Three essays on the economics of science policy: the impact of funding, collaboration and research chairs

RÉSUMÉ : Cette thèse étudie les déterminants qui influencent le nombre de citations, l'effet d'avoir une collaboration de recherche avec les scientifiques les mieux financés sur la productivité scientifique, et l'effet d’être titulaire d'une chaire de recherche sur la productivité scientifique. En supposant que le nombre de citations est une bonne mesure de l'impact de la recherche et, à son tour, d’un certain type de qualité, nous avons montré que le nombre d'articles et la visibilité d'un chercheur, le facteur d’impact de la revue, la taille de l’équipe de recherche, et le cadre institutionnel de l'université (effet fixe) sont les déterminants importants du nombre de citations. Cependant, nous avons constaté qu'il n'y a pas d'effet significatif du financement public ni du genre dans la plupart des domaines examinés. Nous avons également développé un modèle théorique et proposé quelques hypothèses sur l'effet de la collaboration avec les scientifiques les mieux financés sur la productivité scientifique. Ce modèle a ensuite permis de valider les hypothèses à l’aide d’une analyse empirique et a montré que cette collaboration a un effet positif sur la productivité scientifique. Cet effet significatif peut exister à travers différents canaux: le transfert de connaissances tacites, davantage de publications scientifiques, des économies d'échelle dans la production de connaissances dues à de meilleurs équipements de recherche et un réseau de recherche élargi. Les résultats ont également vérifié l'effet positif du financement, l'effet positif du réseau (mesuré par le nombre de co-auteurs), l'effet en forme de U-inversé de l'âge, et le plus petit nombre de publications par les femmes par rapport aux hommes. Enfin, nous avons fait une distinction entre les différents attributs des chaires de recherche et de leur effet sur la productivité scientifique. Une des questions importantes est de savoir si une chaire de recherche a encore une meilleure performance scientifique (par rapport aux non-titulaires) après avoir contrôlé par les fonds de recherche disponibles aux chercheurs. Pour étudier cela, nous avons utilisé une technique d'appariement pour identifier les paires de scientifiques (des titulaires et des non-titulaires de chaires) de même genre, financement et domaine de recherche. Après cette correspondance, nous avons constaté que l'effet du programme des chaires de recherche du Canada sur la productivité scientifique reste significatif et positif alors que l'effet des chaires industrielles et les titulaires de chaires nommés par les conseils canadiens subventionnaires fédéraux (CRSNG et IRSC) deviennent non significatif. Ce constat met en évidence l'efficacité de notre méthode de technique d'appariement car avant l’appariement, tout type de chaire a un effet positif et significatif sur la productivité scientifique. Ce constat met en évidence les attributs spéciaux du programme de chaires de recherche du Canada, qui sont différents des autres programmes de chaire. Ces attributs spécifiques peuvent pousser de manière significative la productivité scientifique. Entre autres, les chaires de recherche du Canada sont généralement associés à un certain degré de prestige et confèrent une plus grande visibilité pour recruter des étudiants talentueux ou pour développer une collaboration de recherche avec des scientifiques de haut niveau dans le domaine. Le fait que d'autres types de chaires de recherche, une fois appariés avec des scientifiques équivalents, n’ont pas d’impact sur la production scientifique en termes de quantité, ne signifie pas que ces titulaires de chaire sont des scientifiques de moindre envergure, mais qu'ils consacrent une partie de leur temps à d'autres efforts de nature plus pratique ou ayant un impact sociétal différent. Ainsi les universités maintiennent un équilibre entre la poursuite de la connaissance scientifique pure et son application à des avantages socioéconomiques. En étudiant uniquement les articles scientifiques, il nous manque toutefois beaucoup d’information quant au rôle des professeurs d'université. Bien que non trivial, la recherche future devrait viser à ratisser plus large sur les réalisations, les résultats et les impacts de la recherche universitaire.----------ABSTRACT : This thesis studies the determinants that influence the number of citations, the effect of having a research collaboration with top-funded scientists on scientific productivity, and the effect of holding a research chair on scientific productivity. Based on a review study by Bornmann and Daniel (2008), one can argue that non-scientific factors determining the decision to cite do not significantly alter the role of citation as a measure of research impact. Assuming that the number of citations is a good measure for research impact and, in turn, for a certain kind of quality, we showed that the number of articles and the visibility of a researcher, the impact factor of the journal,the size of the research team, and the institutional setting of the university are the important determinants of citation counts. However, we have found that there is no significant effect of public funding and gender in most of the domains examined. The point that funding amount is not a significant determinant of citation counts does not necessarily contradict the positive effect of funding on scientific productivity. We also developed a theoretical model and proposed some hypotheses about the effect of collaboration with top-funded scientists on scientific productivity. We then validated the hypotheses with empirical analysis and showed that such collaboration has a positive effect on scientific productivity. This significant effect may exist through different channels: transfer of tacit knowledge, more scientific publications, economy of scale in knowledge production because of better research equipment, and expanded research network. The results also verified the positive effect of funding, the positive effect of networking (measured by number of co-authors), the inverted U-shaped effect of age, and the fewer number of publications by women compared to men. Finally, we made a distinction between different attributes of research chairs and their effect on scientific productivity. One of the important questions is to find out whether a research chair still has better scientific productivity (compared to non-chair holders) after controlling for the research funds available to the researchers. To investigate that question, we employed a matching technique to identify pairs of scientists (chair and non-chair holders) of the same gender, funding and research field. After such matching, we found that the effect of the Canada research chair program on scientific productivity remains significant and positive, while the effect of industrial chairs and the chairs appointed by the Canadian federal granting councils (NSERC and CIHR) become nonsignificant. This finding highlights the effectiveness of our matching technique methodology; because before matching, holding any type of chair had a positive and significant effect on scientific productivity. This finding highlights the special attributes of the Canada research chair program, which are not replicated in other chairs. Those specific attributes may significantly push scientific productivity. For example, Canada research chairs are generally associated with some degree of prestige or higher visibility to recruit talented students or to have research collaboration with top scientists in the field. In addition, the Canada research chair program has a firm and efficient method of allocation (which is explained in the thesis). This approach institutionally synchronizes different chairs in universities and research fields. The fact that other types of research chairs, once matched with equivalent scientists, do not have an impact on scientific output in terms of quantity does not imply that these chair holders are lesser scientists, but that they are devoting part of their time to other endeavours of a more practical nature. Hence universities are maintaining a balance between the pursuit of pure scientific knowledge and its application to socioeconomic benefits. By solely studying scientific articles, we are missing a great deal of the university professors’ activities. Although not trivial, future research should aim to cast a wider net on outputs, outcomes and impacts of university research

