National science training policy and early scientific careers in France and the United States

The economic health of nations and regions is increasingly coming to rest on the scientific and technical labor force conducting scientific research. As such, enormous social resources are directed to educating and training those who will fire the engines of economic growth. In the first part of this paper, we compare recent investment in the scientific and technical labor forces by two giants of nationally-supported research endeavors: France and the United States. We find that France is more invested in scientific and technical training, but that both nations invest directly and indirectly in the scientific and technical labor force. French policy is more likely to support the individual graduate student directly through a national grant, while graduate students in the US tend to rely indirectly on federal support through research grants to other researchers. We then use duration models on individual data to predict entry into a permanent academic position within three years of completing a Ph.D. We do not find that industrial support of graduate training has any effect on later success in obtaining a position. There is, however, evidence of different academic labor markets operating in each country. In France, entry into a position has not depended on period factors, while in the US more recent cohorts have been more successful in obtaining permanent employment. Furthermore, postdoctoral positions in France delay or deter academic careers, but have no impact on entry in the US: this suggest that two different modes of scientific human resources management operate in France and in the USA. In the USA, Ph.D.s are seen as an essential element in the process of knowledge transfer, and early mobility does not affect entry into permanent academic careers. In France, few incentives are given to encourage mobility, which merely deters the access to permanent jobs. Finally, we found that graduates of the most prestigious undergraduate institutions were systematically advantaged in obtaining permanent academic employment, suggesting that academic stratification occurs very early in the training path in each country.     

Local context,academic entrepreneurship and open science: Publication secrecy and commercial activity among Japanese and US scientists

Like the US before it, Japan has adopted a series of policy initiatives designed to encourage the commercialization of academic science. However, such initiatives may also adversely affect “open-science”. Based on matched surveys of almost 1000 researchers in Japan and over 800 in the US, the paper examines rates of commercial activity, reasons to patent, and secrecy related to research results. In particular, it examines the extent to which participation in commercial activity is associated with publication secrecy. The results show that patenting rates are higher in Japan, while industry funding is more common in the US. In addition, the overall level of publication secrecy is greater in Japan. And, in both countries, individuals who are commercially active are less likely to share their research results through publication. But, patents are less directly linked to commercial activity in Japan than in the US, and have less impact on academic secrecy. The results suggest that academic entrepreneurship is associated with reduced participation in open science, but that the extent of adverse effects depends significantly on institutional context.     

跨学科团队创新绩效的影响因素——基于美国综合性大学的实证研究

本文根据美国综合性大学的科研团队研究提案的数据,研究考察了跨学科研究团队的组成因素与研究提案通过率的相关关系。研究发现,一方面,跨学科研究团队的学科领域数对于研究提案的成功通过没有显著影响;另一方面,跨学科研究团队的任职部门数与研究提案的通过有负相关关系。同时在团队中,资深教授的参与对研究提案的通过有显著的正面影响,而助理教授的参与则对研究提案的通过有负面影响。该研究显示,跨学科团队科研课题的提出需要避免盲目追求跨学科的程度,而应当注重提高研究团队的相关经验和专注度。     

The effect of government contracting on academic research: Does the source of funding affect scientific output?

The growing share of university research funded by industry has sparked concerns that academics will sacrifice traditional scholarly activities to pursue commercial goals. To investigate this concern, I examine the influence of an applied sponsor and consider limitations of the grant funding mechanism. A novel dataset tracks the careers of academic engineers and their relationships with this sponsor. I find that (a) researchers who maintain a relationship with the directed sponsor experience a decrease in publications implying that academics’ careers may be a function of the type of funding received, not only talent; (b) academic merit does not necessarily serve as a funding criterion for sponsors; and (c) citation and publication measures of academic output are often not useful proxies for short-term commercial or social value.     

Academics or entrepreneurs? Investigating role identity modification of university scientists involved in commercialization activity

Establishing the microfoundations of academic entrepreneurship requires closer scrutiny of a key actor contributing to this phenomenon—the university scientist. We investigate the sense-making that scientists engage in as part of their participation in technology transfer and postulate that this process involves a potential modification in their role identity. We analyzed more than 70 h of interview data at a premier U.S. public research university. We observe that scientists invoke rationales for involvement that are congruent with their academic role identity. They typically adopt a hybrid role identity that comprises a focal academic self and a secondary commercial persona. We delineate two mechanisms – delegating and buffering – that these individuals deploy to facilitate such salience in their hybrid role identity. Overall, these patterns suggest that university scientists take active steps to preserve their academic role identity even as they participate in technology transfer. Our findings clarify the social psychological processes underlying scientist involvement in commercialization activity, and offer fresh insights to the academic entrepreneurship, science policy and role identity literatures.     

The perceptions of information systems designers from the United States, Japan, and Korea on success and failure factors

This study examined the views of information systems (IS) designers from the United States, Japan and Korea on the importance of IS development factors in terms of how they contribute to both the success and failure of IS projects. IS designers from the US viewed Communication of the Project Goals and Characteristics of the IS Designers as more important than did the IS designers from Japan and Korea, but rated Characteristics of the Project Leader as less important. The results also indicated that the IS designers did not view the relative importance of the IS development factors, the same in terms of contributing to the success and failure of IS projects. Results obtained from the US sample were consistent with a self-serving bias, while the results obtained from IS designers from Japan were consistent with a self-effacing bias. No significant differences between the success and failure factors were observed for the Korean sample. It was noted that a self-serving bias may prevent IS designers from learning based on past experiences with IS failure.     

