While the existing literature has focused predominantly on how firms can benefit from collaborations with academic institutions such as universities and research institutions, this study explores whether the proportion of (formal) collaborations with different types of firm partners in strategic R&D alliances is associated with publications originating in academic institutions. The empirical analysis is based on a unique dataset of publications in pharmaceutical cancer research. The results suggest that the share of collaborations with industry partners has an inverted u-shaped relationship with the reputation of the journal in which an article originating in an academic institution is published. The share of alliances with pharmaceutical firms shows a similar inverted u-shaped pattern, suggesting that research originating in academic institutions can only benefit from alliances with pharmaceutical firms through resource inflows up to a threshold.