---
title: "Metascience"
chunk: 3/7
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metascience"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:44:21.146005+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

===== Science funding and awards =====

Scientific awards are one category of science incentives. Metascience can explore existing and hypothetical systems of science awards. For instance, it found that work honored by Nobel Prizes clustered in only a few scientific fields with only 36/71 having received at least one Nobel Prize. Of the 114/849 domains science could be divided into their DC2 and DC3 classification systems, five were shown to comprise over half of the Nobel Prizes awarded between 1995 and 2017 (particle physics [14%], cell biology [12.1%], atomic physics [10.9%], neuroscience [10.1%], molecular chemistry [5.3%]).
A study found that delegation of responsibility by policy-makers – a centralized authority-based top-down approach – for knowledge production and appropriate funding to science with science subsequently somehow delivering "reliable and useful knowledge to society" is too simple.
Measurements show that allocation of bio-medical resources can be more strongly correlated to previous allocations and research than to burden of diseases.
A study suggests that "[i]f peer review is maintained as the primary mechanism of arbitration in the competitive selection of research reports and funding, then the scientific community needs to make sure it is not arbitrary".
Studies indicate there to is a need to "reconsider how we measure success" (see #Factors of success and progress).

Funding data
Funding information from grant databases and funding acknowledgment sections can be sources of data for scientometrics studies, e.g. for investigating or recognition of the impact of funding entities on the development of science and technology.

===== Research questions and coordination =====

===== Risk governance =====

=== Science communication and public use ===

Science derives its value as a global public good from two attributes: researchers must make knowledge claims and supporting evidence openly available for scrutiny, and they must communicate results promptly and effectively. Metascientific research is exploring topics of science communication such as media coverage of science, science journalism and online communication of results by science educators and scientists. Research shows that academics view social media primarily for amplifying their work. However, institutions should cultivate a culture emphasizing genuine research engagement over mere visibility. Science communication may also involve the communication of societal needs, concerns and requests to scientists.

==== Alternative metrics tools ====
Alternative metrics tools can be used not only for help in assessment (performance and impact) and findability, but also aggregate many of the public discussions about a scientific paper in social media such as reddit, citations on Wikipedia, and reports about the study in the news media which can then in turn be analyzed in metascience or provided and used by related tools. In terms of assessment and findability, altmetrics rate publications' performance or impact by the interactions they receive through social media or other online platforms, which can for example be used for sorting recent studies by measured impact, including before other studies are citing them. The specific procedures of established altmetrics are not transparent and the used algorithms can not be customized or altered by the user as open source software can. A study has described various limitations of altmetrics and points "toward avenues for continued research and development". They are also limited in their use as a primary tool for researchers to find received constructive feedback. (see above)

==== Societal implications and applications ====
It has been suggested that it may benefit science if "intellectual exchange—particularly regarding the societal implications and applications of science and technology—are better appreciated and incentivized in the future".

==== Knowledge integration ====
Primary studies "without context, comparison or summary are ultimately of limited value" and various types of research syntheses and summaries integrate primary studies. Progress in key social-ecological challenges of the global environmental agenda is "hampered by a lack of integration and synthesis of existing scientific evidence", with a "fast-increasing volume of data", compartmentalized information and generally unmet evidence synthesis challenges. According to Khalil, researchers are facing the problem of too many papers – e.g. in March 2014 more than 8,000 papers were submitted to arXiv – and to "keep up with the huge amount of literature, researchers use reference manager software, they make summaries and notes, and they rely on review papers to provide an overview of a particular topic". He notes that review papers are usually (only)" for topics in which many papers were written already, and they can get outdated quickly" and suggests "wiki-review papers" that get continuously updated with new studies on a topic and summarize many studies' results and suggest future research. A study suggests that if a scientific publication is being cited in a Wikipedia article this could potentially be considered as an indicator of some form of impact for this publication, for example as this may, over time, indicate that the reference has contributed to a high-level of summary of the given topic.

==== Science journalism ====
Science journalists play an important role in the scientific ecosystem and in science communication to the public and need to "know how to use, relevant information when deciding whether to trust a research finding, and whether and how to report on it", vetting the findings that get transmitted to the public.

=== Science education ===
Some studies investigate science education, e.g. the teaching about selected scientific controversies and historical discovery process of major scientific conclusions, and common scientific misconceptions. Education can also be a topic more generally such as how to improve the quality of scientific outputs and reduce the time needed before scientific work or how to enlarge and retain various scientific workforces.

==== Science misconceptions and anti-science attitudes ====

Many students have misconceptions about what science is and how it works. Anti-science attitudes and beliefs are also a subject of research. Hotez suggests antiscience "has emerged as a dominant and highly lethal force, and one that threatens global security", and that there is a need for "new infrastructure" that mitigates it.

=== Evolution of sciences ===

==== Scientific practice ====