Description

By Stuart MacDonald

Over the years, many a Prometheus paper has referred to the Matthew Effect, the observation from the Bible’s Book of Matthew that the rich tend to get richer and the poor poorer, not a tendency to which Matthew himself seems to have objected. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.’ Prometheus authors, as befits those who publish in a critical journal concerned with innovation, follow the lead given by Robert Merton, the eminent sociologist, who related the principle to the ability of prominent authors to find publishing in academic journals much easier than their less prominent peers (Merton, 1968). The orthodox thinking of the Establishment wins out just about every time. Academics have tested for this particular aspect of the effect for years, often using a variant of the spoof author technique: a paper already published by a somebody is submitted to other journals in the name of a nobody and is summarily rejected (e.g., Armstrong, 1982). The eth- ics of the methodology are questionable, but its application makes the Matthew Effect pretty clear in academic publishing.

page: 279 – 281
Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation
Volume 38, Issue 3
SKU: 380301