本刊1979-1985年所刊发的文章被选编为《中国科学技术的历史与哲学研究》（Chinese Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology），作为波士顿科学哲学文库第179卷，于1996年出版。
它的出版是为了回应中国的改革，特别是对外开放政策。中国学者开始在这些领域进行独特、原创性的研究。本系列提供了他们在初始阶段所做努力的横截面。
为了使西方学者了解中国学术变革的历史进程，本文集收录了于光远的“解放思想论”和许良英的“论科学与民主的社会功能”。其中三篇关于科学哲学的论文是科学家们自己对宇宙学和生物学中的哲学问题的讨论。其余四篇由科学哲学家撰写，讨论了信息与认知、稳态与中医、《易经》和数学等。论文选择了古典和现代科学技术史，其中最具特色的是对中国和西方科学发展的宏观比较。一些论文讨论了科学史、中国古代数学史、天文学、冶金学、机械学、医学等学科的问题。其他人则讨论了现代物理学和生物学史、中国科学史和中国科学技术区域发展史。
此外，还包括三位十八世纪后中国学者的传记：李善兰、华蘅芳和蔡元培，他们为西方科学推介引入中国做出了巨大贡献。本书还收录了三篇短文，介绍了中国学者与三位伟大的西方科学家尼尔斯·玻尔、诺伯特·维纳和罗伯特·密立根之间的互动。
The articles in this collection were all selected from the first five volumes of the Journal of Dialectics of Nature published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences between 1979 and 1985. The Journal was established in 1979 as a comprehensive theoretical publication concerning the history, philosophy and sociology of the natural sciences. It began publication as a response to China's reform, particularly the policy of opening to the outside world. Chinese scholars began to undertake distinctive, original research in these fields. This collection provides a cross-section of their efforts during the initial phase.
To enable western scholars to understand the historical process of this change in Chinese academics, Yu Guangyuan's `On the Emancipation of the Mind' and Xu Liangying's Essay on the Role of Science and Democracy in Society' have been included in this collection.
Three of the papers included on the philosophy of science are discussions of philosophical issues in cosmology and biology by scientists themselves. The remaining four are written by philosophers of science and discuss information and cognition, homeostasis and Chinese traditional medicine, the I Ching (Yi Jing) and mathematics, etc.
Papers have been selected on the history of both classical and modern science and technology, the most distinctive of which are macro-comparisons of the development of science in China and the west. Some papers discuss the issue of the demarcation of periods in the history of science, the history of ancient Chinese mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, machinery, medicine, etc. Others discuss the history of modern physics and biology, the history of historiography of science in China and the history of regional development of Chinese science and technology.
Also included are biographies of three post-eighteenth-century Chinese scholars, Li Shanlan (1811-1882), Hua Hengfang (1833-1902), and Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940), who contributed greatly to the introduction of western science and scholarship to China. In addition, three short papers have been included introducing the interactions between Chinese scholars and three great western scientists, Niels Bohr, Norbert Wiener, and Robert A. Millikan.
