Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 29, 2026
07:50
Global and Current Research Trends of Single-Cell Sequencing in Cancer: A Bibliometric and Visualization Study
Published on: April 18, 2025
1.2K
The field factor: Industry publishing contribution and novelty in science
Anubha Shokhand1, Nilam Kaushik1, Satyam Mukherjee2
1Strategy, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bengaluru, India.
Plos One
|April 27, 2026
Summary
Industry publishing in science boosts novelty occurrence and breadth but reduces novelty distance. Universities are key drivers, and top institutions manage novelty trade-offs effectively.
Area of Science:
- Scientific and Technological Research & Development (R&D)
- Interdisciplinary STEM fields
Background:
- Industry R&D initiatives often result in scientific publications driven by commercial goals.
- The extent of industry involvement in scientific publishing varies significantly across fields, impacting research trajectories.
- Novelty in science is crucial for breakthroughs and technological advancements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between industry publishing contribution at the field level and recombinant novelty.
- To analyze how industry involvement influences novelty occurrence, novelty breadth, and novelty distance in scientific publications.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a longitudinal dataset comprising 11.1 million publications from 2000 to 2014.
- Examination of 1639 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.
- Statistical assessment of industry publishing's association with novelty occurrence, breadth, and distance.
Main Results:
- Increased industry publishing contribution correlates with higher novelty occurrence and greater novelty breadth.
- Greater industry publishing is associated with lower novelty distance, indicating less conceptual divergence.
- University research plays a significant role in these observed relationships across all novelty dimensions.
Conclusions:
- Industry publishing significantly shapes the novelty landscape of scientific fields.
- Top-tier research institutions demonstrate an enhanced ability to balance novelty distance with other novelty aspects amidst growing industry contribution.
- Policymakers should encourage exploratory novelty in fields with substantial industry involvement, recognizing its unique value.
Related Concept Videos
01:32The Scientific Method
220.1K
The scientific method is a detailed, empirical problem-solving process used by biologists and other scientists. This iterative approach involves formulating a question based on observation, developing a testable potential explanation for the observation (called a hypothesis), making and testing predictions based on the hypothesis, and using the findings to create new hypotheses and predictions.
Generally, predictions are tested using carefully-designed experiments. Based on the outcome of these...
Generally, predictions are tested using carefully-designed experiments. Based on the outcome of these...
220.1K
02:40The Scientific Method
57.1K
Research is what makes the difference between facts and opinions. Facts are observable realities, and opinions are personal judgments, conclusions, or attitudes that may or may not be accurate. In the scientific community, facts can be established only using evidence collected through empirical research.
57.1K
01:01Production Efficiency
15.5K
Net production efficiency (NPE) is the efficiency at which organisms assimilate energy into biomass for the next trophic level. Due to low metabolic rates and less energy spent on thermoregulatory processes, the NPE of ectotherms (cold-blooded animals) is 10 times higher than endotherms (warm-blooded animals).
15.5K
00:52Potential Energy
37.3K
The energy stored by a structure and location of matter in space is called potential energy. For instance, raising a kettlebell changes its spatial location and increases its potential energy. Similarly, a stretched rubber band contains potential energy which, under certain conditions, can be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy.
Chemical bonds that form attractive forces between atoms also contain potential energy, called chemical energy. When a chemical reaction...
Chemical bonds that form attractive forces between atoms also contain potential energy, called chemical energy. When a chemical reaction...
37.3K
01:21Free Energy
42.3K
Free energy—abbreviated as G for the scientist Gibbs who discovered it—is a measurement of useful energy that can be extracted from a reaction to do work. It is the energy in a chemical reaction that is available after entropy is accounted for. Reactions that take in energy are considered endergonic and reactions that release energy are exergonic. Plants carry out endergonic reactions by taking in sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce glucose and oxygen. Animals, in turn, break...
42.3K
01:10Nature and Nurture
19.4K
Many human characteristics, like height, are shaped by both nature—in other words, by our genes—and by nurture, or our environment. For example, chronic stress during childhood inhibits the production of growth hormones and consequently reduces bone growth and height. Scientists estimate that 70-90% of variation in height is due to genetic differences among individuals, and 10-30% of variation in height is due to differences in the environments that individuals experience,...
19.4K