An Index of Scientific Elitism and the Scientist's Mission

of the growing interest among behavioural scientists in the social institution of science, and in particular, the status and stratification system within that institution. This study combines ten variables dealing with professional involvement and productivity into a single index or scale of scientific elitism. These variables are all, to a good degree, related on both theoretical and methodological grounds and can be used to define a single conceptual and analytical domain. Scientific elitism is viewed as a multidimensional phenomenon and a principal components factor analysis is used to scale this multivariate domain. After defining scientific elitism, sociometric techniques are used to identify the elite of a scientific discipline in a large metropolitan area. Members of a scientific elite are individuals who are involved in many aspects of professional life. They are often intimately related to (and have considerable control over) the communication system of their profession by serving as editors and referees of journals, i.e. 'Gatekeepers'.2 Elite scientists may have a broad base of relationships through membership of many professional organizations. Some organizational memberships are by invitation and confer honour upon their recipients, e.g. the National