XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

430

The Social Dynamics of Scientometric Indicators: Intended and Unintended Consequences

RC23 Sociology of Science and Technology (host committee)

Language: English

S&T policies have continuously searched for evidence-based policy instruments aimed at improving the efficiency of national S&T systems since the mid-20th century. The massive efforts of the scientific communities, national statistical offices, and international organisations have produced a near unlimited supply of S&T statistical data and indicators. Paradoxically, these efforts have not answered the key questions: which indicators to select for evidence-based policy making and how to interpret them without robust theory. Moreover, there is a tension between use of “rational” tools such as S&T indicators for analysis of research inputs and outputs and justification of certain decisions: policy-makers rather use the quantitative basis as an “automatic pilot”, which depicts their decisions as “rational” and “necessary”, to legitimize their activity. Academic institutions, in turn, strike back by changing their behavior and playing the system in order to overcome normative framing. Growing scientific fraud and dishonesty is one result of the mechanistic use of indicators and the domination of quantitative logic in research evaluation and regulation of R&D activities. The session aims to examine the social processes behind the figures and welcomes both theoretical contributions that conceptualize science-policy interactions and empirical studies devoted to the analysis of social dimension of science-metrics.