"Nearly a third of the more productive American and Canadian mathematicians reported needlessly repeating work because other researchers’ findings had taken too long to reach print."
Merton reports that 31 percent of the more productive American and Canadian mathematicians in a study had experienced needless duplication resulting from delayed publication of others' work. On page 479, he attributes the underlying communication research to Herbert Menzel's 1960 review, providing direct historical evidence for the cost of research findings failing to circulate.
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