Dual Use Research: Investigation Across Multiple Science Disciplines

Abstract

Most recent studies of dual use research have focused on the life sciences, although some researchers have suggested that dual use research occurs across many disciplines. This research is an initial investigation into the prevalence of dual use research in other scientific disciplines by surveying senior editors of scientific journals, drawn from Journal Citation Reports. The survey was emailed to 7,500 journal editors with a response rate of 10.1%. Approximately 4.8% of life science editors reported they had to consider whether to publish dual use research and 38.9% said they decided to not publish the research in question. In disciplines other than the life sciences, 7.2% of editors from other science disciplines reported that they had to consider whether to publish dual use research, and 48.4% declined to publish it. The survey investigated relationships between dual use and the journal's source of funding and place of publication, but no relationships were found. Further research is needed to better understand the occurrence of dual use research in other science disciplines.