ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the consequences of institutional changes on academic research practices in several fields of natural science in the Netherlands. The authors analyse the similarities and differences among the dynamics of these different fields and reflect on possible explanations for the changes observed. The study shows that the increasing pressure for productivity, as measured in bibliometric terms, can counteract the pressure for practical utility. The chapter provides a possible explanation based on socio-organizational, cognitive and cultural field characteristics, combined with the characteristics of societal stakeholders. It presents a case study approach, which focuses on several scientific fields in the Netherlands selected to represent the variety of possible societal stakeholders of natural science. The variation in the relationship between practical applications and scientific productivity, which seems crucial for the fate of scientific fields, can be explained by taking into account characteristics of other participants in the research system, in particular the end users of academic research.
