An investigation of the relationship between scientists’ mobility to/from China and their research performance

A large number of overseas elites were brought back to China by the policy in the past decade. However, name disambiguation defied investigations on the relationship between their mobility and research performance. By taking advantage of the ORCID website and applying causal inference strategies, we investigated 2489 China-connected scientists’ academic performance in the Web of Science database in terms of their job mobility, including 1388 scientists who moved to China the treatment group, and 1101 scientists with a possibility to move to China the control group. The results show that first, scientists moving to China have a new growth pattern where both their productivity and the rates of being corresponding authors in publications grew more rapidly than before; however, they made fewer contributions to the four top journals, Nature, Science, Cell, and PNAS. Second, the research performance of the scientists is affected by the time of mobility towards China, the countries from which they moved, and the disciplines of their publications. Last, China now maintains symmetrical inflow-outflow patterns with most countries, especially developed countries in Europe and North America, with only a few exceptions (e.g., Pakistan).     

Does policy influence the commercialization route? Evidence from National Institutes of Health funded scientists

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical test of the commercialization route chosen by university scientists funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the NIH and how their chosen commercialization path is influenced by whether or not the university technology transfer office is involved. In particular, the paper identifies two routes for scientific commercialization. Scientists who select the TTO route by commercializing their research through assigning all patents to their university TTO account for 70% of NCI patenting scientists. Scientists who choose the backdoor route to commercialize their research, in that they do not assign patents to their university TTO, comprise 30% of patenting NCI scientists. The findings show a clear link between the commercialization mode and the commercialization route. Scientists choosing the backdoor route for commercialization, by not assigning patents to their university to commercialize research, tend to rely on the commercialization mode of starting a new firm. By contrast, scientists who select the TTO route by assigning their patents to the university tend to rely on the commercialization mode of licensing.     

Young children's perceptionsof scientists: a preliminary study

Background

Since the 1950s, there has been a growing body of research dealing with perceptions children have of scientists. Typically, research studies in this area have utilized children's drawings in an effort to discern what those perceptions are. Studies assessing perceptions children have of scientists have shown that children have stereotypical images of scientists. Although there is no direct evidence to demonstrate the link between children's images of science and scientists with their career choice, several researchers (including this researcher) have assumed that children's attitudes towards science are greatly influenced by their perceptions of science and scientists.

Purpose

This study aimed to find out if there was a difference in the way 5- to 8-year-old children drew scientists, taking account of age, gender and socio-economic status.

Sample

For this study a convenience sample of 30 young children was used. Participants included young children between the ages of 5 and 8 years from a public elementary school in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. Although the sample of the study was obtained from one school in a metropolitan area, children involved in this preliminary study were from very different socio-economic backgrounds. As the sample size is very small for making comparisons, it was intended to have a similar number of children from different age groups and socio-economic backgrounds and both genders.

Design and methods

The researcher worked individually with each child who participated in this study in an interview setting. Although each child was asked a set of standard questions, and given a standard set of directions, each interview session was informal enough to allow the researcher to gain additional information about children's drawings and to clarify any of their responses. During the interview sessions, children's responses were noted by the researcher. Before the children were asked to draw their picture of a scientist, they were offered a set of coloured pencils or crayons and told to feel free to colour their drawing or any parts of it they would like to accentuate. At the end of the interview and drawing sessions, the researcher went through all the drawings and notes to get a ‘feel’ for and ascertain what was being said, identifying key themes in each drawing.

Results

The most common scientist type drawn in this study was the stereotypical scientist type: someone who conducts research, or someone who tries to invent a new material. But unlike previous studies, around 35% of the scientist figures drawn (n = 15) were of the social scientist type. Stereotypical images drawn by the current study participants included symbols of research, such as scientific instruments and laboratory equipment of all kinds, and symbols of knowledge, principally books and cabinets, technology and the products of science. An interesting finding of this study was that perceptions of young children differed due to their age. Children at the age of 8 years drew non-stereotypical scientist images, and they drew more detail than did their younger peers. When children were compared in terms of their gender, no significant differences were observed between girls and boys. But on the other hand, none of the boys drew female scientists, and five out of 30 children who were girls drew female scientists. While children of parents with lower socio-economic status drew more stereotypical scientist images, children of parents with higher economic status drew different images of scientists, a result which showed us that the scientist perceptions of young children differ with socio-economic status.

