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Ecclesiastes effects

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Abstract

The reward system in science involves several psychosocial processes that can be named after books in theBible: Merton proposed the “Matthew Effect” andTurner andChubin offered the “Ecclesiastes Hypothesis,” based on relevant biblical passages. This article identifies several other bibliometric phenomena described inEcclesiastes, including an explanation of why there is a multiplication of specializations in disciplines with growing literatures.

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References

  1. R. K. Merton, The Matthew Effect in science. In:R. K. Merton,The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1973, pp. 439–459.

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  2. All quotations are from theKing James Version of the Bible.

  3. S. P. Turner, D. E. Chubin, Another appraisal of Ortega, the Coles, and science policy: the Ecclesiastes Hypothesis,Social Science Information, 15 (1976) 657–662; andS. P. Turner, D. E. Chubin, Chance and eminence in science: Ecclesiastes II.Social Science Information, 18 (1979) 437–449.

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  4. J. Ortega y Gasset,The Revolt of the Masses, W. W. Norton & Co., New York, c1932, 25th anniversary edition 1957.

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  5. D. J. de Solla Price,Little Science, Big Science, Columbia University Press, New York, 1963.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Media and Teaching Resources and School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, 47405, Bloomington, Indiana, (USA)

    Martha A. Harsanyi

  2. School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, 47404, Bloomington, Indiana, (USA)

    S. P. Harter

Authors
  1. Martha A. Harsanyi
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  2. S. P. Harter
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Harsanyi, M.A., Harter, S.P. Ecclesiastes effects. Scientometrics 27, 93–96 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017757

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017757

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