Changes to university IPR regulations in Europe and the impact on academic patenting

This article develops a general framework to describe the changes in university IPR regulations in Europe and their effects on the patenting activities of universities and on knowledge transfer processes. Understanding the effects of changes in IPR regulations on academic patenting is a complex issue, and parallels with the US case can be misleading. First, despite the general trend towards institutional ownership, university IPR regulations in Europe remain extremely differentiated and there is no one-to-one mapping to the US system. Second, it is difficult to disentangle the quantitative and qualitative effects of changes in IPR ownership regulations on academic patenting activities from the effects of concurrent transformations in the institutional, cultural and organizational landscape surrounding academic knowledge transfer. The article proposes a review and typological classification of national university IPR ownership systems on the basis of their development since 2000, and uses it to analyze the aggregate dynamics of academic patent ownership in several European countries. The analysis of patterns of ownership of academic patents shows that there has been a general increase in university patenting since 1990, with a significant slowdown (and even reduction in some countries) after early 2000s accompanied by a switch in academic patents ownership in favor of university ownership though preserving the European specificity of high company ownership of academic invented patents.     

大学衍生企业创生及其成功的政策原则

基于已有学术研究成果制定相应的激励政策,是促进大学衍生企业发展的重要途径。本文通过构建三层次概念模型并综述国外研究成果,发现国家的知识产权制度、商业化政策和大学的创业政策、资源与文化能推动衍生企业创生,大学孵化机构的支持和衍生企业的经营管理模式对企业成功至关重要。在此基础上提出促进大学衍生企业创生及其成功的政策原则,以期对我国的科技创业及相关政策制定提供参考。     

学术和商业激励作用下的高校R&D活动影响研究

随着传统型大学向创业型大学的转变，高校兼具知识创造和知识应用的双重特性。科研人员在R&D活动中追求学术价值和商业价值双重目标。本文基于一个简单模型来研究学术和商业激励两种方式对R&D活动时间配置以及项目选择的影响，基于此，进一步分析了组织最优激励契约设计。研究结果表明：高的商业激励会减少科研人员研究活动，但却激励科研人员选择高风险的基础研究，从而会带来突破性创新。组织层面高校应加大商业激励鼓励研究偏好人员，对偏好研究活动的人员，激励其进行开发活动；对于不偏好研究活动的人员，激励其增加努力程度。     

SAPPHO updated - project SAPPHO phase II

Project SAPPHO consists of a comparative analysis of ‘paired’ successful and unsuccessful technological innovations, where one half of the pair is a commercial success and the other a commercial failure. In phase I of the project twenty-nine pairs were investigated, seventeen in chemical processes and twelve in scientific instruments. Five main areas of difference between successful and unsuccessful innovators emerged which related to the innovator's understanding of user needs, efficiency of development, characteristics of managers, efficiency of communications and marketing and sales efforts.In phase II, the project has been extended to include a new total of forty-three pairs, twenty-two in chemical processes and twenty-one in scientific instruments. The results of phase I have been confirmed with the same five underlying factors emerging as strongly differentiating between success and failure and with some inter-industry differences becoming clearer. These differences, by and large, relate to the basic structural and environmental differences which exist between the two industries.Following the statistical analysis a subjective review was made of thirty-four failure cases, and those factors which contributed maximally to the individual failures were identified. The results of this exercise support the results of the statistical analysis, but they also highlight some new and significant factors. Finally, some of the more important of the many hypotheses which have been forwarded as offering explanations for innovative success were tested in the tight of the phase II SAPPHO results.     

Bottom-up versus top-down policies towards the commercialization of university intellectual property

What national policies are most efficient in promoting the commercialization of university-generated knowledge? We address this question by characterizing and evaluating the policy pursued in Sweden and the US, two countries that put a great deal of resources into university R&D, but follow very different models for commercialization. Despite a leading academic record, there is an impression of laggard rates of commercialization of academic research results in Sweden. Although there exist no micro data to evaluate this impression, we argue that it is likely to be true in part due to the top-down nature of Swedish policies aimed at commercializing these innovations as well as an academic environment that discourages academics from actively participating in the commercialization of their ideas. This sits in stark contrast to a US institutional setting characterized by competition between universities for research funds and research personnel, which in turn has led to significant academic freedoms to interact with industry, including significant involvement in new firms.     

