The paper analyses the Portuguese academics' perceptions about changes in their research activities and modes of knowledge production. Quantitative data gathered from an on-line national survey have been used to develop this analysis. Results reveal that the majority of academics declared that they were not involved in knowledge and technology transfer and that their research activities were not influenced by external sponsors or clients. However, they did recognise that were strong external pressures to reconfigure the epistemologies, ontologies and the institutional conditions under which knowledge is produced. The data analysis also reveals that academics recognise forms of hybridism between autonomy and endogenous dynamics and heteronomy and exogenous dynamics in the development of their research activities and knowledge production.