Science is a Gift Economy

• Eric Raymond showed us that the culture of open source software is a gift economy, and that one obtains status among peers by giving away things that are useful to the community.

• The social aspects of science function in a similar manner. Scientific gifts include:

  • Publishing papers
  • Giving Talks
  • Sharing results
  • Meta-informational gifts of service: editing journals, peer review of papers and grants, conference organization

• These activities help scientists obtain status among scientific peers. Science is a gift economy of ideas.