中职数学分层递进教学之我见

中职学校分层次数学教学,以成功教育为理论依据,以因材施教为基本原则,实施学生的分层,教学目标的分层,教学过程的分层,课堂练习分层,作业的分层,测试的分层,让学生体验到成功的快乐,分层教学在理论上还须不断探索,在实践中不断完善。     

中国科学技术期刊的学术分层机制

 学术性科学技术期刊在学术维度上的分层是一种客观现象,高质稿源集中流向少数期刊是出现学术分层现象的根本原因。核心期刊遴选的周期性具有重要的意义,它使期刊的层内和层际流动成为可能,大幅度地提高了期刊界的开放程度。然而,也正是因为管理制度对期刊级别的强调,造成中国许多优秀的论文流向国外期刊,从而导致中国学术性科学技术期刊陷入了提高国际地位的困境。     

Material mastery: situating digital library use in university research practices

In the past several years, researchers in library and information science, computer science and management information systems have claimed that knowledge workers will transform important characteristics of work due to increased access to digital libraries over the Internet. To explore the influence of digital libraries on knowledge work, this study investigated the use of paper and electronic materials by academic researchers in four disciplines at eight US research universities. This study found that at a given point in time, the match between `material mastery' and features of using a particular digital library could explain its use. This paper discusses findings about digital library use, work characteristics and how material mastery explains patterns of digital library use.     

基于使用角度的商业数据库开放获取资源再调查——以Elsevier为例

通过对Elsevier正在出版的开放获取期刊的数量、质量、可获取情况进行调查,结果显示商业数据库中完全开放获取期刊比例仅占6.8%,学术质量不高,可访问年限普遍较短。根据抽样调查,混合型开放获取期刊所占比例较大,但其中可开放获取的文章数量仅占4%。认为商业数据库中开放获取文章的数量仍然偏少,图书馆不能以开放获取期刊的数量或比例决定是否订购数据库,虽然开放获取出版的趋势明显,但实践过程中仍存在困难。     

The grace period in international patent law and its effect on the timing of disclosure

The paper applies a novel methodology to US and EPO patent data to assess how often the “general grace period” exception is used in the USA and the likely impact of international patent regulations that almost invariably deny such use on the pace of new disclosures in academia. Comparisons of average publication delays of European academic inventors show that the grace period accelerates knowledge communication and that variations are likely to depend on a lack of harmonisation of international legal systems, transaction costs and the presence of a firm among patent assignees.     

管窥美国学术图书馆员的职责、技能与新角色

数字时代,越来越多的大学将新技术融入教学。学术图书馆作为信息的发现、提供、管理机构,为了满足这不断增长的技术需求将重新建立新的部门、新的岗位。据美国陆军实验室的研究发现,美国和加拿大的113所大学超过一半的图书馆员招聘信息是新创建或重新定义的新角色。本文通过对2015年7~9月美国专门针对学术图书馆员的招聘信息进行收集、统计和分析,总结了美国学术图书馆员的职责趋势,对适应这一趋势需要的技能进行了梳理,并探讨了美国学术图书馆员的新角色。     

Mobility versus job stability: Assessing tenure and productivity outcomes

Based on the data from survey responses and publications of 1583 academic scientists in Spain, this paper examines the relationship between scientific performance and reward, considering tenure and permanent positions as key academic rewards in early phases of academic career and focusing especially on the mediating effect of mobile versus stable career paths. Although widely practiced, inbreeding has often been considered to be at odds with universalism and merit in science. Our findings indicate that inbred faculty does not get tenure with less scientific merits than PhDs from other institutions; we also find that non-mobile careers are a strong predictor of the timing of rewards in the form of early permanent positions. Our results question the assumption mainly based on US evidence that mobility enhances career. These findings must be interpreted in the context of organizational and institutional features of the Spanish academic system that promote the development of internal academic research job markets.     

The commercialization of federally sponsored technological innovations

In a study of 40 federally sponsored innovation projects from five government agencies (UMTA, MARAD, DOE, NSF, and EPA), 35 of these cases had complete data on all variables for path analysis. Significantly, it was found that the probability of commercial succes of these innovations is predicted by the degree to which the innovations incorporate incremental as opposed to radically new technology (p<0.01), the pricing potential of the product or process (p<0.05) and the ease of introduction and implementation of the innovation (p<0.05). These three variables were found to account for 59% of the valid variance in potential commercial success. The project market potential, surprisingly, did not predict the probability of commercial success. It seems likely that the high percentage of projects in the sample that fell between certain commercial success and failure or were unresolved commercially could account for this result. No significant differences were found across the five agencies or the dependent variables of the study.     

Managing academic freedom: recent cross-Atlantic developments

This paper charts the legal and institutional status of academic freedom in America after Garcetti v. Ceballos, a key First Amendment case decided by the US Supreme Court in 2006. It also addresses, in comparative compass, academic speech protection in the UK and the EU more broadly. Although a managerial ethos of university governance has reshaped academic freedom on both sides of the Atlantic, the shaping process has not been uniform. Differences in policy formation and institutional structure have produced significant variations in the safeguarding of faculty speech. Policy groups on the Continent have been particularly active in drafting aspirational statements on academic freedom. Both the UK and the EU also have legislation outlining the rights and responsibilities of university teaching and research. No such legislation exists in the US, where the courts have played a central role in determining the legal status of academic speech. Statutory provisions in Europe, by contrast, remain judicially untested. It is anticipated that academic freedom on both sides of the Atlantic will increasingly be defined in contract, with varying degrees of third-party appeal.