The monopoly mechanism in science. On the shoulders of Robert K. Merton

Quality assurance has become the guiding principle of governing research in the wake of the global diffusion of New Public Management. In this respect, the "High Impact Journal" occupies a central place. It is shown that the production of a hierarchy of disciplinary journals furthers the monopoly mechanism in science through processes of the material production of market power and symbolically constructed exclusivity. These processes and the rule of the Shanghai ranking enable an exclusive class of globally dominant universities to ensure the circular accumulation of economic and symbolic capital. The competition among researchers for recognition by the scientific community in terms of their contributions to the advancement of knowledge is being displaced by the competition among entrepreneurial universities for researchers, students and funds as profit generating resources. The resulting tendencies of halting the evolution of knowledge can be counteracted by measures which further the plurality of authorities for quality assurance, the building of opposing power to existing power in a system of checks and balances and by providing space for methodological anarchy.