The Generalized Matthew Effect in Science

• In Event: 302 - Section on Rationality and Society Paper Session (one-hour). Analytical Sociology

Abstract

The Matthew Effect is well-known and has been extensively studied in the sociology of science and beyond. In this paper we highlight and test a widely neglected implication of Merton’s theoretical argument which is of high theoretical and practical relevance: status gains can diffuse and lead to a Generalized Matthew effect. Focusing on Nobel Laureates in Economics for the years 2000 – 2008 we study this proposition on the basis of citation data from the Web of Science 1900 – 2012. In order to rule out confounding due to general and paper-specific time trends in citation data we construct a synthetic control group by a combination of coarsened exact matching and entropy balancing. We find that citation impact of Nobelists’ work (wave 1) substantially increases in absolute terms and compared to the control group. Moreover, we also find to a weaker degree a noteworthy increase in the citation impact of papers which were cited by the Nobelist (wave 2) and of papers which were cited by these cited papers (wave 3). Stratifying the analysis by Nobel Prize shows that the effect of the event for wave 1, 2, and 3 varies substantially between different Nobelists.

Authors

• Tobias Wolbring, University of Mannheim

• Rudolf Farys, Universität Bern