The Patent and the Paper: a Few Thoughts on Late Modern Science and Intellectual Property

Abstract

Marie and Pierre Curie's decision not to patent the discovery (1898) and later isolation (1902) of radium is perhaps the most famous of all disinterested decisions in the history of science. To choose publishing instead of patenting and openness instead of enclosure was hardly a radical choice at the time. Traditionally, we associate academic publishing with "pure science" and Mertonian ideals of openness, sharing and transparency. Patenting on the other hand, as a byproduct of "applied science" is intimately linked to an increased emphasis and dependency on commercialization and technology transfer within academia. Starting from the Curies' mythological decision I delineate the contours of an increasing convergence of the patent and the paper (article) from the end of the nineteenth-century until today. Ultimately, my goal is to suggest a few possible ways of addressing the hybrid space that today constitute the terrain of late modern science and intellectual property.

Identificación de tecnologías y métodos para la detección temprana del Huanglongbing (HLB) a través de cienciometría en artículos científicos y patentes

“…En una economía basada en conocimiento, la capacidad de descubrir las semillas de innovación en la investigación básica y aplicada es la fuente de la competitividad, el crecimiento económico y del desarrollo de aplicaciones tecnológicas (Shibata, Kajikawa, & Sakata, 2011), por lo que artículos cientícos y patentes forman parte de la infraestructura de investigación implicados en la construcción del conocimiento público (Hemmungs-Wirtén, 2015).…”