rians in how much importance they attach to any of these four crite-
ria. As shown in Table 5.1, originality is mentioned at least once
by 89 percent of the panelists, significance by 92 percent, methods
(meaning theory, data, method, and the articulation of the three) by
58 percent, and feasibility by 51 percent.
Many forms of originality. The canonical sociological literature on
the place of originality in scientific evaluation has defined original-
ity, following Robert K. Merton, as the making of a new discov-
ery that adds to scientific knowledge. Merton asserted that “it is
through originality, in greater or smaller increments, that knowledge
advances.”^13 Thomas Kuhn expanded this understanding of original-
ity by pointing out distinctions in how novel theories are received.
Characterizing scientific communities as generally resistant to para-
digmatic shifts, Kuhn argued that new discoveries confirming the
theories of “normal science” are the mainstay of the scientific en-
deavor, while anomalous discoveries and consensus-challenging the-
ories are seldom welcomed, and usually ignored.
Numerous scholars have built on this literature, and others have
examined various aspects of the peer review process. No one, how-
ever, has yet questioned the specific assumption that originality
consists of making new discoveries or producing new theories. For
instance, although Bruno Latour and others have criticized the liter-
ature’s emphasis on priority disputes, how academics define and
go about assessing originality remains unexamined.^14 And although
the canonical definition of originality arose from studies of the natu-
ral sciences and was not—at least not explicitly—intended to apply
more broadly, it often is applied to the social sciences. The extent to
which this definition characterizes the understanding of originality
in the social sciences or humanities is still an open question.
Elsewhere, my colleagues Joshua Guetzkow, Grégoire Mallard,
and I analyzed the way the panelists describe originality and found
Recognizing Various Kinds of Excellence / 171