Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries.
Since 2011, a declining trend in academic freedom globally has paralleled a rising tide of neo-nationalism. We use fixed effects models to examine data from the Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) academic freedom index and bibliometric data for 17 OECD countries across nearly three decades (1981-2007) t...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0298370&type=printable |
| _version_ | 1797301401515196416 |
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| author | Frank Fernandez Volha Chykina Yin Chun Lin |
| author_facet | Frank Fernandez Volha Chykina Yin Chun Lin |
| author_sort | Frank Fernandez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since 2011, a declining trend in academic freedom globally has paralleled a rising tide of neo-nationalism. We use fixed effects models to examine data from the Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) academic freedom index and bibliometric data for 17 OECD countries across nearly three decades (1981-2007) that precede the recent decline in academic freedom. We find substantial, statistically significant, positive relationships between cross-nationally comparable and longitudinal measures of academic freedom and volume of STEM publications. Additionally, academic freedom positively influenced the quality of STEM publications as measured by journal rankings. Our findings were relatively consistent across various measures of academic freedom and model specifications. We discuss implications for safeguarding academic freedom, applying neo-institutional theory, and identifying directions for future research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:21:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9b2ba6719b3844cbada7ebef94c204f5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:21:10Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-9b2ba6719b3844cbada7ebef94c204f52024-02-21T05:31:48ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01192e029837010.1371/journal.pone.0298370Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries.Frank FernandezVolha ChykinaYin Chun LinSince 2011, a declining trend in academic freedom globally has paralleled a rising tide of neo-nationalism. We use fixed effects models to examine data from the Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) academic freedom index and bibliometric data for 17 OECD countries across nearly three decades (1981-2007) that precede the recent decline in academic freedom. We find substantial, statistically significant, positive relationships between cross-nationally comparable and longitudinal measures of academic freedom and volume of STEM publications. Additionally, academic freedom positively influenced the quality of STEM publications as measured by journal rankings. Our findings were relatively consistent across various measures of academic freedom and model specifications. We discuss implications for safeguarding academic freedom, applying neo-institutional theory, and identifying directions for future research.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0298370&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Frank Fernandez Volha Chykina Yin Chun Lin Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries. PLoS ONE |
| title | Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries. |
| title_full | Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries. |
| title_fullStr | Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries. |
| title_short | Science at risk? Considering the importance of academic freedom for STEM research production across 17 OECD countries. |
| title_sort | science at risk considering the importance of academic freedom for stem research production across 17 oecd countries |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0298370&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT frankfernandez scienceatriskconsideringtheimportanceofacademicfreedomforstemresearchproductionacross17oecdcountries AT volhachykina scienceatriskconsideringtheimportanceofacademicfreedomforstemresearchproductionacross17oecdcountries AT yinchunlin scienceatriskconsideringtheimportanceofacademicfreedomforstemresearchproductionacross17oecdcountries |