The days of the generalist are gone. Long live the specialist!

In science, specialization pays off - at least when it comes to career impact. That's the finding of a team of researchers who looked specifically at this subject. Is it better to be a generalist or a specialist? Gaétan de Rassenfosse, who holds the Chair of Innovation and IP Policy at EPFL, set about answering this question by digging through data on more than 30,000 biomedical researchers. In terms of career impact, the answer couldn't be clearer: specialization confers a significant, long-lasting advantage. This finding, which could be extrapolated to other disciplines, is outlined in a paper appearing in BMC Biology . It confirms that the days of the Renaissance generalist are gone, and that we now live in the era of the specialist. "The idea that we should aspire to be consummate generalists, like Leonardo de Vinci, belongs to a bygone age," says de Rassenfosse, an Associate Professor at EPFL's College of Management of Technology (CDM).