SOPHIS: an open-access database for quantitative studies of contemporary philosophy of science

Quantitative approaches have proven highly effective in studying the structure and dynamics of science, but their success depends on the availability of reliable and comprehensive data. In the humanities, existing data sources remain fragmented and limited, hindering systematic research. In this paper, we introduce SOPHIS, an open-access database specifically designed for the quantitative study of contemporary philosophy of science. The current version of SOPHIS covers eight core journals in philosophy of science over the period 2005-2019. SOPHIS integrates information on epistemic contents, their material carriers, and the individual and collective actors involved in their production and dissemination, thereby offering a unified framework for mapping the epistemic and social landscape of the field. We illustrate its potential through three exploratory applications: (i) identifying key actors and analyzing the distribution of prestige, (ii) examining the factors of prestige accumulation, and (iii) uncovering the fine-grained community structure of the discipline. SOPHIS represents a step toward building a richer data infrastructure for the humanities, enabling transparent, large-scale, and evidence-based analyses of their social and epistemic dynamics.