Sharing Among Competing Researchers

We provide a game theoretic analysis of information sharing among competing researchers in two contexts: sharing when one researcher is asked by another to share specific information or materials and sharing involving presentation of new results in an open forum. The models are tested based on a survey of German and UK bioscientists. The theory and empirics both suggest that academia is less open than one might think, and sharing is highly context dependent. Sharing in both specific and general contexts is negatively related to competition and the importance of patents in scientific reputation. In other respects, such as career stage, they differ markedly, with nontenured faculty are less likely to respond to specific requests. Scientists in larger labs are more likely to do so, but they are less likely to share in open forums.