Academic scientists funded by large companies publish, patent and are cited less often than those supported by smaller firms or other sources, a study says. Research Grants, Sources of Ideas and the Effects on Academic Research, released on 29 July by the Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim, Germany, polled researchers at 46 German universities. Co-author Cornelia Lawson, an economist at the University of Turin, Italy, says that large grant-giving firms might modify the focus of the work during the project so that there are not enough data to publish after the grant. They also tend to fund applied research, which may be cited less often, she says. The study notes that industrial sponsorship has been on the rise globally for several years.