PATENTING CULTURE IN SCIENCE - REINVENTING THE SCIENTIFIC WHEEL OF CREDIBILITY

This article discusses the emergence of a patenting culture in univers ity science. Patenting culture is examined empirically in the context of the increasing commercialization of science, and theoretically with in debates over scientific ''credibility.'' The article explores the t ranslation of academic credit into patents, and vice versa, and argues that this process raises new questions for our understanding of scien tific recognition and of scientists' networks. In particular; the anal ysis suggests that scientists must move between two distinct social wo rlds to manage the rewards that academic and patent cultures carry.