This dissertation develops a deeper understanding of the epistemic values of scientists, specifically exploring the proposed values of community, collaboration, connectivity and credit as part of the scholarly communication system. These values are the essence of scientists actively engaged in conducting science and in communicating their work to others. In studying the epistemic values of scientists, this dissertation identifies the research problem within the literature: the lack of an understanding of what the epistemic values of scientists are; and in answering that question, does so informed by the literature that community, collaboration, connectivity and credit are probable values (Latour & Woolgar, 1987; Polanyi, 1962; Cohen, 1995). Using a qualitative approach incorporating the concept of emerging theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954), the dissertation: (1) Explores the extent to which community, collaboration, connectivity and credit are dimensions of values. (2) Examines the inter-relationship, if any, of the values. (3) Explores the possibility of additional dimensions of values. The methodology uses semi-structured interviews to conduct one-on-one, face-to-face interviews with life scientists who are currently engaged in research and were writing or had recently written a peer-reviewed paper. Data are analyzed using a constant comparative process (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Berg, 2001), with each interview informing the subsequent interview. The data are first open coded without regard to the literature-identified values of community, collaboration, connectivity and credit; then a second coding occurs, identifying themes from the first set of codes and viewing the data through the framework of the literature-identified epistemic values. Through a constant comparative process, data are coded and re-examined until a story line and themes emerge from the data. The epistemic values of community, collaboration and credit were all identified and interpreted from the data. The epistemic value of connectivity was not identified from the interview data, which may be due to a limitation of the use of a single method. Other epistemic values, not previously identified in the literature, were identified in the data: contribution and competition. Deepening an understanding of scientists' epistemic values within scholarly communication is critical to librarians and others engaged in collecting and managing scientific knowledge because the epistemic values shape and motivate the scholarly communication process. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]