Academic dependency: the influence of the prevailing international biomedical research agenda on Argentina’s CONICET

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPrevious research within the field of health and biomedical sciences (HBMS) reported that its prevailing research agenda is determined by leading academic institutions and big pharma companies, prioritizing the exploration of novel pharmacological interventions over research on the socio-environmental determinants of disease. Unlike previous studies, which have relied primarily on qualitative analyses, the aim of this investigation is to quantitatively explore if that prevailing international research agenda influences research in semi-peripheral countries and to which extent.MethodsWe used the Web of Science database and the CorText platform to proxy the HBMS research agenda of a prestigious research institution from Latin America: Argentina’s National Research Council (CONICET). We conducted a bibliometric and lexical analysis of 16,309 HBMS scientific articles whereby CONICET was among the authors’ affiliations. The content of CONICET’s agenda was depicted through co-occurrence network maps of the most prevalent multi-terms found in titles, keywords, and abstracts. We compared our findings with previous reports on the international HBMS research agenda.ResultsIn line with the results previously reported for the prevailing international agenda, we found that multi-terms linked to molecular biology and cancer research hegemonize CONICET’s HBMS research agenda, whereas multi-terms connecting HBMS research with socio-environmental cues are marginal. However, we also found differences with the international agenda: CONICET’s HBMS agenda shows a marginal presence of multi-terms linked to translational medicine, while multi-terms associated with categories such as pathogens, plant research, agrobiotechnology, and food industry are more represented than in the prevailing agenda.ConclusionsIn line with the academic dependency theory, CONICET’s HBMS research agenda shares topics, priorities, and methodologies with the prevailing HBMS international research agenda. However, CONICET’s HBMS research agenda is internally heterogeneous, appearing to be mostly driven by a combination of elements that not only reflect academic dependency but also economic dependency.