1. COMMUNICATION AND THE REWARD SYSTEM OF SCIENCE: A STUDY OF A NATIONAL `INVISIBLE COLLEGE'.
- Author
-
Gaston, J.
- Subjects
SOCIAL scientists ,SOCIAL science research ,TELECOMMUNICATION systems ,SCIENTIFIC community ,COMMUNICATION - Abstract
Using a variety of indicators, such as the number of scientists, number of journals, or number of professional associations, the growth of modern science has been exponential, doubling with regularity through various time intervals, and resulting in a population of scientists about eighty to ninety per cent of all scientists who ever lived. The second condition includes the division of science into disciplines, the growth of research specialties, and the further emergence of research problem areas which have all contributed to the fragmentation of specialized knowledge. This paper presents the results of an investigation of one national communication system in a research speciality: the high energy physics community in Great Britain. The focus of the paper is on four questions about the communication system. First, which methods of communication are important to individual scientists and why are they important? Second, what are the social scientific characteristics of scientists who participate in the informal communication system? Third, how best can the organization of the informal communication system be characterized? Fourth what is the relationship between the communication and the reward systems?
- Published
- 1972