Science of science policy (SoSP) is an emerging interdisciplinary research area that seeks to develop theoretical and empirical models of the scientific enterprise. This scientific basis can be used to help government, and society in general, make better R&D management decisions by establishing a scientifically rigorous, quantitative basis from which policy makers and researchers may assess the impacts of the nation's scientific and

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

enterprise, improve their understanding of its dynamics, and assess the likely outcomes. Examples of research in the science of

science policy Science policy is concerned with the allocation of resources for the conduct of science towards the goal of best serving the public interest. Topics include the funding of science, the careers of scientists, and the translation of scientific disc ...

include models to understand the production of science, qualitative, quantitative and computational methods to estimate the impact of science, and processes for choosing from alternative science portfolios.

Federal SoSP effort

The

federal government of the United States The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

has long been a supporter of SoSP. In 2006, in response to

Office of Science and Technology Policy The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a department of the United States government, part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Executive Office of the President (EOP), established by United States Congres ...

Director John H. Marburger's challenge for a new "science of science policy," the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) established an Interagency Task Group on Science of Science Policy (ITG) to serve as part of the internal deliberative process of the Subcommittee. In 2008, the SoSP ITG developed and published The Science of Science Policy: A Federal Research Roadmap, which outlined the Federal efforts necessary for the long-term development of a science of science policy, and presented this Roadmap to the SoSP Community. The ITG's subsequent work has been guided by the questions outlined in the Roadmap and the action steps developed at the workshop. Furthermore, since 2007, the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, in support of academic research to advance the field, has awarded grants from the Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program. The SciSIP research supports and complements the Federal SoSP efforts by providing new tools with immediate relevance to policymakers.

Science of Science and Innovation Policy program

The Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program was established at the National Science Foundation in 2005 in response to a call from John Marburger for a "specialist scholarly community" to study the science of science policy. The program has three major goals: advancing

evidence-based Evidence-based practice is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. The movement towards evidence-based practices attempts to encourage and, in some instances, require professionals and other decision-makers ...

science and

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

policy decision making; building a scientific community to study science and innovation policy; and leveraging the experience of other countries. Between 2007 and 2011, over one hundred and thirty awards were made in five rounds of funding. The awardees include

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

s, sociologists,

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

s, and

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

s. Some of these awards are already showing results in the form of papers, presentations, software, and data development.

Federal SoSP effort

Science of Science and Innovation Policy program

See also

References

Further reading