The Funding and Accessibility of Science: The Profitability, Reproducibility, and Transparency of Research

The thesis will explore sources of scientific funding, analyze the impacts of intellectual property, describe the reproducibility/replicability crisis, and explore various scientific policies. Additionally, this thesis will determine whether all scientific findings should be released for total transparency, if everything should be kept under lock and key to maximize profits and protect the intellectual property of the scientists, or if there should be some healthy medium between the two. For each option, the inherent positives and negatives will be discussed to show how scientific research can change to best fit the needs of everyone involved. Furthermore, this thesis will explore possible solutions to remedy the issues found and how such propositions can be reasonably applied. The research was conducted through a series of interviews with expert faculty members on the Arizona State University Campus. Ultimately, in order for improvements to be made, a number of changes need to happen at a foundational level through a series of new science policy and research practice implementations.