Scientific productivity and accumulative advantage: a thesis reassessed in the light of international data

Ever since Lotka (1926) published his inverse square law of scientific productivity, both the nature and origin of the phenomenon have been investigated in the literature. Although the specific parameters of those functions which indicate what proportion of scientists produces what bulk of scientific products vary with different indices (Davis, 1941; Leavens, 1953; Price, 1963; Britton, 1964; Allison & Stewart, 1974; Knorr et al., 1975), there is general agreement that the distribution of scientific products is highly skewed, irrespective of the measurement chosen Of the discy,line investigated. Alternative hypotheses for explaining these diflerences among U.S. scientists were descn'bed by Cole & Cole (1973) and Allison & Stewart (1974). A third account of differences in pUblication rates is implied in a recent argument by Bourdieu (1975), and substantiated by Knorr (1977) and Knorr et al. (1978). The present paper will first summarize the various hypotheses offered in explanation, and then proceed to reassess the plausibility of accumulative advantage based upon data from an international study of scientific productivity conducted in 6 European countries from 1973 to 1977.