Previous research provided some tangible evidence that commercial interests have the potential to, and in fact sometimes do, have an effect on the nature of trust in academic science. By offering a wide range of evidence found in the area of academic biotechnology research, we can examine how the success of commercially oriented collaborative research calls for a number of different forms of trustworthy behavior on the part of collaborators. The argument is that owing to the recombination of commercial interests into academic research a broader form of trust is required to support the research relationship than is required to support the normal academic relationship.

In academic science, trust, in the form of scientific credibility and accountability, plays a crucial and essential role. Trust relations in academia are built on networks of trust relations in which personal experience, reputation and gossip, and institutional norms are the factors which enhance trustworthy behavior. When an established social system is altered because of changes in norms of interests of some of its members it is important to revisit the role of trust in scientific exchanges and the emerged new structure of social and scientific exchanges in academic science. In a previous study Liebeskind and Oliver (1998) suggested that the increasing commercial value of scientific discoveries in molecular biology led to changes in the social structure of this academic field. Our observations were supported with findings from fieldwork and interviews gathered in Israel, the UK, and the USA since 1989.