New research suggests that private industry and academic science pursue different goals with different consequences, but that the two can still be complementary.
Over the past three decades, private funding and collaboration in university-based research has risen steadily. That has led to concerns about the independence and integrity of public science. However, University of Chicago sociologist James Evans finds that industry can advance academic science by shaking up its conservative nature and encouraging novel discovery.
Evans’s research, released today in the American Journal of Sociology, focuses on the science surrounding Arabidopsis thaliana, a flowering plant that has become the dominate genetic model in plant and agricultural sciences. Evans looked at over 18,000 research articles involving Arabidopsis, mapping out which articles are linked together by common research themes, methods, or citations. He could then compare those data to funding sources for each article.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Industry collaboration enhances academic science, sociologist finds | Science Blog
