Public scientists contributing to local literary fiction. An exploratory analysis

TL;DR

This paper explores the involvement of public scientists in local literary fiction, examining whether their works are more likely to be published locally and how this reflects their sociocultural engagement.

Contribution

It provides an exploratory analysis of scientists' participation in local literary fiction and investigates their influence on local cultural production.

Findings

Scientists' literary works are often published locally.

Scientists contribute to local cultural identity through fiction.

Local publishers tend to include works by scientists.

Abstract

Public scientists (scientists only from now onwards), understood as a member of the teaching and/or research staff of a public university or a public research organization (including humanities and social sciences), benefit the academic community, industry and other social collectives through teaching and research. Active involvement of scientists in culture is part of the richness of developed societies. Some voices in current debates on the evaluation of societal impact and the role of universities towards social development are claiming a refocus from a socioeconomic perspective to also including sociocultural benefits from academiaIn this paper we will focus in one facet of cultural engagement; writing literary fiction. We will narrow our general objective to local activities, due to the interest in the engagement of scientist on this geographic dimension. Do local publishers include the literary work of scientists? Are works written by scientists more likely to be local than works not written by scientists?