Ethical implications of the Matthew effect in science.

Abstract

The Matthew effect is a social phenomenon that reinforces the structure of classes in Science. This paper aims to analyze the ethical implications of the Matthew effect in Science, which has positive and negative ethical implications. The positive ethical implications focus on the individual context, benefiting few individuals, while the negative ethical implications focus on the community, through overshadowing talented scientists, including those framed in social minorities and, ignoring and/or lacking of recognition their scientific works. It means that the ethical implications of the Matthew effect result in reinforcement of prejudice and social exclusion in the context of science and may negatively influence the advance of scientific knowledge.

Keywords

• Efeito Mateus
• ética
• ciência
• sistema de recompensas.