| Summary: | The recent increase in patenting by European and American university researchers has raised
concerns among observers that increased patenting may be associated with less open publication of
research results. This leads us to examine if the propensity to academic patenting would negatively
affect publication of scientific research results and, therefore, result in less diffusion of knowledge
resources; or, conversely, if it could increase the quantity and quality of scientific publications and
therefore improve academic performances.
We propose a quantitative approach through which we aim to test whether academic researchers who
both publish and patent are less productive than their peers who concentrate exclusively on scholarly
publication, in order to communicate their research results. More specifically, by using the statistical
model of comparison between sample means, we analyse if the average number of publications by
academic inventors is lower than the average of non-academic ones. We use a panel dataset
comprising Italian academic researchers who have obtained the National Scientific Qualification as full
professor in the se tor “02/B3 - Applied Physi s” in the session 2012. With regard to the relationship
between patenting and publishing by university researchers there is not an unanimous doctrinal
orientation. Additionally, there is only limited empirical evidence regarding the correlation between
these two variables. Our study contributes to the existing literature by supporting the thesis according
to which the open publication of university research results is not inhibited by patenting by university
faculty members.
The outcomes of the application suggest that it would appear appropriate to encourage a greater use
of patents by university rese r hers. It would seem in f t th t th nks to the fin n i l support to
demi rese r h nd in gener l to the in entives rising from ont t with industry the
development of industrial applications is likely to produce an additional stream of results, which are
relevant also in the eyes of the scientific community. These observations allow us to assert that
patents could be recognized as efficient indicators of knowledge production.
|
|---|