Elitism and egalitarianism

As a collective group, scientists would probably vote slightly left of the centre, be more liberal in their political and social views and would be genuinely concerned about inequalities in society. Scientists rarely use the word ‘elite’ without some apologetic justification, yet we constantly speak about selection through excellence—and hence exclusion of a non‐elite—without any blushes. Although we do not stress the fact, scientists are a special group (elite?), having gone through years of relentless training and harsh selection until we are sufficiently trusted to train others, set our own research agendas or even manage research funds. Higher up the research hierarchy, the national and international leaders in science are not randomly selected either. They are usually among the top at their primary job of research and have other management and communication skills that clearly set them apart. They are an elite even if we do not dare to utter the word.Similarly, research institutes also have their ‘pecking order’. As the stock exchange defines a ladder of the best performing companies, so too does the analysis of research performance as measured by citations of …