Ortega hypothesis

As Ortega hypothesis a statement of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset on the importance of the contributions of individual scientists for scientific progress in a discipline is called. The term was first used by the brothers Jonathan R. and Stephen Cole in 1972 in an article in the journal Science (178, pp. 368-375 ); by frequent citations of this article in contributions to scientometrics it was spread.

In La rebelión de las masas (Madrid 1929 German The Revolt of the Masses, Stuttgart 1936) Ortega y Gasset had stated that scientific progress on the work of all scientists based, ie mainly on the work of a large mass of scientists with mediocre talent that would achieve significant results only less, the sum of all these small progress but making up a significant part of the overall scientific progress.

The Coles tried this hypothesis based on a citation analysis in the literature of physics to refute. From the observation that, from the broad mass of scientists, few scientists are cited, these few but very often, they concluded that, contrary to the Ortega Hypothesis substantial progress in science is based mainly on the work less, highly talented scientists.

Her interpretation of the alleged Ortega hypothesis is controversial; by Endre Száva - Kováts it follows from a misreading of Ortega. The Coles had taken the quotes out of context and thus distort the original meaning, to support their own hypothesis.