Conclusions

Emergent from this research has been a non-stereotypical perception of scientists, and some evidence exists that such a non-stereotypical perception differs due to age and socio-economic status. While these images may seem amusing, they also provide a reflection of the image that children have about what a scientist looks like. These images may have a powerful impact on present functioning and future plans of young children.     

负责任的科学咨询何以可能——科学家参与公共决策的伦理思考

随着科学与社会互动的日益密切,科学咨询逐渐成为影响现代政府决策的关键因素。然而,近年来科学家在参与决策过程中却不断暴露出责任缺失等道德问题,严重破坏了决策的科学公信力。因此,如何确保科学建议的可靠性和无私利性已经成为当前科学咨询发展亟待破解的难题。必须通过切实可行的策略促进负责任的科学咨询,才能真正实现科学对于公共决策的建设性价值。     

科学家形象的指标权重分析

目前关于科学家形象的研究都局限在整体形象方面,对各项指标缺乏深入分析。以层次分析法研究各项指标权重,从而得出,科学象征指标所占权重最大,视觉形象权重很小,科学活动、形象等客观性指标权重很大。这意味着1)公众通过科学产品认知科学;2)公众对科学家在科学活动中的主体地位并不了解;3)科学在公众心目中的形象相当客观。对此,在科学传播中应坚持去功利化、丰富科学家主体形象、加入社会语境等思路。     

科技工作者状况分析及对策建议——基于江苏省科技工作者调查

为了解我国科技工作者工作状况、生活状况、流动状况、管理状况以及思想状况,以江苏省科技工作者为研究对象,对江苏省13个省辖市近万名科技工作者进行专项调查与分析;根据调查分析结果,提出完善科研项目评审与科研经费管理办法,改善创新创业环境、为科技工作者解决创新创业后顾之忧,完善管理制度、为科技工作者提供稳定通畅的职业发展通道等八项建议。     

The Employment of German Scientists in Australia after World War II

Soon after the end of World War II the Australian Government brought scientists of defeated Germany to Australia. They were to work in government institutions and private industry to contribute their expertise to improving Australian science and to improving Australia's industrial efficiency. The Allied powers occupying Germany were engaged in a scramble to appropriate German expertise for the next phase of the arms race. The Australian Employment of Scientific and Technical Enemy Aliens Scheme (ESTEA) instead channeled its personnel to basic science and industrial research. The personnel were part human reparations, part invited experts. This curious scheme offers insight into attitudes towards industrial regeneration in a previous era, and the importance of context in shaping attempts to alter existing scientific and industrial cultures.     

全球化背景下科学家的道德责任

科学技术从她诞生之日起就确立为人类造福的目标，科学技术的制造者－科学家，其集团即科学共同体在全球化背景下才真正从小科学时代走出来，成为全球化科技社会的一个特殊阶层。当科学技术与生产，社会，政治等方面的关系日益密切时，科技活动的责任问题也被提到议事日程。那么科学家是如何看待科技道德的责任，科学家应负什么样的科技道德,以及应确立怎样的科技道德责任感，这是一个需要探讨的问题。     

Relational mechanisms governing multifaceted collaborative behavior of academic scientists in six fields of science and engineering

Norms of academic science and engineering are moving in the direction of broader applicability and transferability of knowledge beyond the borders of the university. In response, scientists are expected to engage in collaboration that includes both basic and applied collaborative activities. More specifically, the norms of science are beginning to change to allow for novel forms of collaboration that involve sharing of research ideas on multiple facets of collaborative work. This paper examines the extent to which multifaceted collaboration is attributable to relational aspects of individuals’ networks. Specifically, we ask the question: what relational aspects of social capital determine multifaceted collaboration among scientists in six fields of science and engineering? Borrowing literature from social capital and science and technology (S&T) human capital, this paper develops a multi-level model of multifaceted collaboration and presents a set of testable hypotheses. Then using data from a national survey of men and women faculty in six fields, we analyze the multi-level data: relationship or dyad level (level 1) and ego level (level 2) with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to predict multifaceted collaboration of academic scientists. Findings show that some relational characteristics explain multifaceted collaborative behavior as predicted, while others behave in unexpected ways. Conclusions place the findings in context for theory and policy.