The effect of holding a research chair on scientists’ productivity

Having combined data on Quebec scientists’ funding and journal publication, this paper tests the effect of holding a research chair on a scientist’s performance. The novelty of this paper is to use a matching technique to understand whether holding a research chair contributes to a better scientific performance. This method compares two different sets of regressions which are conducted on different data sets: one with all observations and another with only the observations of the matched scientists. Two chair and non-chair scientists are deemed matched with each other when they have the closest propensity score in terms of gender, research field, and amount of funding. The results show that holding a research chair is a significant scientific productivity determinant in the complete data set. However, when only matched scientists are kept in data set, holding a Canada research chair has a significant positive effect on scientific performance but other types of chairs do not have a significant effect. In the other words, in the case of two similar scientists in terms of gender, research funding, and research field, only holding a Canada research chair significantly affects scientific performance

The effect of holding a research chair on scientists' research impact

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the effect of holding Canada Research Chair (CRC) on a scientist’s number of citations as a measure of research impact, based on an econometric analysis with combined data on Quebec scientists’ funding and journal publication. Using Generalized Least Square (GLS) method for regression analysis, the results show that holding either tier-1 or tier2 of CRC significantly and positively results in conducting research with higher impact. This finding, however, does not necessarily imply that the others are the lesser scientists

MICROMORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATIONS AND PHYTOCHEMICAL CONTENTS OF SOME PHLOMIS SPECIES FROM IRAN

Objective: Microscopic characterization of a plant is a valuable method for accurate identification of the plant powder. The plants of Phlomis genus (Lamiaceae) are mostly distributed in the north and west of Iran with about 10 endemic species. In the present investigation, microscopic characterization of some Phlomis species including Phlomis bruguieri, Phlomis rigida, Phlomis kurdica, and Phlomis olivieri were assessed along with their phytochemical contents. Methods: The powders of the mentioned plants were analyzed using Zeiss microscope attached to a digital camera. Phytochemical contents of the plants extracts including total phenol, tannin, and polysaccharide were measured as well as a radical scavenging activity using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl method. Results: The results of this study indicated that diacytic stomata, glandular trichome, stellate trichome, and crystals were the characteristic features of the examined species. Total phenol, tannins, and polysaccharides of the plants were assessed ranging 66.0-101.8 µg gallic acid equivalent in mg dry extract (µg GAE/mg EXT), 6.9-9.5 µg tannic acid equivalent in mg dry extract (TAE/mg EXT), and 512-559 µg glucose equivalent in mg dry extract (GE/mg EXT), respectively. Moreover, half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of radical scavenging activity of the extracts were calculated according to the plot of inhibition percentage against different concentrations of each extract as 218.6, 112.0, 113.3, and 58.7 µg/ml, respectively.Conclusion: The observed differences between Phlomis species can be applied in the accurate identification of these medicinal plants particularly in dried powdered materials regarding their microscopic characterizations and phytochemical contents.Â

What determines researchers’ scientific impact? A case study of Quebec researchers

Using a data set integrating information about researchers’ funding and publications in Quebec (Canada), this paper identifies the main determinants of citation counts as one measure of research impact. Using two-stage least square regressions to control for endogeneity, the results confirm the significant and positive relationship between the number of articles and citation counts. Our results also show that scientists with more articles in higher impact factor journals generally receive more citations and so do scientists who publish with a larger team of authors. Hence the greater visibility provided by a more prolific scientific production, better journals, and more co-authors, all contribute to increasing the perceived impact of articles. All else being equal, male and female receive the same number of citations. These results suggest that the most important determinants of researchers’ citations are the journals in which they publish, as well the collaborative nature of their research

