Who does the research that produces new knowledge?

We already know that in order to produce new knowledge from an idea there usually needs to be a large investment of time and money. Because of this need, large institutions are most often the sponsors of research projects.

The government, including federal, state, and local agencies, is the largest institution in the U. S. producing or funding the production of new knowledge. Much of this tax-supported research information is available through local libraries in the form of books, journals, documents, or through the Internet via various government web sites.

Large academic institutions may have faculty that do research in their own academic disciplines. Not all disciplines are as well funded for research as are applied sciences such as medicine and computer science. This affects the amount of new knowledge produced in each discipline and also how the searcher accesses this knowledge. Faculty scholars and researchers most often publish their new knowledge in journals, and less frequently in books, that are accessed through academic library online catalogs and databases.

Large corporations, non-profit organizations, and other commercial interests are members of the private sector that produce new knowledge. Since they are privately owned, many charge for access to the new knowledge that they produce.