Nicole Nelson
(University of Wisconsin Madison)
Fiona Fidler
(University of Melbourne)
Bart Penders
(Maastricht University)
Felipe Romero
(University of Groningen)
Qi Wu
(Shanghai Institute for Science of Science)
Hui Li
(Shanghai Institute for Science of Science)
Format:
Panel
Location:
Sessions:
Tuesday 1 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Are metascientists reinventing the wheel?.
Panel T3.1 at conference Metascience 2025.
Critics argue that metascience merely reinvents the wheel of other academic fields. Through a range of disciplinary, historical and geographical perspectives, this panel asks what is new about metascience, and why it may have captured greater attention than previous research and reform initiatives.
Long Abstract
Critics argue that metascience is merely reinventing the wheel, as fields such as History and Philosophy of Science, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Science of Science have long examined issues like scientific error and alternative research structures. In response, this panel asks what, if anything, is new about metascience, and why it may have captured greater attention than previous research and reform initiatives. These questions are addressed through a range of disciplinary, historical and geographical perspectives, featuring scholars with extensive cross-disciplinary experience.
Nicole Nelson and Fiona Fidler discuss how a focus on how deteriorating labor conditions of academic work have both incentivized suboptimal scientific practices, and prompted greater openness to reform, providing metascience with a greater opportunity for change than the previous statistical reform movement.
Hui Li discusses the rise, decline and resurgence of metascience in China, since the 1980s, using the case of the historical development of Science of Science in Shanghai.
Qi Wu will present the VirSci project—an AI-based simulation of scientific collaboration—as an example of how policy-driven Science of Science research in Shanghai is evolving toward new process-based inquiries.
Felipe Romero argues that more engagement between metascience and philosophy of science can avoid reinventing the wheel. He will share insights from co-founding the Perspectives on Scientific Error Workshop, uniting philosophers and metascientists over seven editions.
Bart Penders reflects on his experiences of STS-metascience encounters in which ‘good science’ and ‘quality’ are contested objects of study as well as contested qualities of inquiry.
Fiona Fidler (University of Melbourne)
Bart Penders (Maastricht University)
Felipe Romero (University of Groningen)
Qi Wu (Shanghai Institute for Science of Science)
Hui Li (Shanghai Institute for Science of Science)
Short Abstract
Critics argue that metascience merely reinvents the wheel of other academic fields. Through a range of disciplinary, historical and geographical perspectives, this panel asks what is new about metascience, and why it may have captured greater attention than previous research and reform initiatives.
Long Abstract
Critics argue that metascience is merely reinventing the wheel, as fields such as History and Philosophy of Science, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Science of Science have long examined issues like scientific error and alternative research structures. In response, this panel asks what, if anything, is new about metascience, and why it may have captured greater attention than previous research and reform initiatives. These questions are addressed through a range of disciplinary, historical and geographical perspectives, featuring scholars with extensive cross-disciplinary experience.
Nicole Nelson and Fiona Fidler discuss how a focus on how deteriorating labor conditions of academic work have both incentivized suboptimal scientific practices, and prompted greater openness to reform, providing metascience with a greater opportunity for change than the previous statistical reform movement.
Hui Li discusses the rise, decline and resurgence of metascience in China, since the 1980s, using the case of the historical development of Science of Science in Shanghai.
Qi Wu will present the VirSci project—an AI-based simulation of scientific collaboration—as an example of how policy-driven Science of Science research in Shanghai is evolving toward new process-based inquiries.
Felipe Romero argues that more engagement between metascience and philosophy of science can avoid reinventing the wheel. He will share insights from co-founding the Perspectives on Scientific Error Workshop, uniting philosophers and metascientists over seven editions.
Bart Penders reflects on his experiences of STS-metascience encounters in which ‘good science’ and ‘quality’ are contested objects of study as well as contested qualities of inquiry.