Science of science: A multidisciplinary field studying science

Abstract

Science and knowledge are studied by researchers across many disciplines, examining how they are developed, what their current boundaries are and how we can advance them. By integrating evidence across disparate disciplines, the holistic field of science of science can address these foundational questions. This field illustrates how science is shaped by many interconnected factors: the cognitive processes of scientists, the historical evolution of science, economic incentives, institutional influences, computational approaches, statistical, mathematical and instrumental foundations of scientific inference, scientometric measures, philosophical and ethical dimensions of scientific concepts, among other influences. Achieving a comprehensive overview of a multifaceted field like the science of science requires pulling together evidence from the many sub-fields studying science across the natural and social sciences and humanities. This enables developing an interdisciplinary perspective of scientific practice, a more holistic understanding of scientific processes and outcomes, and more nuanced perspectives to how scientific research is conducted, influenced and evolves. It enables leveraging the strengths of various disciplines to create a holistic view of the foundations of science. Different researchers study science from their own disciplinary perspective and use their own methods, and there is a large divide between quantitative and qualitative researchers as they commonly do not read or cite research using other methodological approaches. A broader, synthesizing paper employing a qualitative approach can however help provide a bridge between disciplines by pulling together aspects of science (economic, scientometric, psychological, philosophical etc.). Such an approach enables identifying, across the range of fields, the powerful role of our scientific methods and instruments in shaping most aspects of our knowledge and science, whereas economic, social and historical influences help shape what knowledge we pursue. A unifying theory is then outlined for science of science – the new-methods-drive-science theory.

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