A note on effective laboratory size

Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the question of what size is desirable for a whole laboratory as distinct from the groups that comprise it. A semi-quantitative analysis shows that while very small laboratories are handicapped by restricted common services there is also a heavy penalty paid by very large laboratories in the extended path over which information must flow between the working scientists and the decision makers. It is. not desirable, therefore, to expand research effort by allowing laboratories to grow indefinitely in size.