AN ANALYSIS OF ENTRY AND PERSISTENCE AMONG SCIENTISTS IN AN EMERGING FIELD OF SCIENCE - THE CASE OF NEURAL NETWORKS

This paper examines the influence scientists In their persistence in a n area of research, and compares the experience of scientists who ente r a field early with those scientists who follow in their footsteps on ce the field becomes widely accepted. Evidence is presented from an in ternational survey of more than seven-hundred scientists working in th e field of neural networks. After controlling for cohort and experienc e effects, the results suggest that early entrants as a group are inde ed different in both their motivations to enter and their persistence to remain in the field. In general, compared with scientists who enter late, early entrants are significantly less influenced by the social dynamics of the research community.