Detecting colorectal cancer using electrical impedance spectroscopy: an ex vivo feasibility study

Objective: Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, with a lifetime risk of around 20%. Current solutions do not allow clinicians to objectively assess tissue abnormality during endoscopy and perioperatively. A solution capable of objectively assessing samples in real time could greatly improve the treatment process. A solution that can be integrated in minimally invasive diagnostics and management strategies to provide real-time point-of-care information would be greatly transformative. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) may provide such a solution. In this paper, we present a feasibility study on using EIS in assessing colorectal tissue. Approach: We performed tetrapolar EIS using ZedScan on excised human colorectal tumour tissue and the matched normal colonic mucosa in 22 freshly resected specimens following elective surgery for colorectal cancer. Histopathological examination was used to confirm the final diagnosis. Statistical significance was assessed with Wilcoxon signed rank test. Main results: Tetrapolar EIS could discriminate cancer with statistically significant results when applying frequencies between 305 Hz – 625 kHz (p < 0.05). 300 Ω was set as the transfer impedance threshold to detect cancer. Thus, the area under the corresponding receiver operating characteristic curve for this threshold was 0.7105. Significance: This feasibility study demonstrates that impedance spectra changes in colorectal cancer tissue are detectable and may be statistically significant, suggesting that EIS has the potential to be the core technology in a novel non-invasive point of care test for detecting colorectal cancer. These results warrant further development and increasing the size of the study with a device specificity designed for colorectal cancer

Growth arrest-specific transcript 5 associated snoRNA levels are related to p53 expression and DNA damage in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND The growth arrest-specific transcript 5 gene (GAS5) encodes a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and hosts a number of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) that have recently been implicated in multiple cellular processes and cancer. Here, we investigate the relationship between DNA damage, p53, and the GAS5 snoRNAs to gain further insight into the potential role of this locus in cell survival and oncogenesis both in vivo and in vitro. METHODS We used quantitative techniques to analyse the effect of DNA damage on GAS5 snoRNA expression and to assess the relationship between p53 and the GAS5 snoRNAs in cancer cell lines and in normal, pre-malignant, and malignant human colorectal tissue and used biological techniques to suggest potential roles for these snoRNAs in the DNA damage response. RESULTS GAS5-derived snoRNA expression was induced by DNA damage in a p53-dependent manner in colorectal cancer cell lines and their levels were not affected by DICER. Furthermore, p53 levels strongly correlated with GAS5-derived snoRNA expression in colorectal tissue. CONCLUSIONS In aggregate, these data suggest that the GAS5-derived snoRNAs are under control of p53 and that they have an important role in mediating the p53 response to DNA damage, which may not relate to their function in the ribosome. We suggest that these snoRNAs are not processed by DICER to form smaller snoRNA-derived RNAs with microRNA (miRNA)-like functions, but their precise role requires further evaluation. Furthermore, since GAS5 host snoRNAs are often used as endogenous controls in qPCR quantifications we show that their use as housekeeping genes in DNA damage experiments can lead to inaccurate results

Translational application of metabolic profiling technologies in the colorectal cancer clinical pathway

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of global cancer-related morbidity and mortality. A deeper understanding of the biological processes that drive CRC development and progression is essential in order to improve patient outcomes along the CRC clinical pathway (diagnosis; treatment; prognostication/surveillance). Metabonomics (metabolic profiling/metabolomics) is a rapidly advancing field in systems biology that generates disease-relevant micro-molecular information downstream of the genome and proteome. Metabolic profiling studies utilising nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) have demonstrated early promise in cancer research. For this body of work I have designed and implemented a multi-axis metabolic profiling strategy for evaluation of fresh frozen CRC tissue; the study framework has been specifically designed to assess the translational utility of different NMR and MS –based technologies at key phases of the CRC clinical spectrum and to develop next-generation bioinformatics solutions to facilitate translational deployment of these approaches. My findings have demonstrated that: (i) High-resolution magic angle spinning NMR (HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy allows rapid and accurate diagnosis and local staging of CRC, making it well suited to translational deployment at the diagnostic end of the CRC clinical pathway. In addition this approach can potentially be used to develop an alternative to frozen section for intra-operative tissue evaluation. (ii) Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation imaging MS (MALDI-MSI) has potential to supplement conventional histopathological methods of tissue assessment and reveals novel tumour-associated ‘field effects’ which may have translational utility in CRC prognostication. (iii) Desorption electrospray ionisation imaging MS (DESI-MSI) represents a more sophisticated method for histology-driven imaging mass spectrometry and permits ‘chemical mapping’ of the CRC tumour microenvironment in a way not possible until now. This technique can be used to derive an entirely new pool of biomolecular data with which to develop next-generation cancer biomarkers for prognostic and therapeutic personalisation. Currently, the complexity and volume of data generated by MSI experimentation represents a major rate-limiting step, hampering translational application of this approach. My work in CRC MSI profiling has concurrently led to the development of a novel bio-informatics pipeline designed to address current challenges, and this platform is also introduced in the following thesis.Open Acces