Standardization-a new discipline?

Verman (1973) was the first to call standardization a discipline. But is it, or should it be, an academic discipline as well? In this contribution we will address this question. After a short introduction we roughly assess the maturity of standardization as a scientific discipline. Then, we choose a more fundamental approach. We map the field of current and possible scientific research by characterizing the standardization phenomenon and by confronting this with a systematic listing of sciences based on the philosophy of Dooyeweerd (1955, 1957) and, then, confronting this with current standardization literature. This enables us to distinguish some blank areas on the map of standardization research and it may form the basis for future systematic standardization research. Finally we answer the question whether or not standardization is or should be an academic discipline.