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Not All Scientists pay to be Scientists:

Author

Listed:
  • Henry Sauermann
  • Michael Roach
Abstract
A growing body of research on firms’ “open science” strategies rests on the notion that scientists have a strong preference for publishing and that firms are able to extract a wage discount if they allow scientists to publish. Drawing on a survey of 1,400 life scientists about to enter the job market, we suggest an alternative view. First, we show significant heterogeneity in the price scientists assign to the opportunity to publish in firms, and those scientists who seek industry careers have particularly low preferences for publishing. Thus, many job applicants are not willing to accept lower wages for jobs that let them publish and firms pursuing open science strategies may instead have to pay publishing incentives that fulfill both sorting and incentive functions. Second, we show that scientists with higher ability have a higher price of publishing but also expect to be paid higher wages regardless of the publishing regime. Thus, they are not cheaper to hire than other scientists if allowed to publish, but they are more expensive if publishing is restricted. Finally, we show that scientists publish not simply for “peer recognition” but also for more specific reasons, including the opportunity to advance science or to move to higher-paying jobs. Different reasons predict what price a scientist assigns to the opportunity to publish and may also have very different implications for the sustainability of competitive advantages derived from open science strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Henry Sauermann & Michael Roach, 2011. "Not All Scientists pay to be Scientists:," DRUID Working Papers 11-03, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:aal:abbswp:11-03
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Oscar LLOPIS & Joaquin AZAGRA-CARO, 2015. "Who do you care about? Scientists’ personality traits and perceived beneficiary impact," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2015-29, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    2. Bastian Krieger & Maikel Pellens & Knut Blind & Sonia Gruber & Torben Schubert, 2021. "Are firms withdrawing from basic research? An analysis of firm-level publication behaviour in Germany," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(12), pages 9677-9698, December.
    3. Simeth, Markus & Raffo, Julio D., 2013. "What makes companies pursue an Open Science strategy?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1531-1543.
    4. Henry Sauermann & Paula Stephan, 2013. "Conflicting Logics? A Multidimensional View of Industrial and Academic Science," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 889-909, June.
    5. repec:wip:wpaper:6 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Maki Kato & Asao Ando, 2017. "National ties of international scientific collaboration and researcher mobility found in Nature and Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(2), pages 673-694, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Scientists; publishing; competitive advantage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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