The commercialization of the biomedical sciences: (mis)understanding bias

Item Type

Language

English

Abstract

The growing commercialization of scientific research has raised important concerns about industry bias. According to some evidence, so-called industry bias can affect the integrity of the science as well as the direction of the research agenda. I argue that conceptualizing industry's influence in scientific research in terms of bias is unhelpful. Insofar as industry sponsorship negatively affects the integrity of the research, it does so through biasing mechanisms that can affect any research independently of the source of funding. Talk about industry bias thus offers no insight into the particular epistemic shortcomings at stake. If the concern is with the negative effects that industry funding can have on the research agenda, conceptualizing this influence as bias obscures the ways in which such impact is problematic and limits our ability to offer solutions that can successfully address the concerns raised by the growing role of private funding in science.

Subject

Technology Transfer
Bias
Commercialization of science
Research agenda
Biomedical Research
Commodification
Industry bias
Non-epistemic values in science

Publication Year

2019

Publication Date

2019-09-04

Journal abreviation

Hist Philos Life Sci

Source

PMID: 31485872PubMed

License

ISSN

1742-6316

Physical Description

vol. 41, n. 3, pp. 34

Short Title

The commercialization of the biomedical sciences

Citer cette ressource

The commercialization of the biomedical sciences: (mis)understanding bias, dans Science & Ignorance, consulté le 21 Novembre 2024, https://ignorancestudies.inist.fr/s/science-ignorance/item/4626

Export