Robert King Merton, one of key researchers leading in the sociology of science, advocated in as early as 1942 that the results of research should be freely accessible to all. “Each researcher must contribute to the “common pot” and give up intellectual property rights to allow knowledge to move forward.”

I doubt that is an accurate quote. The other place it appears is http://www.paristechreview.com/2013/03/29/brief-history-open-data/ in which it is not a quote.

I read Merton’s 1942 article and the text is not to be found, not even “common pot”. But here is a good quote from the article:

“Communism,” in the nontechnical and extended sense of common ownership of goods, is a second integral element of the scientific ethos. The substantive findings of science are a product of social collaboration and are assigned to the community. They constitute a common heritage in which the equity of the individual producer is severely limited. […] Property rights in science are whittled down to a bare minimum by the rationale of the scientific ethic. The scientist’s claim to “his” intellectual “property” is limited to that of recognition and esteem which, if the institution functions with a modicum of efficiency, is roughly commensurate with the significance of the increments brought to the common fund of knowledge. […] The institutional conception of science as part of the public domain is linked with the imperative for the communication of findings. Secrecy is the antithesis of this norm; full and open communication its enactment. […] The communism of the scientific ethos is incompatible with the definition of technology as “private property” in a capitalistic economy.

English Wikipeidia on the (several) Mertonian norms.

In the briefing paper I’m working on we are focusing on EU related documents and outputs.

I won’t be able to merge everything together but am happy to link to as many related timelines as we can find. (See my post on this related to Open Education timelines http://education.okfn.org/open-education-timelines-just-like-buses/%5D