The reward system of science

At the end of the 1950s, Robert K. Merton formalized the idea of a reward system of science (Merton, 1957; 1973). Within the Mertonian framework, the scientific ethos is mainly comprised of four institutional norms: universalism, communism, disinterestedness, and organized scepticism. Its basic precepts are derived from the scientific institution’s main objective, the “extension of certified knowledge” (1973, p. 270). According to Merton, “the...