While studying Fuller's work, I did a literature search to see if anyone had done a critical review of Fuller and his work. At the time, I was interested in learning what impact Fuller's work has had on the academic community. This lead me to compose a list of references to articles which reference R. Buckminster Fuller. The source for these citations was the Science Citation Index and the Social Science Citation index. The results are two listings below which you may view by clicking on the appropriate names.
My conclusion from looking at these citations as well as the papers themselves is that aside from one critical review of Fuller's philosophy, the sciences and humanities have not done a thorough critical analysis of Fuller's work.
The citations are NOT up to date. I stopped cataloging references some years ago. One reason for this is that CD-ROM technology makes it very easy to search for references. However, I still think these listings may be of value to some people so I offer them to you here.
Here is a collection of other references which mention R. Buckminster Fuller which includes some articles writting by Fuller.
Because there is interest in models based on a polyhedral approach to molecules, atoms, nuclei, and the "zoo" of particles discoved by physicists, I have collected an assortment of references to papers related to this topic. Most of these papers do not reference R. B. Fuller and so do not occur in the other two Citation lists.Seeing these citations may prompt some people to ask "Now that I know the book or journal article is out there, how do I obtain a copy?" I therefore offer a brief review of sources for obtaining books and articles that I have found to be indispensable.
First and foremost, check your local library. This need not be a University or College library, but they usually have a larger collection of books and journals. If you don't find what you are looking for in the library, don't despair. Ask the Reference Librarian if the book or article can be ordered from another library. In the libraries that I have dealt with, this was done through what is called the Inter-Library Loan program. I have been able to obtain ALL of R. Buckminster Fuller's books and copies of many journal articles through these Inter-Library Loan programs. Some libraries charge a small fee for each item ordered. I know of no other way of obtaining journal articles that are not in the library.
If you want to buy the book, check your local book stores. If you can not find what you are looking for, which happens to me a lot, the first thing to do is to find out if the book is still in print. This can be done by looking up the book's title or author in the Books In Print catalogs. This is a listing of all the books currently in print and available from the publishers. Ask the Reference Librarian where it is located in your library. Then find a local book store that is willing to special order books from the publishers. I have purchased many books that I could not find on the bookshelves by special ordering them. Depending on the book store, it can take anywhere from one week to two months to obtain the book.
If the book is out of print (and therefore, not available from the publishers), look in the yellow pages of the phone book for a book store that deals in out of print books. If you are lucky there will be a good out of print book store close by. If you do not find what you are looking for at the out of print book store then ask if they provide an out of print book search service. Some "non-out-of-print" bookstores also provide this service as well. If they do provide this service, they will place an ad for the book you want in an out of print book dealer's magazine. I have been able to obtain a copy of Fuller's 1938 book Nine Chains To The Moon as well as other fine treasures by using this service. It may take many months to find the book you are looking for.
Another source of information is the Buckminster Fuller Institute. You can purchase some books, audio and video tapes, and other interesting material from them.
Also, back at the library, ask the Reference Librarian for the Audio and Video Tape catalogs. I have been able to find several tapes of Fuller's lectures and one video of R. Buckminster Fuller through these catalogs.
And, of course, surf the internet/web. There are now book search services available through these computer networks.
I hope that this will provide you with enough sources to obtain the information that you are looking for.
Usage Note: My work is copyrighted. You may use my work but you may not include my work, or parts of it, in any for-profit project without my consent.