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arXiv:1306.0947, There is a widespread perception that pharmaceutical R&D is facing a productivity crisis characterised by stagnation in the numbers of new drug approvals in the face of increasing R&D costs. This study explores pharmaceutical R&D dynamics by examining the publication activities of all R&D laboratories of the major European and US pharmaceutical firms (Big Pharma) during the period 1995-2009. The empirical findings present an industry in transformation. In the first place, we observe a decline of the total number of publications by large firms. Second, we show a relative increase of their external collaborations suggesting a tendency to outsource, and a diversification of the disciplinary base, in particular towards computation, health services and more clinical approaches. Also evident is a more pronounced decline in publications by both R&D laboratories located in Europe and by firms with European headquarters. Finally, while publications by Big Pharma in emerging economies sharply increase, they remain extremely low compared with those in developed countries. In summary, the trend in this transformation is one of a gradual decrease in internal research efforts and increasing reliance on external research. These empirical insights support the view that Big Pharma are increasingly becoming 'network integrators' rather than the prime locus of drug discovery. © 2012 Elsevier Inc., Ismael Rafols and Alice O'Hare were funded by the EU FP7 project FRIDA(Grant 225546, http://www.fridaproject.eu) and the US NSF (Award no. 0830207, http://idr.gatech.edu/). Michael Hopkins and Josh Siepel were supported by ESRC grant RES-360-25-0076. Jarno Hoekman has been supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under the VIDI programme, number 452-06-005. Antonio Perianes-Rodríguez conducted his research at the University of Sussex as awardee of José Castillejo grant, JC2010-0042, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education.