[2] She is known for her work on the social organization of science, scientific elites, the accumulation of advantage, the Matthew effect, and the phenomenon of multiple discovery.
She returned to Columbia University an Assistant Professor of Sociology in 1965, where she served as Project Director of the Bureau of Applied Social Research.
She is the author of the 1977 book, Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States, which has been credited with defining the direction of work in the field for the next two decades.
Zuckerman's findings, particularly her "fundamental notion"[8] of "accumulation of advantage", questioned assumptions about creativity, achievement, eminence, and greatness.
[9][8][10][11][12] The empirical data Zuckerman analyzed, along with work by Robert K. Merton and others, documented ways in which women scientists were "systematically disadvantaged in educational attainment, productivity, funding, lab space, and recognition".
[13] Zuckerman and others have carried out subsequent work on prizes and other rewards; their impact on productivity, collaboration, and authorship;[14] and on the effectiveness of interventions whose intention is to support women and members of other underrepresented populations.