Disciplinary Style Manuals as Reliable Guides to Scientific Discourse Norms
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/1997/00000044/00000002/art00004
  access restricted (by the publisher) to members/subscribers/customers only
  peer-reviewed

Hagge, John
Technical Communication Online
1997

Abstract:

Style manuals sponsored by professional associations in various scientific disciplines have received virtually no scholarly attention. These manuals, however, specify many disciplinary discourse norms that writers need to follow in publishing scientific research. Consequently, these manuals provide an important and reliable source of information about how communities of working scientists conceptualize, construct, and publish their scientific texts. The disciplinary norms that these style manuals promulgate derive both from general scientific research practices and from the practical demands of scientific publishing. Because of their unique normative nature and their connection with scientific practice, disciplinary style manuals should be categorized separately from other types of scientific style manual, and the material they contain can reliably be used in technical writing and editing.