Commercial entanglements and online visibility: University priorities and the making of scientific legitimacy.

Abstract

Universities in many parts of the world now encourage faculty to patent inventions, launch start-ups, and promote their work via online platforms. Through commercialization support and the inclusion of social media metrics in tenure reviews, they have cultivated forms of scientific life oriented toward market ties and Internet visibility. Technology transfer offices support the development of discoveries from academic labs into faculty-led ventures and (often exclusive) licensing partnerships-as in the case of epigenetic age tests examined here. The paper traces how these research tools were transformed into consumer products promoted on social media by researchers at elite US universities. In doing so, it shows how university policies and programs enable forms of scientific authority rooted in public performance and market traction. These developments are reshaping academic legitimacy, as forms of authority most easily amplified online gain institutional validation through engagement and impact metrics-often promoting charismatic, entrepreneurial, gendered performances of expertise.