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Contribution to Book
Global Research Competition Affects Measured U.S. Academic Output
Science and the University (2007)
  • Diana M Hicks, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Abstract
Between 1992 and 1999, the number of papers published by U.S. academics fell by 9 percent as reported in the National Sciences Board’s Science & Engineering Indicators–2002 (SEI). This chapter seeks to understand why this occurred. A 9 percent decline in output could be a valuable tool for advocacy for almost any constituency in U.S. academia. Advocates could report trends in particular fields over limited periods of time to support arguments about the deleterious effects of the emerging patent culture, the insidious effects of health insurers on medical research, the harm of decreasing federal support for engineering, the dangers of an aging university professoriate, and so on. This chapter approaches the question differently. It argues that to understand this decline properly we must take a step back and look at trends across the U.S. research enterprise. When we do, we see that the decline is so broadly based that any explanation particular to one field of research or even to universities as a whole must be inadequate. This chapter looks for a global phenomenon that explains both the broad pattern of decline and its surprising obscurity.
Publication Date
2007
Editor
P.E. Stephan & R.G. Ehrenberg
Publisher
University of Wisconsin Press
Citation Information
Diana M Hicks. "Global Research Competition Affects Measured U.S. Academic Output" MadisonScience and the University (2007)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/diana_hicks/15/