Critical analysis of “Matthew Effect” theory with Physics Science laws and Sociology of Science approach

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Master of Scientometrics, Research Assistant, Policy Evaluation and Science, Technology and Innovation Monitoring Department, National Research Institute for Science Policy.(NRISP)

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Information Science & Knowledge Studies, Faculty of Humanities Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the critiques of the theory of the “Matthew effect" with the existing laws in physics and their approach to each other to clearly and objectively generalize the debates of critics of this theory in the sociology of science.
Methodology: The approach of the present research is qualitative and the library and document methods, evidence-based, and content and comparative analysis (bibliometrics) were used to answer the research questions.
Findings: There are factors and norms in beings, including the dimensions of the Jones model in scientific communities (scientists, universities, and journals), as well as temperature and pressure in the density of objects, which affect them through changes and transformations. So, scientific communities and the density of objects are not subconsciously different in forms and degrees. For example, the density of copper at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius is lower than the density of copper at a temperature of zero degrees Celsius, and similarly, the progress of the scientific community of third world countries is less than developed countries due to lack of quantitative and qualitative indicators.
Conclusion: Just as the density of an object changes as the motion of its molecules with increasing and decreasing temperature or pressure, different communities are not spontaneously at lower and upper scientific levels. Rather, each of the scientific communities, under the received scientific benefits, is expected to gain a worthy position according to their set of factors and talents; and visibility is achieved according to the capacity of each scientific community.

Keywords

References

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