The modeling of science:: the example of North America

Science is a complex human activity that is modeled by a myriad of factors beyond the researcher's control, especially in the medical sciences, where human and economic resources, as well as bioethical and regulatory factors play an important role. Bioethical and regulatory factors are similar between the US, Canada and Mexico, however these countries differ markedly in their economic and human resources: In Canada and the US there are government institutions (CIHR and NIH, respectively) to specifically provide funding to health research, while in Mexico the principal source of funding for all sciences is the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT). The NIH budget for clinical research alone during 2002 was over $7 US billion dollars; the CIHR funding for health research projects was approximately S300 US million dollars, while the support from CONACYT for research and infrastructure in health was aproximately 70 US million dollars. In the year 2000, the US had 8.17 researchers in all areas per 1,000 habitants -of the economically active population (EAP)-, Canada had 5.78 and Mexico 0.55 researchers. These factors impact greatly the scientific productivity: While Canada and the US contributed in 1991-1998 with 31.4% of the world's scientific productivity -measured as the number of articles published-, Latin America contributed with only 2.4% of the world's productivity. This paper also discusses other factors that model science, scientific inquiry, and scientific activity such as, the role of the industry, the media and scientific journals. How these factors influence the Medical Sciences in North America is exemplified herein.