the most productive institution, producing some 22% of all dissertations. The second most productive Swedish university is Uppsala (16%), followed by two Finnish universities: Helsinki (11%), and Jyväskylä (10%). English is themost widely used language in economic history dissertations in the Nordic countries: roughly 60 per cent of dissertations arewritten in English.However, there are some striking differences between the countries. While almost 90% of the Danish dissertations are written in English, this share is in Sweden a slightly over 70% and inNorway it is 55%. In Finland, however, the share of dissertations written in English is 30% although this share is clearly on the increase in Finland. If we look at the time periods the dissertations address there are, again, some differences between the countries. In the Finnish case the early modern era (here defined as roughly the time before the 1850s) is clearly prevalent, with a 42% share. In other Nordic countries the bulk of the dissertations are concerned with the industrial era (here defined as lasting from the 1850s to the 1950s). There seems to be a slight trend towards longer time periods: in 2014 roughly one fourth of dissertations still dealt with time periods of 50 years or longer, while this share was 50% in 2018. Moreover, the share of dissertations analysing periods of 100 years or longer has increased from nine per cent (2014) to 24% (2018). Following our previous surveys and the categorisation introduced by Whaples (1991, 2002) we further divided dissertations into 12 partly overlapping categories (Table 2). According to this categorisation the dissertations most typically dealt with topics related to public institutions. These topics are especially popular in Norway and in Finland. Furthermore, business history is still an important topic in Nordic dissertations, although showing some annual fluctuation. Business history