Abstract
Bio-pharmaceutical R&D is increasingly an international affair. Research articles published in the peer-reviewed international scientific and technical journals represent quantifiable research outputs of bio-pharmaceutical firms. Large-scale systemic measurements of worldwide trends and sectoral patterns within bio-pharmaceutical science can be gauged from these articles, where coauthored research papers are assumed to reflect research cooperation and associated knowledge flows and exchanges. We focus our attention on the largest science-based multinational enterprises (MNEs), those that produce relatively large quantities of research articles. The study deals with the worldwide output of research articles that are co-produced by corporate researchers during the years 1996–2001.
We employ these publications to examine structural factors characterizing research cooperation networks within industry at the level of major geographical regions (North America, Europe, Pacific-Asia), with a breakdown by within-MNE and between-MNE network linkages. The descriptive statistics on publication output and results of network analyses of co-publication linkages not only indicate regional differences, with a central role for US companies in biopharmaceutical research, but also a variety of firm-specific research cooperation networks which enabled us to develop a tentative typology of MNEs in terms of their intra- and interorganizational patterns of research cooperation linkages.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Arora, A., Gambardella, A. (1994), The changing technology of technological change: general and abstract knowledge and the division of the innovative labour. Research Policy, 23: 523–532.
Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., Freeman, L. C. (2002), Ucinet 6 for Windows. Harvard: Analytic Technologies.
Brusconi, S., Criscuolo, P., Geuna, A. (2005), The knowledge bases of the world’s largest biopharmaceuticals groups: what do the patent citations to non-patent literature reveal? Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 14: 395–415.
Cantwell, J., Janne, O. (2000), The role of multinational corporations and national states in the globalization of innovatory capacity: the European perspective. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 12: 243–262.
Cockburn, I. M., Henderson, R. M., Stern, S. (2000), Untangling the origins of competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 21: 1123–1145.
Coombs, R., Georghiou, L. (2002), A new “Industrial Ecology”. Science, 296: 471.
Criscuolo, P. (2005), On the road again: Researcher mobility inside the R&D network. Research Policy, 34: 1350–1365.
Criscuolo P., Narula, R. (2005), Using Multi-hub Structures for International R&D: Organizational Inertia and the Challenges of Implemetation, Working paper.
D’Este, P. (2005), How do firms’ knowledge bases affect intra-industry heterogeneity? An analysis of the Spanish pharmaceutical industry. Research Policy, 34: 33–45.
EC (2003), Third European Report on Science and Technology Indicators: Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy. Brussels: European Commission, Report EUR 200025.
Gambardella, A. (1995), Science and Innovation. The US Pharmaceutical Industry during the 1980s. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gassmann, O., von Zedtwitz, M. (1999), New concepts and trends in international R&D organization. Research Policy, 28: 231–250.
Godin, B. (1996), Research and the practice of publication in industries. Research Policy, 25: 587–606.
Hagedoorn, J., Link, A., Vonortas, N. (2000), Research partnerships. Research Policy, 29: 567–586.
Henderson, R., Cockburn, I. (1994), Measuring competence? Exploring firm effects in pharmaceutical research. Strategic Management Journal, 15 (Winter): 63–84.
Hicks, D. M. (1995), Published papers, tacit competencies and corporate management of the public/private character of knowledge. Industrial and Corporate Change, 4: 401–424.
Howells, J. (1990), The location and organisation of research and development: new horizons. Research Policy, 19: 133–146.
Jaffe, A. (1989), Real effects of academic research. American Economic Review, 79: 957–970.
Katz, J. S., Martin, B. R. (1997), What is research collaboration? Research Policy, 26: 1–18.
Koenig, M. E. D. (1983), A bibliometric analysis of pharmaceutical research. Research Policy, 12: 15–36.
McMillan, G. S., Hamilton, R. D. (2000), Using bibliometrics to measure firm knowledge: An analysis of the US pharmaceutical industry. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 12: 465–475.
Mowery, D. C., Oxley, J. E., Silverman, B. S. (1996), Strategic alliances and interfirm knowledge transfer. Strategic Management Journal, 17: 77–91.
Narin, F., Rozek, R. P. (1988), Bibliometric Analysis of bibliometric analysis of united-states pharmaceutical-industry research performance. Research Policy, 17: 139–154.
Nightingale, P. (2000), Economies of scale in experimentation: Knowledge and technology in pharmaceutical R&D. Industrial and Corporate Change, 9: 315–359.
Pavitt, K. (1998), The social shaping of the national science base. Research Policy, 27: 793–805.
Tijssen, R. J. W., Van Leeuwen, Th. N., Korevaar, J. C. (1996), Scientific publication activity of industry in the Netherlands. Research Evaluation, 6: 1–15.
Tijssen, R. J. W. (2004), Is the commercialisation of scientific research affecting the production of public knowledge? Global trends in the output of corporate research articles. Research Policy, 33: 709–733.
Zedtwitz, M. von, Gassmann, O. (2002), Market versus technology drive in R&D internationalisation: four different patterns of managing research and development. Research Policy, 31: 569–588.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Calero, C., van Leeuwen, T.N. & Tijssen, R.J.W. Research cooperation within the bio-pharmaceutical industry: Network analyses of co-publications within and between firms. Scientometrics 71, 87–99 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1650-y
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1650-y