2: yes, it happens all the time. School kids publish research papers. Retired people do. People who have no connection with academia but are in the workforce do

2: yes, it happens all the time. School kids publish research papers. Retired people do. People who have no connection with academia but are in the workforce do. It can obviously be harder, because you don't have access to people to help write the paper, comply with requirements etc, but I think for many (most?) journals there is not a specific requirement that contributors have academic qualifications or are employed as researchers.