Abstract
The processes involved in distributing scientific informa tion, i.e. information produced by and for the sciences, assume various names: communication, diffusion, transmission, trans fer, flow, spread, circulation, dissemination, etc.
Depending on the conceptual point of view, the distribu tion processes are patterned in different ways. As physics is currently the leading scientific field, physical science models are often used. Two of them are studied here and their limita tions are shown.
But biology and biological models have also attracted cer tain information scientists, and again we show the limitations to these.
All of these processes are, however, of a social kind, which indicates that only sociological models, and particularly those of mathematical sociology are appropriate in studying this phenomena. Various models are discussed here and a new conceptual approach is proposed.
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