Money for science: social-economical problems of funding scientific research

Abstract

The paper presents a survey of issues that are being currently studied as part of the research project called “Science and economics”. By discussing a number of leading articles the authors illustrate the main directions in which the research of the issues of financing science proceeds today. Among these directions are the consequences of the growing impact of private and corporate financing of science. Some negative trends associated with this impact are exposed, such as manipulation of research results and others. Another aspect is the ethos of a scientist that undergoes various transformations when pragmatic factors enter into the mix of criteria according to which the professional status of a scientist is determined.Two important organizational aspects of the contemporary institution of science are also critically discussed. They are the system of research grants and the process of peer-review. Each of the aspects reveals its shortcomings which are argued to be inevitable consequences of the impact of economics on science. The authors argue that contemporary investigations of science and economics reveal the influence that the economic organization of a society has on the scientific results produced by those who are responsible for them inside that society.